#newministry

[wspolidoro]

Atenção: aprenda como fugir de golpes na internet - Jornal Diário do Estado Resumo: De acordo com a especialista em assuntos da internet e marketing digital, Aline Bak, por mais que tenhamos mais informação, nós agimos por impulso ou por confiar na fonte que enviou algum link malicioso, mesmo que esse remetente não tenha certeza de que é seguro. #agenciadigital #redessociais #criandoagencia Leia mais: https://diariodoestadogo.com.br/coluna/atencao-aprenda-como-fugir-de-golpes-na-internet/

[becominghuman]

Are Buildings a Burden? (Part 3)

I’ve made two strong suggestions so far. Here they are again, for you to consider and chew on:

1) For all the promise a building offers, it binds us to a past reality that no longer exists. In a way, building-centric ministry is an inversion of the truth that young people will lead us into the unknown future.

2) The most important couple of questions to ask are: (1) How do we invest our resources, not in the past, but in the emerging future—the future our young leaders see clearly and are already experiencing firsthand? and (2) How do we free up resources to invest in the right people . . . the people that will lead us forward?

The APEST leadership styles found in Ephesians 4 is helpful here. (Pause. Just to be clear, a prescribed “leadership style” cannot be found anywhere in scripture. And it’s disingenuous to suggest such. However, what we get in Ephesians is a description of different roles in [one of] the first century churches, which is gently suggestive that perhaps different people—then and now—fulfill those roles as faithful participants and leaders in the body.) Ephesians 4:11 does undergird my experience that no two leaders lead the same. Every leader expresses different gifts, and yet most leaders favor one of the five APEST “styles”.

As we consider equipping young leaders to lead us into the unknown future, it’s essential to understand how our current paradigm for ministry may likely conflict with their particular skill sets and capacities.

APEST stands for:

Apostolic Prophetic Evangelistic Shepherding Teaching

Apostles are “sent ones” and they are always on the move.

They translate the Gospel into new contexts and always are looking for and discovering fresh ways to manifest the Kingdom. They are bridge-builders, innovators, and launchers. They are driven by what’s around the next corner and always looking into the future. They are often identified by their creative energy and comfort with change.

Prophets hear from God.

Or, more accurately, prophets are sensitive to what God is sensitive to and call the community of believers to do the same. Biblically speaking, prophets speak truth to power because they are not afraid to question the status quo, challenge assumptions, side with the suffering, and publicize lament. They are often activists and challengers, leading with their hearts and passion.

Evangelists are expanders and recruiters.

They are effective communicators of the Gospel with those that wouldn’t find themselves sitting inside a church. They are motivated by getting outside the church and finding “lost sheep” to bring into the fold. In this way they recruit and grow the church. But they also expand the reach of a body because translating the Gospel in the “secular” world comes naturally to them.

Shepherds nurture a community.

They find value in stability and maturity. They are particularly gifted at prioritizing healthy, long term relationships, and steering the church toward an emphasis on discipleship. Shepherds appreciate systems that support the network of the relationships that make up the body and highlight the need for loving environment for safety and healing.

Teachers have a keen ability to both understand the faith and communicate it.

They help ground the body in the historical faith, scripture, and wisdom. Because they are skilled at sharing the Gospel and transferring doctrine, they emphasize the intellectual aspects of the faith. Teachers can challenge the community through confrontational teaching, but they are more drawn to revealing the truth through discovery and education.

As you can see, while there are some similarities in the context of young leaders, there are differences in their capacities and dispositions.

Church buildings and building-centric ministries struggle to inform and prepare all five types of young leaders.

Buildings are a long-term investment. The fruits of church building ownership are not immediate but cumulative over time. This is obvious in a financial sense, as a building’s value appreciates over time. But it’s a socio-psychological investment too. A church building grows in familiarity and sentimentality, becoming associated over time with fond memories, meaningful anecdotes, congregational growth, and shared experience. The building’s emotional value appreciates. Unfortunately, this carries very little importance for apostles. Apostles are looking forward not backward, ahead not behind. Value is in innovation and being ahead of the cultural curve. Buildings, especially ones tied to sentimentality, are the antithesis of apostolic ministry

Buildings are a safe investment. They are a sure-fire way to secure a community’s wealth. Arguably, they represent good stewardship. A prophet, however, doesn’t see buildings as security but as misplaced value, inhibited resources, and even unjust. Prophets are always asking, What would God do with these resources other than hoarding them as wealth security. Training prophets to help us be more faithful will require a radical redistribution of our investments.

