MIM
EZINE, MARCH 3, 2005
CONTENTS
– Children’s
Ministry Check-Up –
Delving into the Word -- Kids’
Style
–
Purpose-filled Ministry –
Coping with the Ministry Volunteer Flake Factor
–
Book
Review – Water
into Wine: Hope for the Miraculous in the Struggle of the
Mundane
–
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Purpose-filled
Ministry - Coping with the Flake Factor
Sarah* agreed to be the editor for her church’s
newsletter. The leader working with her lined up with
possible articles and provided her with the newsletter
template and resources needed to pull it all together.
The launch date for the article drew nearer and
everyone was excited that the church was finally going to
get the badly needed communication source on its feet.
Then came the phone call.
Sarah was facing serious family problems.
Among other things, her husband was going through
some stresses at work and was gone more than she had
expected. This put added strain on her free time because she
had young children and had expected Mark* to be able to
watch them while she worked on the newsletter. She informed
the leader that the timing simply wasn’t right and she
wasn’t going to be able to manage the newsletter after
all.
John* had been voted in as a new board member. He managed to
make the first meeting but every meeting after that
presented a problem. The excuses varied.
First there was a romantic getaway he was obligated
to fulfill for his anniversary, then his father celebrated a
milestone birthday on the same day that a major planning
session was scheduled for the board.
As the months ticked by, he managed to make only
about one meeting out of every four.
Hannah* took a team leadership position helping build a
children’s ministry team. She had corporate leadership
skills and offered to work with the children’s pastor to
restructure the team so it ran more efficiently.
She dove in whole-heartedly, but the children’s
pastor soon discovered that many of the agenda items Hanna
said she was handling never came to fruition. Then Hanna
restructured the team shifting many positions around and
peeling several people off who she felt were not in the
right positions. The next thing she did was to turn in her
resignation. “I
just don’t feel that this is the right place for me. I
feel more gifted in the area of hospitality,” she
explained to the children’s pastor.
“I plan on joining the food service team.” The
children’s pastor was left holding the bag with a scaled
down team and fewer volunteers.
*Not their real names
Let’s face it.
Not every volunteer ministry placement turns out the way we hope.
As surely as the sun sets and the rain falls, there
will be flakey volunteers. You know the kind of people I am talking
about. They either say they will do something and never
commit to it, or they get involved for a while but then wimp
out. If we’re
not careful, being on the receiving end of volunteer
flakiness can turn us into hardened cynics.
Why ask people to volunteer at all if they’re going
to perform this way?
Thankfully, not every volunteer is a flake, only a small
percentage. The
good news is we can continue to seek out and utilize
volunteers with some pretty dependable results.
Have some grace –
Realize that sometimes things really
do come up that prevent people from being able to serve.
Give the volunteer the benefit of the doubt the next time it
happens.
Reduce the chance of
flakiness – Our
church gives people permission to try a volunteer position
on for size. Volunteers are also given permission to change
positions if they find they are not in a right fit.
This is not a bad idea because it makes volunteering
less intimidating, especially to those who haven’t served
in church ministry before. On the down side, it can back
fire and people may hop from one position to another, never
really committing themselves to anything.
The amount of commitment you require should correlate to the
job responsibility. Talk to the volunteer about what the job
entails and what is expected. Explain the importance of
commitment and tenure. Leadership positions are key.
Make sure when you place someone in a leadership
position that you set a commitment time-length and explain
why that is important. (Continuity, commitment,
dependability, team building are are all important factors.)
Talking about these emphasizes the importance of sticking with the
job.
Learn who performs
well – If a volunteer flakes give him/her the benefit
of the doubt. If he flakes on a second opportunity, that
signifies there is probably a dependability problem. Those
whose dependability runs hot and cold can still be used, but
the positions in which you place them need to be ones that
are not crucial if someone is a no show, etc.
Use these volunteers more as back ups and fill ins,
not as key players.
Forgive
the flakes – It’s
hard to overlook someone’s flakiness when you were
counting on them and their lack of maturity caused a set
back or ministry malfunction. But
we are reminded to forgive seventy times seven – over and
over again if someone keeps messing up. It helps to remember
that people often perform based on they way they were
raised. If their family structure taught them not to be
responsible, then they will perform that way.
Getting to know someone’s personal history can make
us more sympathetic to poor performance.
Communicate
with the flakes –
Sometimes people give up on volunteer positions because
they either don’t understand what is expected of them or
they are frustrated with how things are operating. It’s
important to check back with people who flake out to find out
why. Is there
anything you can do differently to improve the volunteer’s
performance? You might be surprised at the answers you get
once you probe beneath the surface.
Not every volunteer will perform at the level of
our
expectations. Learning
who we can depend on is a part of the answer, but working
to communicate expectations and train volunteers well can
also help improve performance. In the end, when a select
group of volunteers disappoints us, we should not let that
affect our attitudes toward volunteers in general.
Most will come through for us, but adjusting our
expectations and attitudes towards those who don’t is a
crucial part of effective and mature ministry.
In
addition to being editor of Ministry in Motion, Teena
Stewart is a published author and speaker. For more
information on speaking visit speaker
directory. You can contact Teena at smartwords@sbcglobal.net
---
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---
Children’s Ministry Check-Up
- Delving into the
Word -- Kids’ Style
By Karen Wingate
I see my job in teaching in children’s ministry as
twofold: My main focus is to teach what the Bible
says: Bible stories, biblical principles and application to
everyday life. I also want to teach students how to
become familiar with their own Bibles so that when they are
gone from my classroom, they can study the Bible on their
own.
