Best practices that can help you leverage your missions strategy

World missions is often a large part of a local church's budget (as it should be). However, if a congregation is going to leverage that investment for maximum missional return it would do well to consider the following "Best Practices."

Move from missions as a list of missionaries that are supported at modest levels to a small group of missionaries supported at a high level
The traditional long list of supported missionaries at modest levels is just that - a list. Because the congregation does not have a significant amount of support for any one missionary, there is very little personal contact and most people in the congregation have no relationship, stake, or prayer commitment for those on the list. Raise the stake of support and you raise the relational commitment of both the missionary and the church. I am suggesting you go from a list to a group - with relationship.

Adopt a region or several regions of the world where you can connect long term for long term impact
The world is a big place. Missions becomes "real" and "personal" when a congregation determines that it is going to have a personal stake in bringing the gospel to a specific region or regions of the globe and then connects for long term involvement. This allows the church not simply to support missionaries in that region but to actually contribute something significant themselves over time. The deeper the relationship, the deeper the impact.

Make strategic short term missions a key component of your strategy
Many question the investment in short term missions. However, done well, short term mission trips are the single most strategic thing you can do to generate interest and long term missionaries. No one comes into ReachGlobal today who has not been on one or more short term trips. God uses those trips to capture hearts for long term missions. The key is to connect your short term strategy with your long term commitment to a region of the world and to ensure that the team is contributing to what long term missionaries are doing on the ground (if there are long term personnel there).

Take your people through the perspectives course
The Perspectives course, a ministry of the US Center for World Mission has been a phenomenal tool for mobilizing large numbers of local church members for missions - giving, praying, sending and going. The larger the number of people you can put through perspectives the more passion your congregation will have for missions. It changes peoples perspectives on world mission.

De-silo your missions "committee" if it is not a part of the overall leadership led ministry strategy of your church.
No group in many churches is more siloed than missions committees. This means that what is happening in missions is not part of the overall ministry philosophy of the church and often mission dollars (a significant part of the budget) are the least scrutinized of any part of the church budget. I know this is a political issue but it is also a stewardship issue. We need to ensure that our investments are well used.

Send your pastoral staff on regular missions trips.
When pastoral staff are energized with missions, the rest of the church will be energized by them. Ensure that your key staff have regular opportunities to see what God is doing internationally.

The bottom line is that local congregations far underestimate what they can do either by themselves or in partnership with others for the cause of the gospel globally. Any local congregation can be involved in hands on, strategic and significant ministry globally.

The wounds of ministry

Ministry is deeply painful at times. For those in full time ministry as well as for those who serve in leadership positions as volunteers. Any board member who has had to walk through difficult times in a local church knows. Every pastor bears scars, some that feel raw for years. Missionaries know the pain of cross cultural misunderstandings (as well as nationals working with missionaries) or even conflict on their own teams. At 52, I bear numerous scars from 27 years of full time ministry.

The pain experienced in ministry is often different than other pain. After all we do what we do for God, not ourselves, which makes the pain feel unfair. Further, believers can be even more unkind than unbelievers. How we treat one another is often unconscionable. But, too often the stakes are high so we put a stake in the ground and in our conviction, take the arrows or missiles of others.

How we deal with the pain of the past has a direct influence on our ministry in the present. It can either help and inform our present and future ministry or it can cause us to withdraw, live with bitterness, bring cynicism or cause us to approach relationships with distrust. How we deal with past pain matters to us today.

Here are some principles I have learned in dealing with the wounds of ministry.

First, treat your past wounds as what you see in your rear view mirror. We glance at the rear view mirror as we drive but we focus on what is in front of us. If you drive with your eyes on the rear view mirror you will crash. The same is true if we focus on our past wounds - we will crash.

Paul had as many or more wounds than any of us will ever have. Yet he was able to say, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13-14). His eyes were on the future, not the past.

