Seven Practices that keep us growing

Do you have a plan for continuing to grow spiritually, emotionally, relationally and to continue to develop the strengths God has given you? Each of us has a way of learning and growth that works for us. I want to suggest that there are seven disciplines that directly relate to maximizing our growth, potential, and therefore legacy.

The people we know

If you surround yourself with people who are wiser than you – some of their wisdom will rub off. The most influential people I know are deeply intentional about their relationships. They purposefully pursue relationships with individuals they respect and that they know they can learn from.

God has blessed Mary Ann and me with some of the most outstanding friends one could ever have. Each of them has influenced us in a very specific way including our faith, obedience, marriage, leadership, emotional intelligence – and the list could go on. This rich mosaic of quality friends as left an indelible mark on our lives.

We have a saying called “friends for life.” We intentionally pursue relationships with people who want to share the journey with us and then we are intentional in keeping the relationship close.

Relationships are an investment. If you invest in healthy relationships with people who are passionate about living out their lives for maximum impact you will be deeply influenced by their lives. The advice most of us got as kids is true: you become like the friends you keep. We have many acquaintances but we nurture our key relationships – more precious than all the gold in the world.

It is these key relationships that can speak into our lives, tell us truth but with the knowledge that we can trust them explicitly. There is also huge accountability built into such relationships because there is a transparency about one another and the issues we face. I know that if I were to start walking down a dangerous path exactly who would show up at my door and get my attention. I also know who will encourage us, help us and share our joys and burdens.

All of us have friends – but not all of us cultivate key friendships that have the power to help us grow, develop and become all that God made us to be. One of the young people I have mentored is moving from Minnesota to Los Angeles. He asked for any parting advice I might have. I said, “find a good church and then find the most mature, gifted, passionate individual or couple and pursue that relationship.” I said, “don’t worry about age differences, economic or educational differences, be intentional about the relationship.”

Our key friendships matter if we are going to keep growing and stay on the cutting edge of life and ministry. Choose them carefully and then nurture them regularly. Each of my friends is a faithful mentor in some area of life. Not formally but informally. I am better for every one of them.

The books we read

Books, really good ones, are like relationships. They mold us and cause us to think deeply. The issue is not how many books we read but the quality of the books we read. C.S. Lewis is a close friend of mine – as I have enjoyed his company having spent a great deal of time with his books. As are many others including my hero Winston Churchill with whom I have spent many hours, sans cigar!

As I get older I spend less time with books of business and strategy and far more time with books of the heart. Not that I ignore the former (especially don’t ignore the ones I have written) but the reality is that to finish well, my heart has to be in the right place so it has become a priority.

Choose books with care. As it says on the t-shirt book lovers wear, “too many books, too little time.” Read books that will challenge your thinking rather than simply confirm what you already know. Read deeply, allowing the writer to ruminate in your thoughts. Shallow thinking is one of the sins of our time. Read ancient as well as new – all wisdom does not reside in the present. Some of the deepest thinkers are long gone but you can meet them in their writing.

The experiences we choose

Experiences can change our lives, our perspectives and our understanding. I remember asking Jot and Marietta to travel to China with a small group I was leading. Jot later told me, “I thought why would I want to go to China?” They came and have had a many other trips back, have led ministry teams and have been active in China ministry. Experiences change us.

While we all love good experiences, the trick is to choose some that will stretch us and take us out of our comfort zone. Whenever I travel internationally, I ask to be brought to the poorest area of town. I know that 54% of our world lives on $3.00 a day or less. I want to get a reality check and see the needs as well as what God is doing in amazingly tough circumstances. You cannot make too many of those trips and come away unchanged and more deeply committed to ministries that help the hopeless as well as give them eternal hope.

I remember a ministry trip our church took to train teachers in rural Yunnan province in China. When we arrived at the college, people saw the dorms (horsehair mattresses), the toilets (holes in the floor), the food (hmm, pretty bad), the bugs (really big), the air-conditioning (open windows) and several were ready to turn around and go right back home. Yet, at the end of the ten day training period, no one wanted to leave.

Stretching ourselves with experiences that are out of our comfort zone can be game changers for us. Our cautious living may keep us in the safe zone but not in the growth zone.

