Perspectives on Alternative Ministry Paradigms - Doing Postmodern Ministry Online@import "/style.css";var contactMeUrl = '/ContactMe.aspx?uid=49'
var cmWin;
function contactMe()
{
var height = 430;
var width = 450;
var availW = parseInt((window.screen.width - width) / 2);
var availH = parseInt((window.screen.height - height) / 2);
var winPos = 'top=' + availH + ',left=' + availW + ',';
var options = ',toolbar=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=0,resizable=yes,location=no';
if (!cmWin || cmWin.closed)
{
cmWin = window.open(contactMeUrl, 'contactme', winPos + 'height=' + height + ',width=' + width + options);
}
else
{
cmWin.location.href = contactMeUrl;
cmWin.focus();
}
}
More Blogs >
Next Blog >
Home
My Links
Contact Me
David Posthuma
 Categories
> More AssessME testimonials
Quantity Discounts available through CLC Publications1 – 12 Books (25%), 13 – 31 Books (30%), 32 – 62 Books (35%), 63 – 499 Books (40%), 500 – 999 Books (45%), 1000+ Books (50%) NOTE: Large quantity orders cannot be placed using the online store, please contact CLC Publications at 800-659-1240 ● Fax: 215-542-7580 ● Email: orders@clcpublications.com Comments (0) | Permalink
Two Principles that Guarrentee that You will Lead with Style
David Posthuma @ Aug 12, 2008 06:38 AM
Every pastor naturally desires to be an effective leader. So why do some succeed and others fail? Every church desires to thrive in its ministry efforts, so why do some churches seem to “do no wrong” while others can’t seem to “do much right”? These are complex issues. However, if pastoral leaders and their churches adopt two foundational Leadership Style principles and adhere to these principles faithfully, leaders will come to love their place of service and ministry organizations will overcome barriers that have held back their ministries for years.
________________________________________________________________________Principle #1:Leaders must be allowed to lead according to their leadership styles.
Principle #2:All leadership styles must be valued and mobilized within an organization.________________________________________________________________________
Principle 1: Lead According to Your Leadership Style In my recent article: Why One Leadership Style Isn’t Enough, I introduced Rev! readers to the subject of leadership style. The fundamental principle undergirding leadership style is the presupposition that God created every person with the potential for significant influence…particularly influence that promotes Christ’s Kingdom in this world. For this reason I believe there is no “ideal” style of leadership. In fact, I would suggest there is no such thing as a “good leader” or “bad leader”. Rather, those leaders who we might label as “good” are individuals who are allowed to serve in a manner that respects their divinely designed leadership style, while those leaders that we might label as “bad” are likely expected to serve in a manner that is contrary to their divinely inspired leadership style. Our success as leaders is generally related to how well our job description matches our leadership style. The online Leadership Style© assessment plots each individual along a continuum that ranges from highly entrepreneurial and task-oriented on the left, to highly relational and task-avoidant on the right. The continuum is divided into three broad categories: Builder, Manager, and Nurturer. Builders are designed by God to influence their world through designing and building new ministries, programs, and systems. Builder sub-categories include Pioneers who develop new ministries, and Strategic Planners who design ministry structures and strategies. Managers are designed by God to influence their world through the administration of people and/or tasks. Manager sub-categories include Administrators who address the many tasks associated with a ministry, and Team Leaders who mobilize the human resources associated with the ministry programs and mission. Nurturers are designed by God to influence their world through interpersonal relationships. Nurturer sub-categories include Pastors who care for the welfare of the group, and Encouragers who care for the welfare of the individual. My friend Paul is an excellent example of the importance of serving according to one’s leadership style. Paul recently underwent a difficult period in his life as God convinced him that it was time to re-orient his ministry service to better align with his leadership style. Paul possesses a Pioneering leadership style. Twenty years ago, he responded to God’s call upon his life to plant a new church. This calling fit Paul perfectly. Soon the church grew from a small handful of core members to approximately 600 members. Unfortunately for Paul, as the church grew and stabilized, the church no longer needed a Pioneering leader. My friend’s response to the church’s new stage of