Second, learn from the past. Pain is one of the greatest teachers. It teaches us to persevere. It teaches us how to deal with people. It forces us to examine our own motives. There is no question that our most significant growth comes through pain. So treat it as an unwelcome blessing that we can learn from.

Paul writes in Philippians 3:16, right after the above reference, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained." Live out, he says what we have learned. Live up to the growth we have experienced. Rather than seeing pain as our enemy, see it as a friend, learn from it but keep your eyes on the present, not on the past.

Third, remember that we do not ultimately serve men but our Father. People will always let us down (as we will let others down). People will take shots. People will be unkind at times and life isn't fair - especially in ministry.

Again, Paul, through his experience gives great perspective. "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me (1 Corinthians 4:3-4)."

His point is that we worry too much about what others think of us when what should concern us is what God thinks. Not everyone will like us. Join the ministry club of Jesus, Paul, the apostles and everyone who serves in ministry. We often carry around the burden of knowing that there are those who not only don't like us but speak against us and some who actually try to do us harm.

But Paul reminds us that it is not about us, but about the call of God on our lives. Don't carry the burden. Let it go and remember that we ultimately answer to an audience of One.

Finally, where we have wounded those who have wounded us - it often happens in conflict, do what you can to make it right. You cannot control the response of others, but you can seek to make right relationships that are broken. Again, Paul tells us to live at peace with all men as far as we are able.

If we can gain Paul's perspective, pain becomes a friend that molds us, grows us and matures us. But we focus on the present and future, not on the wounds of the past. Keep those in the rear-view mirror.

It is not about trying to forget pain. It is about keeping our wounds in proper perspective.

15 unfortunate things boards do

In the many years in which I have worked with church boards I have kept a mental list of unfortunate (dumb) things boards do. If we can avoid the “dumb tax” of others we can save ourselves a lot of pain. Here are some of the unfortunate or poor practices of boards – church or other.

Manage staff beyond the senior leader

Boards have one employee: the senior leader of the church and that leader is responsible for managing the rest of the staff – often through others – but ultimately they are responsible. When boards do not allow the senior leader to manage the rest of the staff, including letting staff go when necessary, or, when they try to meddle in the staff, they confuse the lines of authority. People cannot report to more than one person .

Cave to loud voices

It is not uncommon for boards to make a decision and then hear from a few loud voices in the church who don’t like the decision or direction. Poor board members are immediately intimidated by the voices and start to waver and question the decision. Wise boards count the cost before they make the decision and then hold fast when the loud voices complain.

Require unanimity

This sounds nice. In reality, a board that requires unanimity set themselves up for not being able to move forward at critical junctures because it only takes one person to hold up the decision making process. And, it puts tremendous pressure on those who might not agree. If Paul and Barnabas could not agree on everything, we certainly will not.

Avoid conflict

How often, people in a church or organization know that there is conflict but its leaders, the board try to ignore it not wanting to face it. Conflict avoidance comes back to bite you with even greater conflict. Unresolved conflict does not go away, it becomes more viral. Courageous boards deal with conflict, weak boards do not.

Spend most of their time managing the present

Boards are not designed to manage - they are designed to chart the future and deal with the large rocks of the organization – mission, vision, values, strategic initiatives and direction. Boards that are spending the majority of their time on the present are doing work that others ought to do, and it is not leadership.

Ignore the spiritual

Congregations will rarely rise above the spiritual commitments and level of their leadership. Healthy boards never ignore the word and prayer, in fact they ensure that it is central to everything they do. They lead on behalf of the Lord of the church and thus need to spend time in His presence, discerning His direction.

Work without a covenant

Healthy boards have a board covenant that spells out how they will relate to one another and the commitments to healthy relationships they will agree to. Never allow anyone to join a board who is unwilling to agree to Biblical rules of behavior that are spelled out and signed.

Don’t guard the gate

Every board is one new board member away from moving from healthy to unhealthy if the wrong person is placed on the board. Wise boards pay a huge amount of attention to who is selected to serve and a best practice is to have prospective board members serve for a year in a non official role to ensure a good fit.

