A Handcrafted Life

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” -Ephesians 2:10

I love handcrafted things. My youngest son, Chip is one of the most creative people I know. All his life he has been creating things from wood, plastics, iron, canvas, leather - you name it. Today he handcrafts high end canvas and leather bags for the urban crowd. There is something very special about holding something that has been handcrafted by a master rather than mass produced. (Check out Chip's work at www.AddingtonCo.com)

What Paul says in the Scripture passage above is that God personally handcrafted each one of us. We are God’s handiwork, his creation. The word “handiwork” comes from a Greek word that means a one of a kind work of art. And that is what we are: unique, creatively made, intentionally crafted by God. There is no one else like you and never will be. 

But more amazing still is that God created you to do good works which He prepared in advance for you to do. In other words, not only did He handcraft you but he handcrafted a specific role for you to play in His Kingdom activities in the world at this time and in this place. These are the good works He prepared for you and me to do. 

There are two sides to this equation. On the one hand, God created us for good works. On the other hand, we must decide to live at the intersection of God’s call on our lives and our willingness to answer that call. He invites and empowers but we must respond and lean in.

Our world would be a different place if His people realized that they were made for greatness. Not by the world’s evaluation but by God’s. History is God’s story from start to finish and in the years that we inhabit this earth He invites us to join Him in His redemptive work - on His divine stage. Life doesn’t get better than that.

In Psalm 39:4, David says, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” David wanted God to continually remind him that life is short and it was up to him to invest his life in ways that God would approve. This is our challenge every day. We have been invited to join Him in His work. Our job is to show up, realize the opportunity and not take it for granted. Remember, He handcrafted you for a purpose.

How hungry is your staff?

How hungry is your staff?

Hungry people get things done. They have energy, ideas, are proactive and even impatient. In my experience, there are not enough staffs that have this quality. Over time staff can get comfortable, fit into routines, get stuck in ruts and lose their edge. How hungry is your staff?

How does this happen?

Simply stated: Leaders allow it. They allow staff to fit into their little niche, doing their thing without needing to pay attention to the mission as a whole. They allow silos to develop where each division does its thing. Sometimes they even add too many staff which relieves their teams of having to train volunteers and needing to work hard. Accountability for getting things done lags and there is not a missional impatience to see things happen. Expectations are tailored to the schedules of staff rather than the needs of the organization.

There is a big difference between a hungry staff and a comfortable staff. There is also a big difference in the results. Where does your staff fit on this continuum? 

Lean staffs with a passionately held mission and vision are far hungrier than a bloated staff with a mediocre vision. It is a good reason to staff lean: Hire the very best, pay competitive wages and staff as lean as possible. Anytime we become comfortable we lose our edge.

This is why staff changes are often necessary when an organization needs to be revitalized. New energy is needed as well as new leadership and vision. Otherwise, the inertia of old ways and comfortable paradigms creates a drag that prevents the organization from moving ahead. 

This is also why it is wise for boards to give a new leader significant leeway to make needed changes. It can be painful but is often necessary.

Seven signs of a hungry staff include:

• A compelling vision that cannot be ignored
• A willingness to do anything with anyone to achieve that vision
• A can do attitude that is willing to do whatever it takes with whatever resources it has to move forward
• A highly entrepreneurial, collaborative, fun and idea driven culture
• Leaders who are in the trenches with their teams - doing what needs to be done
• A self starting staff who don't need much management
• Politics virtually don't exist

Becoming an attractional church is not enough. The key is Engagement

Before I start I want to affirm that churches should be attractive to those who come. They should be welcoming, easy to assimilate into, with excellent preaching and music (the best one is capable of). If we do not have a welcoming culture we are hurting ourselves and not representing Christ well.

With that said lets consider the downside of building a church that focuses exclusively on being highly attractional in order to grow. It is very simple. 

First, the attractional model can create a consumer mentality among those it attracts. It cultivates the notion that church is about me (it isn't) and my needs (only part of the equation). 

We have all watched attractional churches suck people from neighboring churches because it's programming and preaching were "cooler" and better than their church. This generates church growth in terms of numbers but is often simply the rearranging of seats by believers. It is not the kind of church growth the New Testament envisions.