development was to try to become an Administrative leader. However, God never created him to be an administrator. No matter how hard he tried, Paul could not thrive, nor could he ever feel satisfied, serving as an Administrative leader. Recently, Paul made the difficult decision to resign his senior pastorate of 20 years so that he could explore new church planting options God may have in store for his life. While the decision to leave the established (and “safe”) ministry was emotionally difficult, I firmly believe that as Paul honors his divinely ordained leadership style, and involves himself in a new church plant venture, he will discover that his life will be reinvigorated with passion and a sense of fulfillment that he has not felt for many years. While some people might consider Paul to be a “bad” Administrative leader, Paul is an excellent Pioneering leader. If you identify with Paul and are experiencing feelings of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and discouragement as a leader, and are seeing little spiritual fruit produced within your life or ministry, it is likely that you are trying to lead in a manner that is contrary to how God intended you to influence others. Only as we align our ministry service to correspond to the style of leadership God has ordained for our lives, will we find that our service will be truly blessed and our sense of passion and fulfillment fully realized.Principle 2: Value and Mobilize All Leadership Styles Not only is it important that we empower all leaders to lead according to their leadership style, it is also important that our ministry organizations value every leadership style God has ordained within his creation. God designed the “Body of Christ” to work together in healthy and effective manner (1 Corinthians 12:18). A church growth consultant recently contacted me to discuss the Leadership Style assessment. He had assumed that as he evaluated congregations using the assessment tool, he would find groupings of people associated with all six styles of leadership: Pioneer, Strategic, Administrative, Team Leader, Pastoral, and Encouraging. However, in some cases, congregations were lacking Pioneers and Strategic Planners. He did not know what accounted for these deficiencies. I explained that chapter 3 in my book, Made for a Mission, addressed this issue within the nomenclature of Mission Myopia. Mission Myopia exists whenever we consolidate around ourselves people who possess a similar ministry temperament to ourselves, or impose our ministry temperament...and its way of perceiving and serving...upon those closest to us. Earlier we pointed out that the leadership style continuum could be divided into three broad categories: Builder, Manager, and Nurturer. These traits can apply to organizations as well as to individuals. When these traits are associated with organizations, we generally refer to them as describing the organization’s personality. Since organizations are comprised of people, the personalities of the primary influencers within the organization combine to create the organization’s personality. In a healthy well balanced ministry, all three categories of leadership style would be highly valued and mobilized, while one or two categories may predominate due to the ministry’s stage of development or unique style. For example, a church plant would obviously emphasize the Builder leadership characteristics. However, Mission Myopia may display itself within an organizational personality when one or two leadership style categories are given precedence to the rejection of the others. In our consultant’s example, these ministries gave the leadership styles of Manager and Nurture precedence while rejecting leaders who possessed the Builder style. This specific expression of Mission Myopia is a common scenario within established churches. Builders, by their nature are never satisfied with the status quo. They are always looking for new and better ways to accomplish Christ’s mission in this world. However, Managers and Nurtures desire to minimize risk, preferring to perfect established ministry structures rather than to create something new which they deem as untested and risky. As a result, somewhere in the church’s history, the Managers and Nurturers who held key leadership positions within the ministry, began to communicate to Builders that they were not welcome. These messages may have been communicated in a manner similar to the following examples:
“Why do you have to always be so critical, if this church is not good enough for you, why don’t you find one that is?”
“Many good people have invested years to develop and refine our ministry, how dare you suggest that our ministries could be better! Your critical spirit is an insult to this church and to the many good people who have faithfully served long before you ever came to this church.”