Don’t make decisions

One of the frustrations of good board members is the inability of many boards to make decisive decisions and then stick to them. If a board has to revisit issues time after time or is unable to make decisive decisions they have the wrong board members. Boards lead and equivocation is not leadership.

Don’t require accountability

The ultimate result of our decisions must be ministry results. Healthy boards not only make decisions but require accountability for their own behavior and work and for the work and results of staff. Sometimes we are too “nice” and in our “niceness” we don’t require real ministry results – which God expects.

Allow a church boss to hold informal veto power

It is amazing how many congregations have an individual – whether on the board or off the board who holds informal veto power over decisions. In other words, unless they agree it does not happen. This is not only unbiblical but it hurts the church. No church should have a church boss which is what this is. Healthy boards are never held hostage by a church boss.

Lack transparency

Healthy boards let their congregation know what they are thinking and working on in appropriate ways. Secrecy breeds mistrust while transparency breeds trust. They don’t reveal those things which must be confidential but neither do they withhold what can be shared.

Don’t police problem members

Healthy boards never allow a rogue board member to continue with attitudes, words or behaviors which are counterproductive to spiritual and healthy leadership. This is why it is critical to have a board covenant that spells out acceptable behavior. Boards that will not confront unhealthy board members are displaying cowardice rather than leadership.

Listen to reports

Board meetings are not the place for long reports. Those should be sent out ahead of time and read prior to the meeting unless it is a sensitive subject. Board time is a time for all board members to engage in critical issues, prayer and thinking and learning together.

Don’t use an agenda

Healthy boards have an agenda and stick to the agenda including start and finish times. Board meetings should be very carefully thought out ahead of time and led by someone who can help the group move through the agenda in a timely fashion.

Want more information? Take a look at High Impact Church Boards.

By the numbers: A snapshot of our globe

World literacy has risen to 74% globally.

In 2002, the amount of stored information produced globally was equivalent to 37,000 new Library of Congress book collections. It would take about 30 feet of books to store the amount of recorded information produced per person in the world each year.

In the UK more than 4 million closed-circuit TV cameras are trained on public spaces; a shopper in London can expect to be captured on video several hundred times a day.

The world's fastest supercomputer, Blue Gene/L, run by IBM and the Department of Energy, can now run an exponentially staggering 270 trillion calculations per second.

Percentage of Brits who claimed no religious affiliation in 2000: 44%.
That percentage in 1983: 31%.
Percentage of the British population that will be attending church services in 2040: 0.5%

In the US, incidence of depression in the year 2000 was 10 times what it was in 1900.

Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea had 780,000 members in 2003.

An estimated 4 million people are smuggled or trafficked across international borders each year.

In 2003, transactions in counterfeit products accounted for more than 7 percent of global trade, or $500 billion. 10% of all car parts sold in Europe and 10 percent of all pharmaceuticals sold worldwide are black-market counterfeits. Ninety percent of the software running on computers in China has been pirated.

New strains of staphylococcus kill 20,000 patients a year in U.S. hospitals.

Tuberculosis had been nearly eliminated by modern drugs. But now 2 billion people are estimated to have the disease, 60 million of them victims of fatal, drug resistant forms.

The last pandemic, in 1918, killed 50 million people. WHO estimated that a new pandemic, the first of this century, would affect between 20 and 30 percent of the world's population; in its best-case scenarios of the nest pandemic, up to 7 million people would die and tens of millions would get sick.

There are 80,000 computer viruses "alive" in the world today.

In 2003, Americans spent $991 million on liposuction, $667 million on nose jobs, and $54 million on chin augmentation.

Tourism is the world's largest employer, accounting for one in every 10 workers worldwide. In 2003, 691 million people traveled the world as tourists, spending an estimated $523 billion.

Spectator sports are estimated to have revenues of $102.5 billion in 2008.

China has 94 million Internet users.