Then there is this: When the next cool church comes along, the same people who came to your church move along. They came as a consumer and they leave as a consumer. And consumer Christians are not generally mature Christians because maturity requires something far different than consumption. It requires engagement! Putting one's faith and gifts to work and living in community with fellow pilgrims. 

Without engagement there is no ownership and the back door of the church is as wide as the front door. If you want to close the back door there is something else needed: a  high level of congregational engagement. 

Engagement encompasses three areas: Engagement with God, engagement with people and engagement with service to others. The first has a lot to do with public services whether on line or in person. The goal is not to entertain but to help people connect to their Lord and savior.,

Engagement with others is equally important as the weekend services because it is in community that we often put what we have learned to work. It is where we receive encouragement and encourage. Engagement through the use of our gifts in service to others helps us grow and furthers the work of Jesus.

The New Testament talks about engagement at every turn. It is often the missing element in the western church where we put so much attention in being attractional that we don't grow disciples who are truly engaged.

Seven suggestions for managing ministry staff in the chaos of coronavirus

One of the realities of the coronavirus situation is that ministry has become far more complex and complicated. Our traditional ministry paradigms have vanished for this season. We don't see people we normally see on a regular basis, it requires far more effort to stay connected with constituents and all of that is complicated by staff who are working at home in many cases. 

Supervisors and leaders need to consider these factors as they lead in this complicated environment.

1. You may need to change your ministry priorities. Extraordinary times often require extraordinary responses. What was important two weeks ago may not be important in this season. Establish your very top priorities and ask how you can engage your staff to meet the need. Don't simply try to do everything you were doing without asking whether it is ministry critical in this environment.

2. You may need to change what some staff are doing. In this season, department distinctions and job descriptions are secondary to accomplishing the highest priorities of the ministry. For instance, if you determine that all folks 65 or older need a personal call to check on their welfare, you may need to reasign people from other departments to help you. Production teams may well need additional help as they work overtime to ensure that the online experience is all that it can be. Consider telling your staff that during this time they may well be asked to help with something that is outside of their normal purview. This is a good time to break down departmental barriers.

3. It is wise to stay in close touch with your staff or supervisors. Not everyone will easily transition from what they were doing to what they need to do now. Ensure that your supervisors are fully in line with what the church needs in this season and ensure that they are not only communicating the same to their staff but are helping their staff figure out what the need to be doing in this time. Some staff will easily adjust, some will feel like the world has gone from order to chaos and will need help.

4. Give staff clear expectations of what you expect in this season. Those who are working from home need to understand that this is not a vacation but that their work venue has changed. If anything, you need their involvement to increase rather than decrease. Clarity around expectations is crucial. That includes staying safe!

5. Ask staff to find ways to involve their volunteers. My belief is that volunteers are staff. They want to be involved which is why they volunteer in the first place. Ask what role they can play in the current environment and deploy them.

6. Remember that your staff have the same fears and concerns of others. They need encouragement, reassurance, extra emotional support and reminders that Jesus has this! We owe it to minister to them even as we minister to the congregation. Their spiritual temperature, faith and well being will spill over to the congregation at large.

7. Learn from what other ministries are doing. Everyone is trying to figure this out and we can cut our own learning curve by taking best practices from others and applying them to your own context. Large churches often can lead the way because they have the technology and staff to make it happen. Grab some ideas but don't think you need to match their standards. They have people.

These are complicated time. Don't continue as is but lead well in a changed environment. 

Five things that Jesus may want the church to learn in the age of the coronavirus

I have a conviction that nothing happens in our world, good or bad, that does not first pass by the hands of God and which He doesn't use to build His church. 

Having travelled the world for many years I have yet to find a place where Jesus is not working in the midst of suffering and hardship. In fact, church history would tell us that God does His greatest work in times of hardship because in those times He has our greatest attention. 

I believe that God is going to use this time in the church to strengthen and build it. Specifically, it is my conviction that He may use this time to help us grow in the following areas.

Faith
The American church has the resources, expertise and knowledge to do all kinds of things without much of God's power. Prayer is often perfunctory and an "add on" to our work. In the age of the caronavirus we are realizing that we actually need God desperately. That is a very good thing and a much needed course correction for the church.

Being the church
The average church attender believes that the church is the building that they worship in. It is not. Buildings are buildings. The church is made up of the people of God. We are the church and we take the gospel with us wherever we go. In a time when the church cannot meet, God is reminding us that the church is not a place but a people. This is a time to remind people that they are the church we we need to act like the church.