“You just want to control everything and run everything your way. We have pastors and a board whom God has place in authority over this church…they are the ones who are in control.”It may be helpful at this point to review some of the common Builder characteristics. Builders are strong-willed, visionary people. They are highly entrepreneurial and are natural risk-takers. They are agents of change. Their strong personalities are both their strength and their weakness. As a strength the Builder’s strong personality helps cast vision passionately, recruiting people to buy into the vision and helping people implement the vision by giving clear direction. However, as a weakness, the Builder’s strong personality can be interpreted as “controlling” and insensitive to the feelings of others.
The unfortunate result is that over time, people who God made to be Builders received the message that who they were, and what they contributed to the ministry, was no longer valued. The result is that virtually all the Builders left the church. Any Builders who may still exist within the membership are likely resentful and distrustful of the church leadership. Sadly, after some time, the church eventually stagnates. Its programs are no longer relevant and attendance begins to decline. Church leaders realize that they need to change, but discover that they no longer have any skilled change-agents left in membership. It is very important to understand that as a rule, the leadership style that an organization alienates is often the very leadership style which will eventually be required to help the church mature into its next stage of development. The Mission Myopia principle can spin-off in various different scenarios.
I have observed Charismatic and Pentecostal congregations assert a value that human planning and administration was not “spiritual”. As a result, the ministry forced people with a Manager leadership-style to leave the church.
I have observed white-collar professional churches, run by strong corporate-model leaders, express a devaluation of the touchy-feely contributions offered by Nurturers.
I have observed highly relational churches that value the Nurturer leadership style, reject non-relational Managers and Builders. Mangers and Builders work through organizational systems and structures that empower people to serve. Nurtures tend to devalue systems and structures.
I have observed church plants that ten or twenty years later were still stuck in church plant mode because they valued the Builder’s high-octane leadership style but rejected the Manager’s leadership style, claiming that these kinds of leaders became bogged-down in too many details.
Overcoming Mission Myopia: After I explained the principles of Mission Myopia to the church growth consultant, he asked, “So how does a church move forward?” I explained that I believed a healthy leadership team would pursue the following steps:
Recognize that the leadership-types whom the church has been alienating are likely the leadership-types the church now requires to mature into the next stage of its ministry mission.
Acknowledge that the church sinned when they rejected a specific category of ministry leaders, and that the church leadership should take steps of repentance before God and seek forgiveness from those that they have hurt.
Commit to one another as a leadership team that the devaluation of God ordained leadership styles will never again occur within the ministry, and hold one another accountable to this commitment.
Recruit people who possess the leadership style the ministry now requires. In many cases, since few of these types of leaders currently exist within the membership, the leadership team will need to recruit these new leaders from outside the ministry membership.
Mobilize the new leaders into significant positions of influence so that their leadership style and personality can help re-shape the personality dynamics of the ministry organization.
Bless the new leaders publically and stand behind them with full support. Do not allow the new leaders to be setup for failure or to be demonized by those who still possess negative myopic attitudes toward people who possess leadership styles that differ from their own.
Ministries that commit to practicing the two foundational principles outlined in this article, 1) Leaders must be allowed to lead according to their leadership styles, and 2) All leadership styles must be valued and mobilized within the organization, will construct a culture in which people will be able to thrive as they seek to serve their Lord and one another…influencing and supporting one another as God intended.
About the Author David Posthuma’s Leadership Style© consists of a Pioneer/Strategic Planner blend, with a Planner ministry temperament. He is the founder of E-Church Essentials™ and the chief architect of the AssessMe.org online ministry mobilization assessment program. David has served as a church revitalizer, church plant pastor, church consultant, and since 1998, has designed software solutions for the ministry market. This article is adapted from his book, Made for a Mission….The ultimate resource for team building and ministry mobilization (CLC Publications, 2008). David resides in Holland, Michigan with his wife Tamara, and their two children, Joshua and Alyssa. For booking information, please call 1-800-724-1159, or visit www.AssessMe.org/extra.Comments (0) | Permalink
What Kind of Leader Are You?