The ministry we undertake

Using our gifts in ministry will always help us grow and stay fresh. But it can be scary and intimidating as well. Ministry changes us because we are joining God in His work. And when we join Him in His work, nothing stays the same.

Earlier this year, Mary Ann got a call from one of her former students at the high school whom she had helped when she became pregnant in ninth grade.

Now graduated, she was living with her boyfriend who was abusing her, had a four year old daughter and her dad had come to live with them to try to protect her. None of the three were employed. Talk about a messy situation.

She rounded up some help, called the police to meet her at the apartment, found a place for the dad to live and another place for the gal to live then networked around to find the dad a job. The gal she rescued was too used to a life of chaos to live in the order she found herself in and she went back to the abusive boyfriend several months later. The dad has remained employed and is growing in his faith.

I am always amazed when I watch Mary Ann pull something like this off. But she is in her sweet spot and ministry is often messy. But in the mess we watch God work, change lives, become whole – and learn to trust Him when things don’t go as planned – as they often do not. While Rebecca has gone back to her old ways, other members of her family are exploring faith.

You cannot stay engaged in real ministry with real people in real situations and not grow and change. Every time we take a step of faith in joining God in what He is doing, we deepen our own faith and are willing to take an even greater step of faith in the future.

The risks we take

On a regular basis, God calls us like he called Peter, to step out of our comfortable boats and to follow Him in some endeavor that requires us to trust Him and take a giant step of faith.

My friend Mark was a successful stockbroker and investment advisor when God called him to start a church that would reach the unchurched young professionals in Rockford, Il. Mark had no seminary degree, already had a well paying job but he had a passion for those who didn't know the Good News. Nothing in his resume, however, indicated that he was going to be successful in church planting – except that he was passionate.

They held their first services in Mark’s living room using videos for the preaching from Willowcreek Community Church. That risk paid off. Today, ten years later the church runs about 7,500 per weekend and they baptize in excess of 500 new believers every year. Mark sold his brokerage business so that he could lead the church full time.

It is always worth taking the risk when it is clear that God is in it. Risk forces us to trust God in ways we have not had to trust before. The comfort zone is a dangerous place for growth and development. It is in the red zone where we see the most growth but we must be willing to take the risk – to grow. My experience is that God is often calling us to risk something for Him. Those who respond, grow. Those who do not, don’t.

The questions we ask

We grow when we choose to be inquisitive. I love spending time with my friend Ken. He asks tons of questions – about everything. It does not matter if he is meeting with a twenty-something or someone like himself who runs a large corporation. He is always asking, listening, learning.

Some people don’t ask many questions because they think that it is a sign of weakness. I had lunch with the senior executive of a ministry that serves other ministries including the one I work for. In the two hour lunch, he asked one question, at the end. Otherwise it was all about him. I told a friend on the way out, this individual is not a good leader and he is not a learner.

Asking questions is an art that can be learned. The simple question, “What do you think about….” can open great conversation, give you a glimpse of a different perspective and learn something new.

The obedience we pursue

Nothing will cause us to grow, develop and stretch like a commitment to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. Many of us have a “negotiated followership.” We follow when it is easy and convenient, but where followership is inconvenient we fudge. That is why studies show that there is very little difference in lifestyle between those who claim to be evangelicals and the rest of society.

Non-negotiated followership is the commitment to align our lives with Jesus and Scripture through the empowerment of His Spirit. Every time we take a new step of obedience, we change and we grow – closer to what God wants us to be.

The New Testament is explicit that there are things that we are to “take off” and other things that we are to “put on.” Our life is a journey of taking off those things that are part of our sinful nature and putting on those things that are from the Spirit of God. Nothing will bring more personal growth than a commitment to continuously align our lives with His.

Our commitment to keep growing, stay engaged and join God in His work takes intentionality and a set of disciplines that is designed to keep us on the growing edge.

Legacy

What if you could actually shape the legacy you leave? Rancy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon had that opportunity when he discovered that he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Millions have been impacted by "The Last Lecture he gave on lessons he had learned in his life.

The courage and grace with which Randy and his wife Jai faced his early death riveted and inspired many. His book has caused many to think about the power of legacy and what they will leave behind.

All of our lives have a finish line. The question is, when we reach that line, what have we left behind? What legacy will we leave?