A mere 0.2 percent of the world's inhabitants had a mobile phone in 1991; by the end of 2004, 1.5 billion were mobile phone users, close to one out of every four people on the planet. In July 2004, China had 310.2 million mobile phone subscribers - an increase of 40.3 million since January 2004.

in 2004, more than 8 million people in the U.S. created their own blogs. 32 million U.S. citizens were regular blog readers.

By 2009, the worldwide market for online games could reach $9.8 billion.

China still uses only 10 percent of the energy used by Americans.

More than one billion people today lack access to safe drinking water, and almost 2.5 billion lack adequate sanitation. Five million children die each year from illnesses associated with dirty water.

In the U.S., a coronary artery bypass costs about $98,000, but in India it costs just $8,000.

1 billion people globally are in need of corrective lenses but cannot afford them.

The number of people living in poverty (defined as living on less than a dollar a day) is still 1.3 billion people, roughly a quarter of the global population.

Between 2002 and 2020, 68 million people will die from AIDS in the developing world.

There are typically around 30 significant conflicts (those with over 1,000 casualties, military and civilian raging in the world, and the vast majority of them are being fought within nations rather than between them.

There have been more than 20 major civil wars in Africa since 1960.

Income per person in the 20 poorest countries was $267 in 2002. In contrast, the richest 20 nations had per person income of $32,339.

In 1700, Earth was home to around 600 million people. By 1800 it was 900 million, and by 1900 it had doubled to 1.9 billion. During the last century alone, the population has nearly quadrupled to the current 6.5 billion. Every year 78 million people are born onto the planet. The world population is expected to increase by 50 percent to 9 billion by 2050.

In 1960, one-third of the world's population lived in the developed world; today it is one-fifth.

Right now, Europe has 35 pensioners for every 100 people of productive working age; that ration is projected to shift to 75 pensioners for every 100 workers by 2050.

99% of all population growth between now and 2050 will occur in the developing world, predominantly in its poorest nations.

Today, the planet's 1 billion wealthiest people consume more than 50 percent of the world's energy supply, while the 1 billion poorest use only 4 percent.

Today, more than 175 million people on the planet reside in a country other than the one in which they were born.

In the year 2000, 174.9 million people migrated from one country to another.

In 1985, there were only nine cities in the world with more than 10 million inhabitants. By 2015, there will be more than 20 cities of this scale. A third of those cities will be home to more than 20 million people. Sao Paulo and Mumbai both have roughly 18 million inhabitants; Shanghai has about 14 million, and Lagos roughly 13 million. Projections for their 2015 populations are extraordinary: Mumbai to 22 million, Sao Paulo to 21 million, Lagos to 16 million.

India now has 32 cities with more than a million residents; by 2015 it will increase to 50 cities. China already has more than 160 cities with populations of more than 1 million.

Every 20 minutes, a species of animal or plant life disappears from the planet, with more than 26,000 species lost every year.

All information for this blog came from Powerful Times: rising to the challenge of our uncertain world, Eamonn Kelly. 2006, Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 0-13-185520-4. The book is well worth the read.

Ordinary people

I am on a crusade to convince the church in America and a few other places where we have placed such a premium on education and thus suffer from the dysfunction of "professional ministry" that God can use ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Every time I read the Bible I find them and how God used them. Every time I travel I find them and am amazed at what God is doing through them.

Take John for example, pictured above (his name and exact location are not named here for security purposes). He is a Kurd, one of 40 or so million who live in the Middle East and whom no one really wants. He grew up in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq where his family was constantly under harassment by Saddam's security forces.

His father was killed by Saddam's police. Twice he had to flee with his family when his village was under attack. He grew up as a Muslim but never really thought that Islam had the answers to life.

Someone gave him a New Testament to read and from time to time he would pick it up and read it. He was intrigued. One day his brother in law saw the New Testament in his house and warned him to get rid of it - he was on the tribal council. John didn't think too much of it since it was his brother in law. But one night he got a knock on his door and his friends said, "You need to leave now! A death sentence has been passed on you because of your Bible."