David Posthuma @ Aug 12, 2008 06:21 AM
NOTE: Portions of this article were published in the July/August edition of REV! Magazine and in David's new book, Made for a Mission.An Introduction to Six Major Styles of Influence...
At the 2007 Catalyst leadership convention, Andy Stanley passionately proclaimed: “Leadership is always ‘follow me,’ it is never ‘follow we!’”
The context of Andy’s statement was his rejection of leadership by committee. I agree with Andy that committee-based leadership is not a healthy leadership paradigm. Yet, “follow-me”, when applied inappropriately, can also be detrimental to the health and vitality of a ministry organization. God designed numerous styles of leadership influence. Each style is good, created by God, and intended by God to be used for Kingdom purposes. However, when we fail to recognize or appreciate our personal leadership style, only surround ourselves with people who possess similar leadership styles to our own, or impose our leadership style upon those who serve under us, devastating consequences can result.
What is Mission Myopia?
It may surprise you to learn that even though the Bible is abundantly clear about the many parts of Christ’s body, when it comes to building ministry teams, many Christians and Christian leaders somehow forget that God created human diversity. It should be self-evident that not every Christ follower will look, sound, nor act like every other Christ follower. However, leaders often suffer from what I call “mission myopia.” The Oxford American Dictionary defines myopia as: “1) nearsightedness; 2) lack of imagination or intellectual insight.” Mission myopia exists whenever we consolidate around ourselves people who possess a similar ministry temperament to ourselves, or impose our ministry temperament...and its way of perceiving and serving...upon those closest to us.
The problem of mission myopia was illustrated quite profoundly to me some time ago when I received a phone call from a pastor asking if I would be willing to meet with him. As we sat and talked, he began to unload his frustration with his church board. He felt his church board was lacking in integrity, failing to fulfill the ministry obligations to which they had agreed, and that he may now have to remove most of the board members. Over my years of pastoral ministry and consulting with ministry leaders, I had come across some difficult and even unhealthy church boards; however, the prospect of removing an entire board seemed quite extreme. As I asked him more about his situation, it became clear that this pastor had led his church leadership team through a strategic planning process that advocated and blessed only one ministry style…the pastor’s…as the required methodology for each one of his board members. In theory, the board members had agreed that the method outlined by their pastor was very important for their church. But in practice, it soon became clear that most of the board members were incapable of sustained personal ministry using the pastor’s methodology.
I asked this pastor to describe specific personality attributes regarding each board member. As he did so, it became very clear to me that this well-meaning pastor was violating God’s ordained mission for each one of his board members. This ministry board consisted of individuals who were strong visionary leaders and project administrators. They were task-oriented and systems-oriented people. In contrast, the pastor’s personal style was “relational,” focusing on one-to-one or small group interpersonal ministry. This pastor did not mean to sin against his board, but in fact, by trying to treat each board member as an “eye”...to see and do things his way...he was violating each board member's divinely inspired ministry temperament. I tried to help this pastor realize that his ministry goals could be more effectively accomplished if he were to mobilize his board according to each person's unique personality. I encouraged him to ask his board for forgiveness and to repent of his judgmental attitude toward them. This was a crisis of the pastor's own making...he had forgotten to honor each part of Christ's ministry body. He was suffering from mission myopia.
Leadership Styles
The graphic below portrays a continuum of leadership styles, ranging from highly task-driven entrepreneurial leaders on the left, to highly relational and task-avoidant leaders on the right. This broad continuum is divided into six basic “styles” of leadership influence, which are grouped into three general categories: Builders, Managers, and Nurturers.
The Builders
The Builder category consists of Pioneers and Strategic Planners.