Fast forward to the day of your funeral. Your family is there, your kids, your spouse - if you are married - and your closest friends. If you could listen in on their conversation what would you want to hear? What will your kids say about you?

When I consult with organizations on issues like their preferred future, we never start with the present. Rather we ask the question, what do you want to look like in ten years? What kind of organization do you want to be and what kind of impact do you want to have? You look first at the end and then you design a plan that will make it possible for the organization to reach its target.

Here is an interesting concept. We often live life without much of a target - driven by the moment, our jobs, the expectations of others and the overwhelming busyness of life - hoping we get it right. But too many get to the finish line with a long list of regrets.

They realize that they didn't invest enough time in their children or marriage. They regret that they did not have more time for deep relationships. They wish that there had been more time for reflection and thinking but now there is too little time for those things that suddenly are more important than the salary they pulled down or the ladder they climbed.

It is possible to minimize the number of regrets we have a the finish line by determining now what we want our legacy to be. And then to use the legacy we want to leave as the blueprint for how we choose to live our lives. In other words we need to start with the end result we want and then design our lives in a way that is most likely to get us there.

God did not design live to be randomly or carelessly lived. He created each of us uniquely first for relationship with Him and then for work for Him. There is purpose to our lives - an eternal purpose that will outlive our days on this earth.

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), the master calls his three servants and tells them that he is going on a long journey. He divides his wealth and tells them to invest it well so that there is a return when he comes back.

Upon his return, two of the servants had doubled the money given to them to manage. To these two, Jesus said, "Well done, good and faithful servants. You have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness (Matthew 25:21).

The third servant was preoccupied with his own life issues and frankly didn't have time for his master's investments so he merely buried it and offered a lame excuse for why he had not invested them on his master's behalf. Jesus' words for the third servant were harsh. He had not paid attention to his master's business but only to his own.

There is both a message of blessing and a warning in this parable. Of course, the master is Christ, his servants are us. The talents (money) he handed out are the gifts and opportunities he has given to us to use on his behalf for the unique work he prepared for each of us to accomplish on his behalf. Our choice is whether we will faithfully steward what He has entrusted or whether we will live a life of self preoccupation and selfishness.

Using the gifts God has entrusted to us is one of the greatest blessings any of could experience because these investments have eternal value. Those of us who take our opportunity seriously will be with many individuals in heaven who our lives touched - many whom we never met - because we used the gifts God gave us to attain a lasting, eternal legacy.

Take a few moments and jot down what you want your legacy to be and then ask whether you are living out the priorities that will get you where you want to be when you reach the finish line. It makes all the difference in this world - and the next.

The mentor/coach model of supervision

What does it mean to be a supervisor? For many the word 'manager' comes to mind. But think about that. Do you like to be managed? For many, that word spells control and it is not a cool or empowering word. What it says is that my manager does not trust me to do the job I have been hired to do or that two people need to have a hand in doing my job - my manager and me.

One of the most frustrating issues good people face is the sense that they have too little freedom to use their gifting, skills and creativity to accomplish the work they have been hired to do.

Do you really want to 'manage' others? Most ministry leaders and supervisors I know find the traditional job of 'managing' others frustrating and time consuming. And it should be because good people were not made to be managed. They were made to be empowered, set free and then coached and mentored. If people on your team cannot be set free, empowered and then coached, you have the wrong people on the team.

A mentor coaching model is dependent on your staff having a clear plan and a clear understanding of what spells success. Thus the importance of Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Annual Ministry Plans (AMPs). If you need more information on KRAs and AMPs you will find a clear paradigm in the book, Leading From the Sandbox.

I am going to make a distinction between mentoring and coaching. They are different sides of the same coin, each with its own focuses. A good team leader needs to practice both, depending on the circumstances.

The Practices of Coaches

Coaches want to release the gifting and potential in others
Coaching is not about helping others become like us! Or having them do things the way we would do them. Coaching is about releasing the gifting and potential in others and helping them become as successful and impactful as they possible can be.

'Release' is a key word for a coach. Good people have been gifted by God with unique skills and particular ways of approaching problems and situations. Coaches want to tap this potential and these gifts, pulling them out so that the gifting and potential are released in increasingly productive and effective ways.