Evangelists want to expand the reach of the church and penetrate the community. Traditionally churches have often viewed their building as a gift-of-space to the community and therefore an evangelistic tool. The problem here is that the evangelistic imaginations of churches is too limited. The church uses the building predominantly for Sunday gatherings, and consequently understands its function through that lens. Evangelism is often reduced to inviting the community to “come see how we use this building” which is effectively an invitation to Sunday morning worship.

Shepherds and teachers have historically thrived in space provided by a church building. There are classrooms for teaching, fellowship halls for conversations, offices for private conferencing, auditoriums for conventions and larger gathering opportunities, etc. With Sunday School attendance dropping, third space venues on the rise, and studies showing pastors spending more time in coffee shops and home offices than at the church, teaching and community building must also shift. Training shepherds and teachers must also be reimagined in new locations too.

Buildings are a burden because they rely on a conferencing paradigm. Because the building is no longer the primary place where communities gather (conference), leadership development for the future cannot successfully occur within a conferencing paradigm. Come, gather, and see is not a refrain that situates our congregations well in raising apostles, affirming prophets, encouraging evangelists, and equipping teachers and shepherds.

Perhaps a coordinating paradigm would be more effective. While conferencing assumes that the flow of energy and attention is always toward the church building on Sunday morning, coordinating assumes there are diverse contexts and locations necessary for training new leaders. All five types of leaders need different space and difference experiences to develop into the faithful leaders of tomorrow. The local church should consider itself the coordinator of those diverse contexts.

Coordinating doesn’t require a church building, but it does require space, facilities, and resource. What type of facilities are necessary? Where are they and how might they be used? Can the church’s buildings be converted or overhauled to suit the changing needs?

[revdrshelley]

It’s time to make things happen. #soulpreneur #soulpurpose #soulventures #newministry https://www.instagram.com/p/BtBVVPpFsJj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rt7w7eqlnvnj

[247newsgh-blog]

I’ll scrap some of Nana Addo’s new ministries – John Mahama

The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama says he will scrap some of the newly created ministries the Akufo-Addo administration introduced if the NDC is voted back into power. The Akufo-Addo administration now has 125 ministers, over 30 more ministers more than its predecessors. Speaking during a retreat for the party’s election directors in Tamale, Mr. Mahama said: “We are said to have achieved a world record of 125 ministers. Definitely, some of those ministries will go under an NDC government.” The former President argued that a large number of ministers was a huge drain on public funds. “Government expenditure has ballooned and they are not able to collect enough revenue to meet the high expenditure. And part of the high expenditure is because of the huge number of political appointments.” Citing some examples, Mr. Mahama singled out, among others, the Procurement Minister as being redundant. “Procurement ministry will go. You have a whole Public Procurement Authority which was supervised by the Ministry of Finance. What do you need a Procurement Minister for?” The most recent additions came as Ghana welcomed six new regions in 2019; the Western North, Oti, Ahafo, Bono East, Savannah and North East regions. President Nana Akufo-Addo has consistently justified his “elephant-sized” government, saying: “as you know there are some who say my government is too big and there are too many of you . I am a firm believer in the adage the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Read the full article

[dorothydenise44-blog]

I serve a Faithful God! There is so much happening NOW! Many doors are opening NOW! Preparation is key! Be ready for your NOW! It can take YEARS to get to your NOW, but if you stay faithful and committed that season will come🙌🏽 #faithful #inawe #IalwaysblessHisname #newradioshow #possibletvshow #thehiddenaffair #newministry #samecoregroup #stillprostrateandbowedposture

[hollywoodumc-harmonytolucalake]

The tough decisions... donuts or cookies. We always have a great time of community and fellowship after church. Thank you to our wonderful hospitality team for providing the treats! . . . #afterchurchsnacks #fellowship #Harmony #faith #tolucalake #HarmonyTL #noho #northhollywood #humc #hollywoodumc #newministry #newchurch #tolucalakechurch #allarewelcme #CCM (at Harmony Toluca Lake)

[justbeingmichael]

My top 9 in 2017! I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store! #2017bestnine #Almost10KLikes👍 #ExcitedForWhatsComing🙌 #KenSol📈 #NewProjects👓 #NewWork💡 #NewMinistry🎤🎹 #NewVision💒 #NewPurpose🌞 (at Dunedin, Florida)

[gustavotroncoso]

