Growing Your Church

Time management is one of the main areas where leaders exercise poor stewardship in their congregations. The sad thing is that we often time find ways to justify the dreadful job we are doing at being such poor managers of our time. Time, though precious, is either abused or squandered.

The management of time is relevant to all of us, leaders or not. Pastors for example have a great deal of freedom in how they use their time. Pastors decide what they do on any given day. Effective management of time is critical to the pastor. It determines how well (s)he is able to carry out ministry responsibilities.

Given all of that, pastors are among the most frustrated persons when it comes to managing time. I know. Juggling family commitments, church ministry demands, community activities, sermon preparation, bible studies, counselling sessions, meetings and visiting the sick and homebound is the perfect recipe for madness. We are never the brightest in realizing that we are trying to accomplish the impossible.

Very often family and personal life end up being badly neglected. In fact, I have heard some very unwise boastings by some male colleagues that they have never taken a vacation since they have been in ministry. What did I tell you about madness! I’ll leave that for another time.

The fact is too many church leaders are in control of their time. As such, we are not able to have a sense of where we are really at. We are either feeling out-of-control, overwhelmed, or on the edge of burnout. Time for assessment is rare.

Well if you paused to read this, then take some more time to look at the two things I now share with you.

RescueTime - is free time management software particularly for those who spend a lot (ok way too much time) online. This one is my favourite. I am always hitting my head and going “Oh no, I can’t believe I spent so much time doing that…”. If you’ve uttered that a few times then RescueTime is definitely for you.

Then a friend sent me this link as his indirect way of commenting on my ‘things-to-do-list’ that I shared with him. It was a timely reminder and I’ve started the little exercise as well.

Let me know how you are making out with them.

Marvia

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Summer is almost here and Mission trip plans are in high gear in many places. I am already preparing to receive 2 groups this Summer. This is the third time we are receiving mission groups from this particular body. So far, each trip has been of great benefit to the missioners and to us.

As far as I am concerned, the success of our arrangement results from the fact that we approach mission opportunities as partnerships. I cannot say the same for some of the mission arrangements I see around us. Based on what I see still taking place in some neighbouring congregations, I have to ask if all mission outreach trips are mission trips or simply Summer vacations? And who really benefits from these trips?

I couldn’t agree more with Tony Woodlief over at World On The Web. I have often wondered myself and even raised that concern in my earlier article Christian Mission: The Age Of Mission Partnerships.

In Mission Trip or Summer Vacation Woodlief asked the following crucial questions,

So I’m wondering, what should our response be to the onslaught of youth missions this summer? What questions ought we to ask? Should we simply be thankful that young people are showing any interest in missions at all? Should we politely suggest that they can have experiences that are just as meaningful in our own inner cities, children’s hospitals, and poverty-racked rural areas? Should we pony up and keep our mouths shut? Am I a bad Christian for asking?

I encourage planners of Summer mission trips this year to become more conscious of the need to answer these and other tough questions. It is not enough to ‘get youth to do something’ or to provide travel options for retirees. The whole experience should be more than just a ‘cool trip’.

Unfortunately, some Christian youth arrive in a location and leave just as ignorant as they came. Some cannot truly engage the culture since back in their church it is villified anyway. They come passionate about ’saving the natives’ with little knowledge (gleaned from the CIA World Factbook) and very often end up offending their hosts with their ignorance.

Receiving countries of missioners are growing more and more disenchanted with the whole notion of mission trips. And congregations have grown very skeptical and tight-fisted about sponsoring mission-trips that to their mind are either (a) funded vacations (b) neo-imperialism in Christian disguise (c) a waste of their money when they have so many bills to pay (d) who cares about other people in other countries anyway?

Take care as you plan this year.

Peace,
Marvia

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The practice of Tithing has been the subject of much controversy in recent times.There are Christians who do not Tithe and for various reasons. Some do not understand the practice. Some understand but disagree with it. Some understand, agree but lack the discipline. Still others understand, agree, but make a lot of excuses not to give to the church.

So why then should Christians today maintain this practice?

The sole reason for the Church’s existence is fulfilling the Mission of God. There is no other reason why we are brought together. Congregations in various places use a variety of methods, which we call ministries, to give expression to their understanding of God’s Mission. In most cases these ministries require some kind of financial support for them to be implemented. The purpose of every ministry should be toward the transformation of lives and community.

It is on this that I premise the need for the continued financial support of the mission of God. Christian giving comes out of an understanding that all of our financial resources like everything else that we have, comes from God. It is a gift, not for hoarding, but for continued use in building up the Kingdom of God. When viewed like this, giving is not seen as a burden. You will give joyously because you know you are only managing what God has entrusted you with.