Pioneers are designed by God to develop new ministry programming, systems, and churches. They are strong dynamic leaders who value risk-taking for the Kingdom of God. They are typically strong personalities who thrive on vision…the bigger the vision the better. They are highly mission-driven. Pioneers make excellent church planters and new program developers. They think organizationally and systemically. As long as Pioneers are allowed to “build”, they can remain motivated. However, when a project or ministry becomes established and requires managerial and pastoral care duties, the Pioneer will likely become frustrated and discouraged. The Apostle Paul was a classic Pioneer. His goal was never to build upon another man’s foundation (Romans 15:20).
Strategic Planners are designed by God to be the “architect” for new ministry development, and established ministry refinement. They are designers of systems and are highly task-oriented. They are the most “prophetic” of leadership types, in that they are able to perceive every major step that will be required to implement a ministry vision. However, they often assume that other people are also able to perceive these steps, and will appreciate the scope of the plan they wish to set in motion. Unfortunately, many other leader-types quickly become overwhelmed by the vast design details offered by the Strategic Planner. Strategic Planners can experience frustration and personal rejection when their “master plans” are not adopted, or are altered without their input.
The Managers
The Manager category consists of Administrators and Team Leaders.
Administrators are highly task-oriented and love to address the many operational details associated with any mission or project. They generally are not good at multi-tasking, preferring rather to work from a check-off list in their Day Planner or PDA. They gain great satisfaction from checking off accomplishments that provide resources and support to other team members, from their list. Administrators are able to implement and address the many operational details identified within a strategic plan. They are faithful, loyal, hard working individuals. However, they tend to associate their self-worth with the tasks they accomplish. If they “drop a ball”, which is rare, they will often internally punish themselves harshly. They may have difficulty delegating tasks to others, mistakenly assuming that “if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself”.
Team Leaders are unique. They are the only leadership style that has one foot in the task-oriented world, and one foot in the relational world. This unique ability to “bridge the two worlds” enables Team Leaders to be both mission-driven and sensitive to relational dynamics. Team Leaders are very mission driven. They naturally gather around themselves people to “go do” some mission or event. Team members often develop deep loyalties to their Team Leader because of the Team Leader’s ability to help each member accomplish a significant mission for Christ, while also affirming each team member emotionally and spiritually. Team Leaders can make excellent pastors and staff.
However, Team Leaders do have a significant danger associated with them. The Team Leader profile is the leadership style commonly associated with a church split. In such cases, the Team Leader can point to many mission successes that have earned him or her loyalty from a significant pool of team members. Praise and admiration from team members can lead the Team Leader to become prideful, like King Nebuchadnezzar who said: “Is not this the great [ministry] I have built as [my church], by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty” (Daniel 4:30)? Prideful Team Leaders may feel that they are personally responsible for the various ministry successes within the church, and that if only they could be unencumbered by the restrictions of their superiors, they could be unleashed to accomplish even greater things. For this reason, Team Leaders should be surrounded with healthy accountability people to address any pride issue while it is small and manageable.
The Nurturers
The Nurturer category consists of Pastoral Leaders and Encouraging Leaders.
The Pastoral Leader is relationally-driven and task-task avoidant. The Pastoral Leader is generally concerned about the emotional and spiritual welfare of the group, team, or congregation…internally they ask themselves, “How are WE doing” emotionally and spiritually? Pastoral Leaders need significant interpersonal time with people. Administrative office duties will likely depress a Pastoral Leader. Similarly, vision casting, strategic plans, and organizational structures are all task-oriented skills the Pastoral Leader will likely be unable to implement effectively. In some cases, Pastoral Leaders may even devalue and dismiss systems and organizational structures as unimportant. Pastoral Leaders often wonder why everyone doesn’t simply minister as they do…person to person. The Pastoral Leader generally values small groups, recovery ministries, one-on-one discipleship, home visitations, hospital visitations, and social gatherings. The Apostle John was a classic Pastoral Leader. His repeated appeal to love God and love one another within his letters portrays his pastoral passion (1 John 3:11).