John fled, finding his way across Syria and stumbling into Lebanon in the winter, his feet frost bit because of the cold - walking across stony fields because he didn't dare take the main road. Once in Lebanon he started to ask around for someone who could explain the Bible to him. Quickly he found a few other Kurdish refugees who he met with for a Bible study.

Soon, however, John was picked up by the security police in Lebanon for being in the country illegally. He was put in jail where because of his Bible (his only possession) he was tortured for 18 months. I asked John, "when did you place your faith in Christ?" He said, "in prison."

Inexplicably he was let out of prison and again started to look around for someone who could help him know God better. He was taken under the wing of a local Christian fellowship in Beirut who discipled him and almost immediately got him involved in doing evangelism among Kurdish refugees and others in the area.

He was so successful that the preachers in the local mosques took to preaching against John, warning people to stay away from him. Numerous times he has had threats on his life and it is not uncommon for him to sleep away from his apartment.

I sat with John one afternoon in his apartment. When he is there he keeps his door open and a steady stream of people walk in to talk with him and just be there. I asked a lady who was there, "Why are you all here?" She said, "Look at John's face. Do you see how peaceful and happy he is? That is why we are here."

Since that afternoon, John has actually started a church and I had the privilege on another trip to sit with 40 people crammed into his tiny apartment in three different rooms worshiping together. John's future in Lebanon is uncertain. He is a United Nation's refugee and is under pressure to leave the country. But he remains peaceful and radiant.

John has no higher education. He has only known Christ since 2005. Yet here he is, a gifted evangelist, a church planter, working among one of the hardest populations in the world and seeing significant fruit. John had the privilege of being mentored by a leader who believes in developing, empowering and releasing people into meaningful ministry and John is a product of that wonderful gift.

Our nation and our world are full of people like John who from a world standpoint are the most ordinary of people but from God's standpoint are His "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10)."

The question is, will we look for and release ordinary people - most of us are just that - in significant work for His kingdom?

The gauges of our lives

I have a sports car. Unfortunately not one as cool as this picture but it is plenty cool and a six speed. As my son likes to remind me, "dad, both of us know independently how fast it will go." Hmm, that was not welcome news but to be expected. It seems it has an engine governor at the low speed of 120mph with plenty of power to spare judging from the tachometer. Yes, I did get a ticket (fortunately not at 120) which was to be expected. It was not a question of if but when. Only one in four years however.

The thing about a sports car is that you watch the gauges to make sure everything is in order and to keep the engine humming well for a long time. I have learned over the years that my life has gauges as well and if I can monitor them I keep myself from going south. If I don't, well it takes its toll. I have learned to respect the gauges of my life and when they head into the warning or red zone to realign life. I think it is a lesson that we continue to learn through life and with practice comes greater wisdom in choices we make.

I have about eight gauges that I pay attention to. All are necessary for me to live a healthy life, none are perfect (right now I am working hard on a number of them) but when they are in pretty good shape, I am doing well. When they get out of whack, I don't do as well. As you read these, think about the gauges in your life and consider jotting them down for future reference.

These are in no particular order.

Weight:
I really don't like this one because it takes too much work to stay "light" but it is an indication of how well I am taking care of myself and how much time I can give to staying healthy. Oh, there is the discipline thing in there too which is really irritating. Tomorrow I start weight watchers on line (really!).

Marriage:
No question this one is up there because if my relationship with Mary Ann suffers all of life suffers. To know how I'm doing here, all I need to do is watch her happiness level because when we're good she's good and when we're not she's not.

Christ:
My connection with Jesus is a critical gauge and one that is pretty easy to measure. When I'm too busy doing His work (ironic isn't it) I don't have the time for Him. For unhurried time with Him. For meditation or Scripture reading or listening prayer. Not hard to gauge, but not easy to be consistent.