So here are the 5 Reasons I believe Christians should Tithe.

1. To advance, through financial support, the Mission of God - The church needs financial resources to fund its mission. We who are members of the church must give this support, to the best of our ability.

2. To foster fellowship - this is not readily obvious. But the church that has a lot of members giving financially and the burden isn’t only on a smaller group, enjoys much better fellowship. It is the freedom people experience when they know they are part of something. There is no guilt for not giving, or resentment for carrying all the weight.

3. To respond in obedience to God that you will give back to God (which is what you do when you contribute in church, contribute to various ministries, make donations to various organizations, help those who are in need and so on) what God has

4. Develop the discipline of self-denial - and rise about selfishness, greed and sheer meanness or lack of generosity. The world has grown heavily skewed toward selfishness. Christians should struggle against becoming like this. When you give, you are becoming more and more unlike the world.

5. To experience personal blessings - Don’t get hung up on this but it does give a heady feeling to know that what you have given has made a lasting difference in the life of someone else. So much so that that person whose life was touched is moved to glorify God (not you, God). It gives immeasurable satisfaction.

There is no rocket science in it, you don’t even need to read ‘the secret’ to get it. Just try it and you will see the profound difference it makes in your life to open your heart, purse or wallet and start giving to your church and its ministries.

Do share your stories with us on this controversial subject.

Make a change,
Marvia

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Church growth preoccupies our minds. We are filled with lofty ideals and notions of grandeur of a small church growing into a mega-church. One could almost believe that everyone who cries ‘church growth, church growth’ shall enter the Kingdom of God. Fact it is the minority of Christians who are serious about expansion of the church through it’s growth.

You can tell that the majority of Christians in our churches are against church growth. Your church might be one that is against growing the church, based on how many of these characteristics you can identify in your body. Check the list below;

Identifying Christians Against Church Growth

1. They are the non-committed members who attend church service on Sunday only. They have better and more important things to do than spend too much time doing church related activities.
2. They do not contribute financially to the church. Without finances (and a responsible Stewardship ministry) the mission of the church will be stunted. Who cares?
3. They have no depth to their spirituality. It’s all surface. No time for prayer, personal devotions, Bible Study or regular attendance and active participation in worship or humble service. They are the seeds without roots….
4. They are cold and unfriendly toward visitors. They wonder why all these strange people are now coming to their church and not the other church down the road.
5. Even worse then # 4 they do not welcome persons of another race in their congregation.
6. They hate noisy kids in worship. Why can’t parents leave their kids at home so we can worship God in peace in quiet.
7. They are not part of any working/ministry group and do not see their service as ministry in the church. These are the so-called “volunteers” who can decide at whim to ‘volunteer’ or withhold their services.
8. They are hate and conflict mongers who thrive on discord in the fellowship. There is no time for the church to heal before there is another war brewing.
9. They think the youth are nothing but a bunch of nuisance. Why don’t we keep them in a separate service so they don’t disrupt worship with their awful music and ungodly worship styles.
10. They are a law unto themselves and will not submit to the authority of a pastor. They always want to have their own way and promote their own agenda.

Be sure you check your personal score first. Then check how your church scores. The point is to see if in subtle and not so subtle ways you have been retarding rather than promoting the growth of your church.

Peace,
Marvia

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Bloodline the new documentary that claims to expose new facts on Jesus’ death and resurrection is set to be released in New York on May 9th and in LA on May 16th. This film will no doubt create an even bigger rukus than the Davinci Code.

Most people love conspiracies. The truth is the more secretive and exclusive organizations are, the more speculations run rife. Moreover, these organizations also tend to attract investigative efforts such as that of Bruce Burgess,( an English filmmaker) and Rene Barnett (his American producer).

Just like Dan Brown in the Davinci Code, the documentary takes us into the connection between the Roman Catholic Church and the Opus Dei. And once again the intriguing story of the marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene surfaces again. Jesus is also said to have fathered a child and that’s how the Bloodline story comes in. Moreover, even better than Dan Brown’s book and the movie The Last Temptation of Jesus - a body is discovered! Now whose body is it?

Hmmm…wish I knew meself!

Anyway, the real question is. What if these stories are proven to be true? How many of you would lose your faith in Jesus Christ and no longer believe him to be the Messiah? And what does it matter whether Jesus was married or not, how does that affect your faith? Tough questions. Do share your answers us with.

Keep your eyes out for the documentary coming to a theatre near you. In the meantime you may watch the movie trailer of Bloodline below

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