Coaches don't tell, they ask
Releasing the potential in others means that our challenge is not to tell people how we would do things if it were us, but to help those we coach figure out how to solve problems and meet challenges themselves. Coaches ask questions, lots of questions, questions that make others think and come to good conclusions.

Coaches care about the whole person
Many leaders and organizations simply use people. While good organizations, teams and leaders are deeply missional, coaches understand that there are many factors in a person's life that affect their work, their emotional health, and their makeup. Caring about the whole person is one of the keys to unlocking potential.

Coaches are exegetes of those they coach
People are different and need to be approached differently. People cannot be treated alike in a cookie-cutter way. Individuals are just that - individuals, and our approach, whether mentoring or coaching, needs to fit who they are and the wiring they have.

Coaches hold people with an open hand
The ultimate test of whether we want the best for those who work with us and for us is: Do we hold them with an open hand? Are we willing to develop them for their sake even if it means that we end up developing them out of the organization?

Holding people with an open hand and wanting the best for them engenders huge loyalty and appreciation. The message we give is that we ultimately care about them, and what God wants for their lives, not what we want for their lives or what we can get out of them. When we try to control others we are violating them and may be violating God's best for them.

Coaches always try to keep their people engaged
People, especially highly motivated people, are not static. They grow, they change, they get bored, and they periodically need new challenges. My philosophy is that I want to find the very best people I can find and then keep them highly motivated by changing their responsibilities when I need to.

The Practices of Mentors

Mentors give honest feedback
Constructive feedback is often missing in ministry organizations where the culture is supposed to be 'nice.' The lack of honest feedback hurts the individual and the organization. It does no one any favors and can eventually result in people actually being let go for behaviors that might have been modified if someone had been courageous enough to be honest.

Mentors get people individual training when necessary
Good mentors not only provide honest feedback but also, where necessary, insist that an employee or team member receive help that will allow them to be more effective. This often means help from a psychologist or a good mentor, especially when someone is dealing with behaviors that negatively impact their own lives, the lives of others or those on their team.

Mentors care about their people but they also want a winning team
Leaders build teams that can win. Healthy leaders are committed to results, insist that the team play well together, that players are playing to their strengths, and that the results re consistent with the mission of the organization.

This means that if changing the responsibilities or team members to better organize the team for effective ministry is necessary, they will do it. It also means that there are times when they need to let someone go because they cannot play at the level needed in their ministry role, or the person is not effective in their job even after intensive mentoring. Good leaders do not allow the mission of the organization to be compromised by keeping people who are not effective.

Being a mentor/coach with those you supervise takes more time but it also brings out the best of those who work with us, engenders huge loyalty and yields huge ministry dividends. It is worth the investment.

The changing face of world missions

Missions is changing. Not in terms of the ultimate goal of bringing the Good News to every corner of the globe - but in many of the paradigms about how it is happening. Here are some of the poitive trends that are taking place today.

An emphasis on healthy personnel
Many mission agencies have historically measured their success by how many mission personnel they have. Because numbers was the measuring stick, the spiritual, relational, emotional and skill health of it's personnel was not always a high priority. This is changing dramatically today as agencies realize that "numbers" is not the measurement but "health." Only healthy personnel can train healthy national leaders and result in healthy churches.

Non-paternalistic attitudes
While mission agencies have a long ways to go in shedding paternalistic attitudes and practices, significant progress has been made in many places. Paternalism is the attitude that "we are the experts, we have the money, we have the education and thus we have the upper hand in the relationship with those we come to serve." While unspoken, this attitude has often been the reality and it is complicated by the fact that those who have the money have the power.

There is a growing sensitivity to this issue and its negative implications - and the necessity of a servant leadership model that "partners" with indigenous movements - where both parties come to the ministry table as equals and both have something to bring to the ministry effort. The truth is that missionaries should be there to develop, empower and release healthy national leaders. While an ongoing challenge, the development of healthy partnerships between missionaries and nationals is a growing and God honoring trend.