The Encouraging Leader is our last leadership style. Like the Pastoral Leader, Encouraging Leaders are highly relational and task-avoidant. However, they are different in their overall ministry focus…While the Pastoral Leader asks “How are WE doing”, the Encouraging Leader asks, “How are YOU doing” emotionally and spiritually? Encouraging Leaders are generally gifted at analyzing people. They are very self-aware of the emotions of people around them. This leadership-type is seldom showy or public. Often Encouraging Leaders work behind the scenes informally. They shy away from programs and administrative duties unless these enable the Encouraging Leader to spend quality time investing into individuals. Encouraging Leaders generally make excellent councilors, spiritual formation mentors, prayer warriors, and recovery ministry leaders. They may also function well as small group leaders if the small group members are able to “go deep” with one another, spiritually and emotionally.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, was a classic Encouraging Leader, so much so that the Apostles gave him the nickname Barnabus which means, “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36).
Conclusion:
It is important that we not only understand our preferred leadership style, and utilize that style effectively, it is also important that we appreciate that God has given us ministry partners who possess differing styles of leadership. Our challenge as leaders is to learn to value these differing leader-types, and to partner with them not merely as our “helpers”, but as co-workers for Christ.
Below you will find a simplified Leadership Style assessment I utilize within live seminars and workshops. The online version hosted by AssessMe.org is far more accurate, but the results of this simplified assessment will give you significant insights into your personal leadership style. I encourage you to have other staff and lay leaders take the Leadership Style assessment so that you can build a more effective ministry team, positioning each team member according to their divinely designed leadership style.
A Simple Leadership Style Assessment
This simple assessment is designed to help you identify your dominant Leadership Style. Please respond to the statements below, scoring each statement from 0 – 5 (0 = Does Not Apply; 5 = Strongly Applies). Try to avoid using the score of 3 if at all possible. Once finished, total your scores for each category, and plot your category scores on the graph below. Connect each of the dots with a line to create a trend-chart. (See AssessMe.org for a more accurate assessment and report).
Please respond to the statements below, scoring each statement from 0 – 5 (0 = Does Not Apply; 5 = Strongly Applies). Try to avoid using the score of 3 if at all possible.
Pioneering: Score: _____
_____ I am a risk-taker
_____ I am motivated by a noble vision
_____ I am happiest when I lead others in new ministry ventures
_____ I am driven to create and build
_____ I am dissatisfied with the status quo
Strategic Planner: Score: __________ I am able to see all the steps to make a vision a reality
_____ I excel at creating systems
_____ I see myself as an architect, creating master plans
_____ I just think strategically
_____ I would rather “design” than “do”
Administration: Score: _____
_____ I use check-off lists for tasks
_____ I am very organized
_____ I see all the tasks associated with running a ministry
_____ I hate seeing “balls dropped”
_____ I gain great satisfaction when a task is finally completed
Team Leader: Score: __________ I greatly value a “mission”
_____ I love to lead teams of people
_____ I see myself “in the trenches”
_____ I like to “make things happen”
_____ People look to me for leadership because I care about them
Pastor: Score: _____
_____ I care more about people than mission…people are the mission
_____ I highly value unity and harmony
_____ I enjoy serving people
_____ I naturally nurture the spiritual & emotional welfare of others
_____ I seek the welfare of the group
Encourager: Score: __________ I prefer to work with individuals
_____ I prefer one-on-one ministry
_____ I tend to analyze an individual’s spiritual development
_____ People come to me for counsel
_____ People feel better when they talk to me or spend time with me
About the Author
David Posthuma’s leadership style consists of a Pioneer/Strategic Planner blend, with a Planner ministry temperament.
He is the founder of E-Church Essentials and the chief architect of the AssessMe.org online ministry mobilization assessment program. David has served as a church revitalizer, church plant pastor, church consultant, and since 1998, has designed software solutions for the ministry market. This article is adapted from his book, Made for a Mission….The ultimate resource for team building and ministry mobilization (CLC Publications, 2008).