When your curriculum is filled to the brim with exciting
Bible learning activities, how can you take the time to
teach your kids how to use their Bibles? An
interactive puppet show of Daniel in the Lions' den sounds a
lot more interesting than rote memory of the Books of the
Bible! Here are some ideas on how you can help your
students feel comfortable in using their Bibles.
In every lesson I teach, I try to incorporate some Bible
study technique, either how to find references in the Bible,
how to use chain references or how understand what a passage
is saying. I slip the technique in to my lesson plan so it
flows naturally with the lesson.
For younger children, incorporate finding Bible references
into every class session. Don’t just quote a verse
or tell the Bible story; have the kids practice finding the
passage in their own Bibles. Don’t assume your kids know
what the chapter and verse numbers mean. To children
and adults unfamiliar with the structure of the Bible, the
chapter and verse notation is like a foreign language. First
have the kids find the book in the table of contents, then
find the page number of the beginning of the book.
Point out the chapter number 1 and explain that each book
has chapters just like a regular book. Have the group
work together to find the chapter number of your text, then
work together to find the verse number. If you are
using classroom Bibles, give a page number as a confirmation
of the correct page of the text.
Take the time to help kids memorize the books of the Bible.
Any memory work is important. Memorizing the books of
the Bible is most important because it helps the student
find passages easily both in class and at home.
Instead of having the kids memorize all 66 books at once,
divide the books into categories such as the five Old
Testament books of the Law, twelve books of History and so
forth.
Use songs, games and bulletin boards as memory aids.
There are commercial games available, but you can easily
make up your own games. Print each book name on
several sets of index cards. Use these cards to have
kids put the books in order, play a game of concentration or
find the person with the book that comes after the card they
have.
Using the table of contents is not cheating! Kids
learn to use the table of contents or index in other books
so teach them to use it in the Bible. However,
emphasize that memorizing the order of the books will
actually make finding the books easier and faster.
Middle and older elementary age kids can start using the
various helps in their Bibles. Third and fourth
graders can use maps and dictionaries; older students can
understand how to use concordances and cross references.
Some of the greatest fears of newcomers who come to small
groups or church classes is that they might to answer a hard
question, look up a verse in a Bible they have no idea where
it is or they might have to read aloud. Help your kids
to feel comfortable with the Bible so they will feel
confident in discovering God’s truths on their own.
Next month, we’ll look at some useful Bible tools you’ll
want to have in your classroom or teaching resource center.
What is your favorite Bible study aid? Is it in your
classroom? If you have questions or comments, email me
at kwingate@neo.rr.com
Karen Wingate is a teacher of teachers. She is known for her off the edge activity based teaching that is still solidly based on the Word of God. Currently, she is writing curriculum for the Salvation Army’s new Sonday’s Cool programs, teaches a high School Sunday School class and oversees the Youth Ministry Team at her local church near Canton, Ohio.
---
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---
Book
Review
– Water
into Wine: Hope for the Miraculous in the Struggle of the
Mundane
By
Kelly Minter, Waterbrook Press, 2004, 1578567971, 171
pages
Reviewed
by Teena Stewart
Every once in a while you stumble
across an author with a unique ability to write in lyrical
fashion while scattering jewels of wisdom among a book’s
pages. Recording
artist Kelly Minter is just such a writer and she does so in
her book, Water into Wine.
For someone so young, Minter has remarkable insight
which more often than not makes her readers pull back on
occasion and say, “I never thought of it that way
before.”
One might ask, "What does a recording artist have in
common with the average Joe?"
They live such different lives, seemingly in a higher
sphere than ours, but Minter is down to earth and
unpretentious, while being blatantly honest about her own
struggles to make it in
Nashville
. She lets us
see the struggles of an up and coming artist, who at times
wonders where her next pay check is coming from as she rides
the roller coaster that hopefully leads to fame. Though most
believe
Nashville
and the recording industry are glamorous, Minter shows us
the behind the scenes blemishes.
Every wannabe musician with a thirst for the
limelight should read this book before embarking on their
quest for fame. However,
it’s not just musicians who can benefit from the book.
There is something for everyone as she weaves her personal
experiences throughout the book, mapping out her own trials
as a young and up and coming artist.
These she overlays with the story of Jesus’ first
miracle, turning water into wine at the wedding of
Cana
.
Minter is just as good at picking up innuendos and meaning
from what is not said in scriptures as much as what is said.
She points out that nothing was said about when the
water actually made its transformation into wine.
Perhaps you have wondered about this too. Minter
ties it into the lesson that teaches us that experiencing
the mystery and wonder of the divine isn’t a special event
or day that is set aside.
These miracles happen as we go about our every day
routines. In
this case it happened at a wedding. If we can be faithful
enough to do what we must do and stick it out through the
humdrum part of the process, we may witness God’s divine
intervention such as water becoming wine.
Only the servants were in on the secret.
They drew the water.
They saw it happen unbeknownst to the wedding guests
who continued to celebrate. Minter
leads us through the daily struggles we each have, relating
them to her own. She
breaks the
miracle event into portions, Jesus choosing to intervene
even though he didn’t have to, the drawing of the water,
filling the jars to the brim, keeping it secret, and the
transformation of the water into wine and what it signifies
in our own lives.
Those on a personal quest to reach a goal to attain
“success” will find good counsel in this book, but it is
appropriate for any Christian who hopes to find
encouragement and new insights for finding God, and his
wondrous workings in everyday life.
Order Water Into Wine
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