Multiplication rather than addition.
The move toward doing everything we can to do multiplication rather than addition in missions is directly related to the movement toward non-paternalistic attitudes and relationships. In the paternalistic world, the missionary needs to plant the church and pastor the church. In the non-paternalistic world, the missionary is there to develop, empower and release national workers as quickly as possible and they give ministry away to nationals. This allows mission personnel to multiply themselves and their ministries - an absolute necessity in a world where the world population has grown from 1.9 billion to 6.5 billion in the last 100 years.

Development of international mission movements
Missions today is all people reaching all people and one of the most encouraging trends is the growing commitment of those who have traditionally been on the receiving end of mission ministry becoming sending movements.

Strategic mission agencies encourage those they work with to become sending movements as quickly as possible. Not only does this plant a misssion's DNA from the start but no church movement is mature until it too is taking part in the great commission. This allows the mission agency and the indigenous movement they work with to partner together in the missions endeavor and to raise up large numbers of indigenous missionaries to impact that region of the world. This is huge leverage for missions.

A related development is the development of cross cultural missions teams working together to do cross cultural ministry.
This is a natural outcome of developing non-paternalistic attitudes and encouraging indigenous mission movements. Not only does our organization (ReachGlobal) partner with other western agencies but we partner with non-western mission movements from both the developed and the developing world.

This is resulting in cross cultural mission teams working together to do cross cultural ministry. I am convinced that this is the future picture of missions. While there are challenges for everyone in the process it is a beautiful thing to see people from different cultures working together to accomplish the great commission.

Holistic emphasis
Increasingly, evangelical missions is seeing the need of not only sharing the Good News and planting churches but in showing the love of Christ through holistic ministry - especially in the developing world and among the marginalized in the developed world. This trend is accelerated when we partner with partners in the "majority world" which is a poor world.

Believers in the majority world have always seen the necessity and understood the theology of holistic ministry. Remember that 54% of our world lives on $3.00 or less per day. Holistic ministry not only demonstrates the love of Christ but it opens amazing ministry doors to people who are desperately looking for hope in life.

Missions has become accessible to people with a wide variety of skills. No longer is missions reserved for those who have a theological degree, or are a doctor or teacher. With an emphasis on holistic ministry cutting edge mission agencies are building ministry teams of qualified individuals from many walks of life and with many skill sets. Ministry platforms include compassion, business, micro-development, formal theological training, informal theological training, education, community health, medical, and a variety of other platforms that can all contribute to church planting efforts and the raising up of healthy national leaders.

Informal theological training.
One of the most strategic leverage points in missions today is the training of either lay bi-vocational or full time ministry personnel with non-formal theological training. It does not take formal seminary training to plant or pastor a church. It does take training but it can be delivered through on going education. It is amazing for westerners to watch national workers who do not have the education we have do effective ministry with few resources and see far more spiritual fruit than we typically see in the developed world.

Local church involvement
The local church, around the world is reclaiming its role in the Great Commission. The vision and responsibility for missions was, after all, given to the local church, not to mission agencies. In fact, it is my conviction that the mission agencies that will thrive and survive in the coming years are those who will serve the global vision of the local church and those that do not will not. The globalization of our world has made it much easier for local churches to be involved in global ministry. It will take the involvement of the global church to fulfill the Great Commission.

All of these are positive developments in the changing face of world missions.

Money matters: four categories of giving

A significant issue in helping those in our congregations grow in their spiritual maturity is to help them understand the part that generosity with God plays into their discipleship. It was Martin Luther who said that true conversion is a conversion of the heart, the mind and the pocketbook. In other words, until God has our wallet, he does not have our full follower ship. This is the reason that Christ talked more about money and possessions than almost any other topic in the New Testament.

As we address this issue in the church it is not first about meeting our budgets or funding our ministries. It is first about helping people follow Christ more closely. Those who do not learn to be generous with God miss out on many of the blessings that he shares with those who are. I have often said to my sons, "most people believe that they cannot afford to tithe. I cannot afford not to tithe."

The truth is that only around 2% of those who call themselves Evangelicals tithe. Studies have shown that there is also an inverse relationship between giving and income. The higher the income the lower the percentage that is given to God's work. One study indicated that 20% of those who made $20,000 or less per year tithed while only 2% of those who made more than $100,000 tithed.

I believe that one can categorize giving habits of believers into four categories - which frankly also pretty directly mirror the maturity of the individual. As you talk about giving in your congregation, it can be helpful to talk about these four categories and encourage people to take the next step in their giving commitments by moving from the category they are in to the next one.