Sacrificial service
From the beginning of the church it has been the people of God who ministered to those in need, especially in times of crisis. This is such a time. The world is living in fear but the church has the hope of Jesus. For the church, crisis calls for engagement and service to those who need it. We may need to be creative but Jesus wants to remind us of the mandate and mission we have outside the walls of the building we meet in (or don't in this season).

From fear to trust and hope
Our world is driven by fear. Fear that I won't have enough, fear that I might get sick, fear that the stock market will wipe out my retirement account, fear that the world is coming undone. Jesus says "The righteous will live by His faith!" In these days we can learn again that Jesus invites us to a simple, child like faith in the loving, sovereign, all powerful Savior who never leaves us or forsakes us. It is a great gift to come to the place where all we have to trust in is God. He is enough!

True connections
Community is one of the key ways that we learn how to follow Jesus. Life together is about relationship, transparency, encouragement diving into God's word and a level of accountability that comes from loving relationships. In these days we need one another even more. We might not be able to gather in groups but we can certainly do life together via online tools. Perhaps God wants us to learn the value of relationships in a new way!

If you are a church leader, ask yourself what you believe God wants to do within your congregation in these troubled days. Point your people in those directions. God has everyone's attention. Let's pay attention to what He is up to behind this chaos. Remember, nothing happens in our world, good or bad, that does not first pass by the hands of God and which He does not use to build His church.

The Coronavirus and its potential implications for churches

We ought not operate from fear although the 24 hour news cycle is certainly driving fear deep into our national consciousness. I choose not to live in fear but to be appropriately prudent personally and in a leadership role. For any group that gathers large numbers of people together there is some risk - if the virus is resident in the local community. And of course, the church gathers weekly along with other events during the week.

Situations like this are opportunities for people to learn to live by faith, trust God (no matter what happens) and reach out to those who are living in fear. Like all issues we face in society and our world this is a spiritual issue as well as a health issue and we need to address it as such. God is up to something even in the most difficult of situations.

Best practices
The place to start is with some best practices that the church can practice:

1. Ensure that your staff and volunteers are regularly washing their hands. This is important for everyone but especially for those who deal with kids. Teaching kids to do the same will help mitigate the spread of the virus. 
2. Place hand sanitizer outside your gathering place, in the lobby and in easily accesible locations.
3. Ask those who have symptoms of a cold or flu to stay home until they are well. These can be signs of the virus or can be benign but one does not know. In childrens ministries this may mean telling parents that they cannot accept kids who have these symptoms - gently and kindly.
4. Use individual communion cups rather than a common cup.
5. Encourage congregants to greet one another with fist bumps or elbow bumps.
6. Encourage people to keep an appropriate distance from others.
7. Staff may be reticent to stay home if they have a cold or are not feeling well because of using up their sick days. This is a time to ensure them that you will cover such days as necessary regardless of their sick day quota. Ask them to work from home rather than coming in.

Questions to ponder before the situation arises

1. What do your childrens or youth ministries do if the local governament shuts down schools. Do you continue to meet or do you supend group events?
2. If you are in the unfortunate situation that large gatherings are either not allowed in a community or strongly discouraged, how does the church respond in terms of services?
3. If services are cancelled do you have a means of sharing a service via the web?
4. Do your staff have the ability to work from home and keep in touch with congregants?
5. How do you encourage the congregation in this situation where fear is the currency of the day?
6. If much of your giving is via the offering (which you will not be taking) how can you encourage your congregation to continue to give when they are not regularly meeting? Do you have an easy electronic means for them to use?
7. How can you use your small group leaders to stay in touch with members of their groups and can those groups meet using Skype, Zoom or some other platform?
8. Think about how you can mobilize a prayer effort so that people are focused on Jesus rather than their fear.
9. How can the church reach out to those who are affected, whether in the church or in the community during this time? Every crisis is an opportunity for ministry as people's attention is at an all time high and they are looking for divine help.

If you have suggestions to add to these best practices or questions for a church to ponder, please leave a response to the blog.

Why are Christians so mean? An article from Gary Thomas in Churchleaders.com

    

Why Are Christians So Mean?

Gary Thomas

Church Leaders.com