David resides in Holland, Michigan with his wife Tamara, and their two children, Joshua and Alyssa. For booking information, please call 1-800-724-1159, or visit www.AssessMe.org/extra.
Comments (0) | Permalink
February 13, 2008
A Simple & Cost-Effective Way For Church Leaders to Collaborate
David Posthuma @ Feb 13, 2008 09:19 AM
Some time ago, a pastor of a 1,000 member church asked my opinion regarding the need for a server and local area network for the church. At that time I expressed that I believed these were essential tools for any church that is 650 people or larger.
It is very common for churches to add part-time and full time staff as they grow, yet fail to provide their staff with the tools they require to collaborate together as a team. In addition, when a church lacks a server/network, all important files must then reside on each individual staff member's computer. Often, when these staff members leave the church, these important ministry files leave with the staff member.
Microsoft offers organizations an inexpensive virtual server/network solution called “SharePoint Services”. SharePoint is hosted for your ministry by an external service provider, yet your data is secure and backed-up regularly to prevent data loss. SharePoint provides a very robust web-based virtual server and secure network so that your ministry team can collaborate together and accomplish much more than generally possible through a self-hosted server and Local Area Network (LAN). Features include:
Synchronize team member calendars
Store important files that are accessible by other team members
Edit important files while keeping an ongoing record of all edited versions and who did the edits
Complete integration with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
Complete integration with Microsoft Instant Messaging for real-time team-member communications
Set up permission-access levels to various files
All files can be easily “labeled” with meta-tags so that a file can be located by simply using the program’s search function
SharePoint also includes a Windows-Explorer-Type tree control for structuring all your data folders
Access your important files and collaborate with team members on any project from anywhere in the world…you do not need to be at church to use your virtual server/network.
Back-up of important information
Many more features
An excellent webinar overview of SharePoint Services can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/demo/index.html.
A company called 1and1.com hosts SharePoint Services for an introductory price of $10/month for the first three months (temporary offer), and then $20/month from that point on. This means that you could use SharePoint Services for 5 years before you would spend the same amount for an in-house server and network…plus your ministry will not have to deal with any of the IT hassles.
To check out the 1and1 program offering, go to http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/Sharepoint;jsessionid=9FE228EEFF012958ED10929D4BA98B8B.TC61a?__frame=_top&__lf=Static. Your ministry will want to find out how much additional online storage may cost when you get to the point of needing more storage space.Comments (2) | Permalink
April 30, 2007
Intentionally Engineering Ministry Structures for Maximum Impact, Part 1: An Introduction
David Posthuma @ Apr 30, 2007 04:03 PM
Every church organization exhibits a unique organizational personality. An organization’s personality type enables its leadership to effectively recruit and mobilize people with some ministry temperaments, while impeding the recruitment and mobilization of others.
At this point it may be helpful to distinguish between the big “C” universal Church, and the little “c” local church. Within Christ’s universal Church, you are a vital member with an essential ministry role. However, the local church is not always so inclusive. When people don’t know how to fit within their local church, it is important to discern between the responsibilities of the individual and the responsibilities of the organization for addressing this problem. The local expression of Christ’s Church may at times have difficulty including and mobilizing differing people into ministry. This may be the result of unique institutional dynamics that inadvertently prevent people from participating within the mission. When this occurs, people have difficulty knowing how to serve and support the ministry of their local church. Sadly, pastoral leaders often blame their congregation members for the lack of ministry participation, criticizing their membership as “uncommitted,” when in fact, the organization’s structures may be inhibiting committed people from knowing how serve. Not finding a place of effective ministry service within their church, these committed people will generally develop their own personalized and isolated ministry.