Sporadic giving
This is the individual who periodically puts something in the offering. Generally these are immature believers who are also sporadic in their worship attendance. There is no true commitment to giving here except from time to time.

Regular giving
These folks have moved beyond sporadic to regular giving. This is a significant step forward because it indicates a plan and intentionality in their giving. This often reflects those who are more regular in their attendance.

Percentage giving
This is yet another step toward financial maturity because there is a commitment to give a percentage of one's income. Often the goal here is to get to the place where 10% of one's income is being given to ministry.

Generous giving
This reflects the most mature attitude toward giving. As Christ has been incredibly generous with us, so we choose to be very generous with Him, knowing that there are only three things that cross the line from time to eternity: our own maturity; the people we have influenced for the gospel through our lives and those who have found Christ or grown in Christ because of financial investments we have made. You cannot take it with you, but you can send it ahead of you.

If in your teaching about financial stewardship, you talk about these four categories of giving, you will see heads nod in acknowledgement. You then have an opportunity to regularly encourage people to move from one category to the next - as a part of their followership of Christ.

Two great resources:

Crown Ministries - curriculum for small groups.
Money, Possessions and Eternity, by Randy Alcorn. One of the best books ever written on what the Scriptures have to say about money and possessions - and their relationship with eternity.

What missionaries should your church support?

The process for determining who a church will support as a missionary often leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, it is not unusual for a church to support someone that they would never hire themselves!

Here is something to consider: Just because someone is from your church, or feels called by God does not mean they are qualified to serve as a missionary. Or that you need to support them. We need to subject our missions budgets to the same scrutiny as we do the rest of our budgets. We need to subject the health and qualifications of the missionaries we support in the same way we would do with staff members we hire.

Dollars for missions are not unlimited. Just as we would not simply hire someone in our local church ministry who feels "called" we should not do so with our missions dollars. How we invest the limited dollars we have makes a difference.

Who then should we support? First, we need to know that the individual has relational, emotional and spiritual health. There is nothing more problematic in cross cultural ministry than to have unhealthy relational or emotional health. It goes without saying that spiritual health must be present.

Ask yourself the question. If there was a job available in your church, would you hire this person? If not, why not? If not, why would you send them internationally?

Second, we need to know that they possess a skill that will directly contribute to a missions endeavor. It is problematic to send an individual who has no track record in their own country. Ensure that there is a skill that is needed and that they possess the qualifications they need to do the job they are going to do.

Third, we need to know that the missions organization is healthy. Not all mission agencies are created equal. Some are simply support raising umbrellas for any who want to go into missions but they have no discernible strategy for missions, nor do they have a built in accountability structure or require staff to have well worked out plans. The effectiveness of those you send is directly impacted by the quality of the agency they are going with. Don't assume it is a good organization - find out.

Ask about the ministry philosophy and guiding principles of the organization that your prospective missionaries are going out under. Ask about strategy, accountability and intentionality. Find out what kind of support structure there is in place to ensure that your missionaries will be properly supported by the organization.

Fourth, we need to know whether the mission organization does multiplication or addition. Is the mission doing things that nationals could be doing or are they focused on raising up healthy national workers so that they are multiplying themselves.

The cost of missions is high. Once you factor in living expenses, travel, ministry expenses, health care and retirement, it is a significant bill. With limited resources, we need to be stewards of the funds and opportunity we have to reach our world.

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.

Vision demystified - the last 20%

We indicated in the previous blog entry that 80% of vision for the local church has to do with what the people of God ought to be and crafting a mission, set of guiding principles, central ministry focus and culture of spiritual vitality to help God's people become transformed into His image. Getting clarity on those four areas is not easy but it is not complicated either. It simply takes the time and hard work of leaders to clarify, communicate and then be intentional in living these four areas out.

Then there is the other 20%. Here, leaders must make critical directional decisions that help the congregation maximize its spiritual influence in the community in which it is located - and in the world that it wants to reach. These directional decisions have significant opportunity to help the church expand its spiritual influence.

Directional decisions can include staffing, building, relocating, initiating ministry initiatives, killing no longer effective ministries, governance changes, community initiatives and other key decisions.