#carolinatroncoso #suspastores #angieymami #blessings #bendiciones #cristianos #newministry #newchurch (at TeCafe)

[tanapolis-blog]

Walking through the City God has called is to. Loving everything we come across. Thx @Jiri.S for showing us around and introducing us to the #STCRotterdam crew. #rotterdam #servethecity #welovethiscity #newhome #newseason #newministry (at Noordereiland)

[wspolidoro]

Dia do Cliente: Quais ferramentas são tendências para atrair a atenção dos consumidores? - Mundo do Marketing Recent highlights: O Live Commerce abraça todas essas características e vem como uma tendência forte para os próximos tempos, afirma Mateus Magno, Co-CEO da Samba Digital, empresa da Sambatech focada em transformação digital, inovação e com soluções para live commerce. #agenciadigital #redessociais #criandoagencia Leia mais: https://www.mundodomarketing.com.br/ultimas-noticias/39458/dia-do-cliente-quais-ferramentas-sao-tendencias-para-atrair-a-atencao-dos-consumidores.html

[becominghuman]

Are Buildings a Burden? (Part 1)

As a pastor, I’ve suffocated under the weight and responsibility of building management.

Yes, the larger your church, the further distance you can create between the role of the senior pastor and the responsibilities of property management. But, let’s face it, most churches are in the 50-100 people range, which means the staff carries a lot of the maintenance weight. If they don’t, they are responsible for managing the effort via recruitment of volunteers, assuring supplies are stocked, and supporting and acknowledging those that serve. . . which is simply to say, property management is a burden. Often on the shoulders of the pastoral staff. (But that’s not the biggest burden it causes. We’ll get to that in Part 2 and 3 of these reflections.)

First, a few positive things about church buildings.

Buildings and property are the most secure form of wealth, especially for an institution that relies on the voluntary participation and financial generosity of attenders. As we’ve learned, church attendance can fluctuate dramatically over any given year and especially over decades. Assets, in the form of real estate, hold their value and are more predictable than giving trends. So, with property comes security.

Historically, ministry happened in those buildings.  Worship, Bible studies, youth programs, daycare, you name it. It all happened inside. The building was not only the most valuable asset in an economic sense, it was the most valuable asset in a ministry sense. There was no end to ways churches could leverage and use their buildings to minister. So, with property comes ministry opportunities.

But mostly—let’s be honest with ourselves—the biggest value of a building is that it offers a large place for Sunday worship. And what Sunday gatherings offer is potential for growth. That’s where churches invest most of their time, energy, and resources. Why?  Because historically it has the best return on investment (ROI). So, with property comes scalability.

Again, here are the reasons: Security. Ministry opportunities. Scalability.

The BIG problem: those aren't totally true anymore.

Okay, perhaps real estate is still the most secure investment of wealth. But to what end? Ministry opportunities, as we are learning, abound elsewhere: in the community, in hybrid spaces, social spaces, and private spaces. And scalability in itself is not a virtue (especially if it’s only theoretical).

Security, ministry opportunities, and scalability are great if the assumption is true that people actually go to church, believe the church address is the location to do ministry, and are convinced the church (at the building) ought to grow in numerical size.

In general, those assumptions aren’t held anymore. Just ask around.

Our buildings are a burden because they are relying on a bygone era. That time is gone, but we have not evolved. Consequently, the outdated, expired constructs of yesteryear fall on the shoulders of pastors to maintain.

Buildings effectively chain our leaders down instead of launching them forward. They bind them rather than free them to do the work that we’ve called (and compensated) them to do. Buildings are a burden because building maintenance, for many pastors, has become synonymous with small-church (read: most churches) pastoral ministry.  

What are buildings good for, if we are  to be effective ministries today? Or better yet, how should we un-burden our pastors and our churches to minster effectively in the future? I’ll spend the next four parts of this series on these very questions.