Reading/Writing:
I think, and am at my most creative mentally when I am either reading, writing or preparing to teach or preach. When this gets squeezed out of my schedule I know that my busyness is compromising my ability to stay fresh, to think creatively and to do the strategic planning and thinking I do for ReachGlobal. Squeezed too much and my creative juices go stale.

Exercise:
Not one of my strong suits historically. Post the 42 day hospital stay it has become a regular part of my schedule. And, a critical part of my future - given the fact that life is not a sprint but a marathon. My best friends remind me of that regularly and get on my case when I become a slacker in this area.

Schedule:
Some would say I flunk this one because my schedule is too tight, too often. Since I don't like to flunk anything, I give it a B (just sounds better) and I am working hard on saying "no" more often and have given my staff permission to do it for me when I am too nice. What I know is that when I operate at too packed a schedule, some of the other of these gauges go into the red zone and the operative word is balance.

Diet:
Life has blessed me with type two diabetes and kidneys that only cooperate on a low sodium diet. So, it means that I need to pay attention to how much I eat and what I eat which again is a matter of personal discipline. And I get to check my blood sugar every two hours during the day.

Intentionality:
I do pretty good at paying attention to the big rocks in my life (except when some of the above go into the red zone which of course is never intentional - I would not want to be intentional about that). But using Key Result Ares and an Annual Ministry Plan I stay pretty focused.

OK, so there you have my gauges. What are yours and how are you doing in watching them and keeping them out of the red zone?

And yes, it is probably good that my car has a governor on it. Life should as well.

Leadership strength through humility

In my post of 6/16/08, titled Humility and leadership: five practices to keep us leading from a posture of humility I wrote about the importance of both soliciting and graciously receiving feedback on our leadership so that we can grow, lead more effectively and model an attitude of "nothing to prove and nothing to lose."

The post received an insightful comment:
Thanks for this post! It is very "counter-cultural" to see leadership as servanthood, let alone to cultivate the practice of listening and looking for people who will be honest with their leader. When I have been asked for honest feedback by my leaders re: their leadership, and did so in what I thought was a sensitive way, it was not appreciated. It takes an exceptionally mature person to be able to handle honest feedback! In the future I need to realize that not all requests for honest input are really that, and to reflect on the maturity of the person asking for my input.

What the writer points out is the sad reality that many leaders neither listen well or truly want those they lead to be honest with them. As the writer says, "It takes an exceptionally mature person to be able to handle honest feedback!" He puts his finger on the critical issue. Maturity!

Immature leaders do not solicit feedback. The truth is they don't want it. They have something to prove and a lot to lose and when given unsolicited feedback they react defensively and take it personally. In addition, many immature leaders go further and "write off" or "demonize" those who they perceive to be "critical."

By writing off and choosing not to trust those who offer constructive feedback they isolate themselves from the very people who could help them lead more effectively. Their friendships revolve only around those who agree with them and they send a strong message that if you disagree you will no longer be in "my circle."

Immature leaders will end up as ineffective leaders if they cannot overcome their aversion to honest dialogue and feedback. The end result of this attitude is that staff don't feel able to be honest without running the risk of being marginalized. Once marginalized, they no longer feel part of the team and often will not stay. In far too many cases, staff live in fear of running "afoul" of their leader knowing that the result is not pleasant.

Here is an irony. Staff respect leaders who listen to them and who solicit and receive their feedback and foster honest dialogue. Openness and non-defensiveness build respect. Leaders who do not listen, who do not solicit or graciously receive feedback or foster honest dialogue are not respected.

They may be feared but they are not respected. The very thing they so desperately desire, respect, is secretly withheld from them. They live in a fantasy world, thinking they are wise, respected leaders while the opposite is true. They are neither wise nor respected.

We cannot change others, but we can ensure that we are mature in our leadership. Maturity requires humility and openness. It requires and attitude of "nothing to prove, nothing to lose." In fostering an open environment they build huge loyalty and respect. In being vulnerable they are strong.