I think it is helpful to differentiate between two kinds of directional decisions. Global and local. I am not using these terms geographically.

By global, I mean directional decisions that actually change the game for a congregation. They are the kinds of decisions that are infrequent but significant - they are game changers. Take for instance, the game changer that Crystal Evangelical Free Church undertook in a suburb of Minneapolis. Historically the church had served an upper middle class congregation and community and was one of the larger churches in the EFCA.

When the church outgrew its campus in Crystal, it relocated to New Hope several decades ago where it continued to expand. Over the last decade, however, the community of New Hope changed significantly from an upper white middle class community to an ethnically diverse, lower class community.

The typical response to churches in changing communities is to continue to do ministry as usual and either relocate to a community that reflects its constituency or stay and become a commuter church with its traditional constituency driving from further out neighborhoods.

As Steven Goold, the senior pastor and his board pondered the changing landscape they chose a drastic, risky, prayerful and considered decision not only to stay but to intentionally change their ministry to minister to the multi-ethnic, lower class community. This was a global decision that changed the ministry game of the congregation.

It meant diversifying the staff. It meant accepting the fact that some who had called Crystal their church home would leave. It meant that the budget would probably go down. It meant learning new ways to do worship and doing the tough work of building love and unity in a multi-ethnic congregation rather than a white upper middle class congregation. It meant learning new ways to relate, to minister, to relate. It changed everything. It even meant changing the name of the church to reflect the community in which it was located "New Hope." It has not been easy but God is blessing the decision and God is at work in awesome ways.

Global decisions like this are the result of a huge amount of prayer, seeking God's direction, dialogue, discussion, planning and reflection. They are made by thoughtful leaders who have done the hard work of discerning the times, the opportunities, the right course of action and who have the courage to lead a deliberate process in order to make the transition from what is to what God is calling the church to. Such decisions should never be made quickly, should never be made without counting the cost - and there will be a cost - and should never be made without the leadership commitment to work the necessary process.

Most directional decisions are "local," in that they are key decisions but more limited in their scope. For instance, a decision to focus on compassion ministries within one's community in order to meet the commitment of the congregation to be the hands and feet of Jesus would fit this definition. Many local directional decisions are made on an annual basis in order to further the spiritual influence of the congregation and maximize its effectiveness.

The point here is that vision is a deliberate process on the part of leaders to maximize the opportunity and spiritual influence of the congregation. Most of these key directional decisions are limited in scope and a few are game changers. If leaders want to be "visionary," it is not necessary to have huge aspirations. It is necessary to be deliberate in figuring out how they can maximize the opportunity God has given them and then make the directional decisions to expand its effectiveness or influence.

You can be a leader in any community and any size church and be a leader and church of great vision. In fact, God has called you to do that. Vision is not the purview of the huge ministries around the world. It should be the vision of every congregation in every community.

One final thought. Wise leaders spend a lot of time praying, thinking and talking about how to maximize the opportunity God has given them. This means that they understand that their job is not to manage the present but to thoughtfully plan for the future. These kinds of discussions and times of prayer need to make up a large part of the time and work of church leaders. Vision is about the future and always pressing the missional agenda of the church for the sake of Christ and His kingdom.

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Vision demystified - the first 80%

In talking to pastors, one of the frustrations I often hear is - how do I determine vision for my church? We go to conferences and hear the importance of vision, we read the tomes of successful pastors who tell us how important vision is and we look at our church and say, "what do I do about that here?"

The good news is that all of us can have and communicate vision. But, we need to be clear about what vision is. Vision is primarily about what we want our church to be - missional, healthy, a place where we grow people into fully devoted followers of Jesus and where we are releasing people into active, meaningful ministry.
In fact, I would argue, that is 80% of what vision is all about. It is NOT the spectacular plans we have for the future - it IS about leading our church in a way that produces healthy Christ followers who are making an impact for Him in their neighborhoods, schools, places of work and community. The church is about transformation of lives into the image of Christ and when lives are transformed it starts to impact our communities.

How do we determine and put into practice this 80% of our vision for our congregations? There are four areas we need to define, articulate and constantly monitor. If you can clearly articulate these four areas, you can then work on annual plan to ensure that the congregation is growing in all four - and you will be moving intentionally toward greater health and spiritual vitality.