[sacramentoxa-blog]

New white board! Excited to use it this year for #sacramentochialpha #sacramentostate #sacxa #sacstate #newevents #newministry #campusclubs #campusministry #collegeministry #jesus #community #truth #chialpha #xa

[wspolidoro]

Quais são as profissões do futuro Recent highlights: Quando estava na colação de grau da irmã, o reitor falou que eles iam criar o curso de graduação em IA. Na época, ela estava matriculada em um cursinho pré-vestibular, estudando para passar em medicina. #agenciadigital #redessociais #criandoagencia Leia mais: https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/euestudante/trabalho-e-formacao/2021/10/4956761-quais-sao-as-profissoes-do-futuro.html

[wspolidoro]

Dia do Cliente: Quais ferramentas são tendências para atrair a atenção dos consumidores? - Mundo do Marketing Resumo: O Live Commerce abraça todas essas características e vem como uma tendência forte para os próximos tempos, afirma Mateus Magno, Co-CEO da Samba Digital, empresa da Sambatech focada em transformação digital, inovação e com soluções para live commerce. #agenciadigital #redessociais #criandoagencia Leia mais: https://www.mundodomarketing.com.br/ultimas-noticias/39458/dia-do-cliente-quais-ferramentas-sao-tendencias-para-atrair-a-atencao-dos-consumidores.html

[becominghuman]

Things I Learned from Young People about Faith . . . Because I Asked (Part 3)

In my last two reflections about young adults (YAs) and faith, I learned six preferences of the younger generation. Here they are:

YAs prefer dialogue over doctrine.

YAs prefer creative solutions over criticism.

YAs prefer community over church

YAs prefer inclusion over exclusion

YAs prefer people over polemics

YAs prefer reconciliation over resentment.

To be clear, these are not my preferences. This is what I learned about people younger than me because I was willing to sit for hours and listen. I’m merely a student trying to understand. And in that vein, I’m sharing what my teachers have taught me, which is why this project is more than “ethnography”. There’s a profound gift of generous insight in these six preferences.

Many of the YAs I interviewed were raised going to church. The Christian church has helped shape these preferences in the emerging adult generation. Do you see the gift? Like good teachers, the YAs are holding up a mirror to the students, should we choose to look.  

These preferences are the results of late 20th and early 21st century church youth and children’s ministries. We only have ourselves to thank.

And that begs the question: What do we observe when we look at these ministries (and ministry in general) in the mirror?

Doctrine simply means teaching. But now it can be tweeted and weaponized, reduced to sound bites and social media posts. YAs consider doctrine generally unhealthy. They crave dialogue, not more doctrine. They are not mutually exclusive in theory, but what we learn by looking in the mirror is that doctrine is code for “we have it figured out”. Ministry in the future must hold its doctrines at least loose enough for exploration, questions, and conversation. Even further, ministry ought to be the place that facilitates sincere exploration. No more staunch positions . . . at least those that are inhospitable to inquiry.

Enough with the aggression, the arguments, and defensiveness. God and the Bible (and especially the Spirit) don’t need your protection. Young adults have watched for decades the likes of Rob Bell being thrown under the bus as soon as they color outside the lines. Those seeking creative solutions to complex problems are the first to get ostracized. And there's a generation that doesn’t have an appetite for that kind of infighting. YAs long for creativity, collaboration, and new takes on complex problems we all face.

Church is not necessarily community. Sometimes it’s the most hostile (in really polite ways) place to be. YAs want community, connection, support networks, mentors, meaningful relationships, touch-points, check ins, and solidarity. But what they’ve seen is something quite different. For YAs, church is another word for the community that is integral to their religious imagination. There is no “going” to church. Church is authentic community, seeking truth and meaning and change. Which means, of course, church can be found outside of “church”. (And YAs are happy to go somewhere else to find it.)

Inclusion is moral. Inclusion is theological. Inclusion is biblical. When we look in the mirror, we often see exclusivity, shaming, and judgments. Here’s a really important point: exclusivity and shaming don’t have to look like finger-wagging and verbal assaults. Often times it’s subtle references, side points in a sermon, unintentional language in curriculum, dismissive postures toward alternative perspectives, name-calling, ignorant social media behavior, and selection of biased news sources. Accumulatively, though, what YAs have seen is a spirit of exclusivity. And they’ve had enough.  

Arguments are unnecessary. Not that they aren't important to have, but they are simply uninteresting to YAs. They grew up on a diet of seeing friends and family hurt by the church . . . and often it was packaged as an “argument for the truth”. An argument makes no room for listening. As for YAs, the barometer for healthy theology is listening to those it influences. Does it hurt? Then it can’t be right. Does it give life? Then we’re headed the right direction.  When we look in the mirror, we should probably see a long history of bad listening skills and a resistance to hearing about our shortcomings.

YAs are basically begging faith communities to lead in discovering and implementing solutions to the biggest problems in our world today. As it stands, they don’t believe the church has the chops to even engage substantively in the debates. And here’s why: Repairing the world in the ways we injured it is one of the most important ways YAs believe faith-based communities can make their way to the table of change. That requires, at the very least, confession on the part of faith communities and their leaders. While YAs crave social change, justice, and healing, the church has been afraid to even use these words, let alone facilitate the conversation about how to realize them.