Mission - Why are we here?

We often underestimate the importance of a clear mission statement that articulates why we exist. It is critical because we often wrongly assume that the folks in our church are clear as to why the church exists. I can tell you with certainty that many are not. In fact, many church attenders have never even thought about it, they just enjoy being part of a good church. Yet everything about the church is missional if we take the great commission seriously.

If a mission statement cannot fit on the back of a t-shirt it is probably too long. 80% of your people ought to be able to tell you what the mission statement is and explain it. If they cannot, whatever you have as a mission statement is not going to make much difference in what actually happens.
Mission statements are not about a line to put into the bulletin but a commitment on the part of all of our people to be lived. Don't underestimate the power of a well crafted, constantly articulated and leader championed mission. It is a powerful tool to help point the whole congregation in the same direction of "more believers and better believers."

Guiding Principles - what are the core principles by which we will all live?
These are the principles by which we agree to do ministry, relate to one another and conduct ourselves as believers. These principles ought to actually guide behavior and in guiding behavior it actually shapes the kind of culture you want to create in your church . A carefully crafted set of guiding principles, if constantly championed by leaders and intentionally lived out allows you to intentionally create a healthy culture rather than simply settling for what is.
With guiding principles, one can intentionally create a culture of relationships, practices, spiritual dependency and commitments that are God honoring and designed to maximize the ministry opportunity your church has. They are powerful teaching opportunities to help your people understand how He wants us to relate to one another, to Him, to unbelievers and to the world. If we got that right in the church we would be an amazing transformational force in our communities.
Central Ministry Focus - what do we need to do all the time to maximize our spiritual impact as a church?

The central ministry focus is the one thing that your church needs to do day in and day out in order to maximize your ministry effectiveness. For the church I believe Scripture has already given us that focus - in Ephesians 4:12. The job of leaders is to equip people for works of ministry so that individuals become mature, the body is built up and the Kingdom is expanded.

The very reason the church has so little impact in our world is precisely because not enough believers are serious about using their spiritual gifts for the advancement of the kingdom. And not enough church leaders are truly serious in helping their people understand their God given gifting and then releasing them in meaningful ministry - not simply in the church but in the community at large that the church has been called to influence and transform.

Ephesians four is clear on three counts. One that the job of leaders is not simply to do the work of ministry but to equip everyone to be involved in meaningful ministry. Two, that no Christ follower is mature who is not actively using their gifting for the cause of Christ and three, that our congregations will only be mature to the extent that the whole body is involved in using their gifts. Those three truths explain why most churches have so little impact and why some churches have enormous impact. Our impact is directly related to the seriousness with which we develop, empower and release our people in meaningful ministry.

Culture - Developing a culture of spiritual vitality The culture we must grow in the church is a culture of spiritual vitality.

Wise leaders take the time to determine what a mature believer looks like and then they create intentional teaching, experiences and opportunities for people who want to grow into Christ's likeness to do so. Rather than simply hoping people mature they are deeply intentional about seeing transformation happen.

The church I attend identifies five marks of spiritual vitality:
Grace: Understanding God's grace to us and extending it to others
Growth: Having an intentional plan to grow our relationship with Christ
Gifts: Using our gifts for the advancement of His kingdom
Generosity: Being generous with God as he has been generous with us
Gathering: Growing and ministering in community with others

Those five marks of spiritual maturity or vitality become the target we have for all in the church. Lived out, these five practices will, through the work of the Holy Spirit bring transformation to our lives.

How does one communicate these four areas to the congregation and keep them in front of them all the time? I use a SANDBOX (hence the title of this blog site) to illustrate the four sides of our ministry - mission (top side), guiding principles (left side), central ministry focus (bottom side) and culture of spiritual vitality (left side). Thus in one picture I am able to illustrate these four areas which make up 80% of the vision for our churches or ministry organizations. Then we ask people to play inside the sandbox and use the sandbox as a teaching tool throughout the ministry.

If you are interested in more information on crafting these four key areas for your church or ministry organization - and therefore defining the key elements of your vision, the book, Leading from the Sandbox: Develop, Empower and Release High Impact Ministry Teams provides a road map for you. If you click on the book to the right of this posting you can order the book.