[becominghuman]

3 More Things I Learned from Young People about Faith . . . Because I Asked (Part 2)

It all started in a coffee shop. (Doesn’t everything?)

I asked 100 young adults (YAs) a bunch of questions about religion. Not one person denied me. That’s 100/100! Just imagine: I asked 100 different people I had never met before, each between the ages of 18 and 30 (I confirmed after I met them) if they’d be willing to chat with me about their experience of religion. All of them said “Yes”. Every single one.

YAs are not willing to make religion a private matter, hidden in the privacy of their “belief systems”. One young woman said it best when I thanked her for her willingness to talk - “What do you expect? If we don’t talk about religion out in the open, it’ll continue to hurt us behind closed doors.” 

Below are three threads I found in the data I collected. I call them preferences or priorities. (The first three are in Part 1 and you can find it here.)  

First, YAs prefer inclusion over exclusion. 

Inclusion is a virtue in itself. It’s not the afterthought of another virtue or the end result of a set of beliefs. It’s a primary, shaping virtue, if you will. (I can’t overemphasize how much this came up in conversation!)

Inclusion is an ethic to live by, not the spoils of a PC culture, or an unwillingness to “take a stand” on certain moral issues. It is more fundamental than “taking a stand”. Theologically speaking, inclusivity is essential to YAs' understanding of the nature of God, the foundation of their faith, and their personal credo.  Inclusion (or tolerance) is not how they engage other ethical issues, but it is the fundamental ethical issue.  They assume that all morality must begin with a general posture of tolerance.  

Even further, inclusion is a standard in itself. It is the barometer by which they measure the merit of any belief system.  Established religion, on the other hand, begins with exclusion. Inclusion is a type of doctrine for YAs, and it trumps other doctrines. YAs are willing to question long-held beliefs if they’re not commensurate with inclusion. This is why a YA can take one look at a church, learn that it doesn’t accept this type of person or welcome that type of person, and dismiss the entirety of the belief system of that faith community.   

Second, YAs prioritize people over polemics.

The true testing ground for an opinion or belief is not its logical coherence or its historical precedence, but is rather through the experience of others.  For religious beliefs, YAs think the question Does it hurt someone else? is more important than Is it right?.  And the only way to know if it hurts is to ask. 

This is part of the reason evangelism has fallen so far out of popularity for religious YAs (and is so much less tolerable by nonreligious YAs).  YAs believe the "other" is not ignorant, broken, or sinister.  They may not subscribe to a particular take on absolute truth or follow the person of Jesus, per se, but they are not enemies, and they don’t need to be proven wrong. 

While talking with many YAs, Rene Gerard kept coming to mind. I was specifically thinking of Gerard’s idea that the primary forming principle of a group is the scapegoating of an "other" (group).  I don’t see that happening with this generation.  If anything YAs invite people that are traditionally considered wrong to tell us (traditionally considered right) where our blind spots are. Let me say that slightly differently: YAs will listen to others tell them where they are blind before they will tell someone else how to see.

Third, YAs prioritize reconciliation over resentment.

To be fair, reconciliation is not a word that even came up when I was interviewing YAs. But there were two other words mentioned many times that are essential components of reconciliation. The first was reparation, and the second was compatibility.

Repairing the world in the ways we injured it is one of the most important ways YAs believe faith-based communities and institutions ought to engage the world.  There is an explicit desire to make things right, and YAs expect religious communities to lead the way. Also, churches ought to be oriented toward justice in an age of resource imbalance and record wealth disparity.  They want to balance the scale, you might say, and religious communities will either participate or be left behind. 

There is a prevailing assumption among YAs that multiple beliefs (system), often considered adversarial, are actually compatible. There is a disposition toward openness and exploration in finding common ground, as opposed to places of disagreement.

The hard work of reconciliation is largely foreign to YAs but a belief in a couple key components is evident. Reparations and finding common ground are far more appealing than the alternative that they witness: resentment and antagonism.

Once again, here are the three preferences YAs have about religion. I only learned these . . . because I asked. 

Inclusion over exclusion

People over polemics

Reconciliation over resentment.

Next week I will share the third installment of this article, entitled “Things I Learned from Young People about Faith . . . Because I Asked (Part 3)"