Christ never desired his followers to minister in isolation. He always sent his disciples out in teams consisting of two or more members (Luke 10:1 NIV). Similarly, the Apostles always had at least one or two support staff. Remember, we all need each other, and together we best represent the God who created all of us in his image. Our ministry temperament was designed to integrate with other ministry temperaments so that together, we can accomplish for Christ far more than we could ever accomplish individually.
It may surprise you to learn that even though the Bible is abundantly clear about the many parts of Christ’s body, when it comes to building ministry teams, many Christians and Christian leaders somehow forget that God created human diversity. It should be self-evident that not every Christ follower will look, sound, nor act like every other Christ follower. However, the Church often suffers from what I call “mission myopia.” The Oxford American Dictionary defines myopia as: “1) nearsightedness; 2) lack of imagination or intellectual insight.” Mission myopia occurs whenever we consolidate around ourselves people who possess a similar ministry temperament, or impose our ministry temperament...and its way of perceiving and serving...upon those closest to us.
Mission myopia is so common among churches, that the ministry temperaments of the dominant influencers within the ministry literally define the “personality” of the church organization. Yes, churches and ministries also have personalities. And just like each human personality exhibits strengths and weaknesses, church personalities also exhibit particular strengths and weaknesses.
For example, the pastor of one church I was asked to consult with expressed that the biggest problem facing the church over its two decade history was that the church started many good programs, but had difficulty sustaining them. A simple assessment of the Senior Pastor and his board revealed that all the dominant leaders possessed entrepreneurial profiles…they were start-up people; this explained why they started many good ministries but were unable to sustain them. The church leadership needed to learn how to better identify the people within their congregation who excelled at establishing self-perpetuating ministry structures, as well as people who were gifted in managing ongoing ministry programs.
The personality of a ministry organization has a direct bearing on its ability to mobilize people for ministry and build effective ministry teams. In fact, the personality of a church often dictates who may serve within the ministry. In the case of the church just mentioned, people who possessed entrepreneurial temperaments easily found places of service within the church. However, people who did not possess such profiles had difficulty knowing how to support the ministry. The principle of mission myopia, that people will naturally gather around themselves others who are like them, inhibits other people-types from participating effectively in ministry. Often, these disenfranchised Christ followers feel like there simply is no place of ministry for them within their church. They may have tried earnestly to find a place of ministry fit, but in the end, they have been made to feel rejected and devalued.
I am confident that no healthy church leadership team desires to communicate to people that they are devalued. However, this unintentional communication occurs none the less. For church leadership, the principle of mission myopia infers the following:
· Most all church ministries suffer from some level of mission myopia.
· Mission myopia impedes a local church’s ability to include and mobilize the maximum number of people within the ministry.
· When people cannot find a place of ministry service within their church, they tend to feel devalued and unwanted, and ultimately leave the church.
Comments (2) | Permalink
Intentionally Engineering Ministry Structures for Maximum Impact, Part 2: Cultural Modification
David Posthuma @ Apr 30, 2007 04:02 PM
Unlike human ministry temperaments, which can mature but cannot be altered, organizational personalities may be intentionally modified. This is accomplished by positioning the appropriate people, who possess the necessary ministry temperaments, into key positions of influence. The goal in this culture-modification process is to broaden and deepen a church organization’s ministry impact by intentionally including more of the various parts of the body of Christ within its mission.
A healthy and mature ministry culture seeks to include every willing servant of Christ associated with their church organization into an appropriate ministry position. Broad-based inclusion of many differing people, possessing many differing ministry temperaments, will likely challenge the organization’s established ministry culture. So, how can an established ministry organization position itself to be more inclusive of all ministry temperaments?
First, culture modification is always a top-down process. Organizational leadership will want to evaluate the ministry temperaments of each person of influence, at each functional layer within the organization. For example, it is common in many churches to have three distinct leadership layers:
· Layer #1 – Executive leadership team
· Layer #2 – Support staff
· Layer #3 – Lay leadership
When you assess each leader for ministry-fit, and evaluate the cumulative results, you will discover that your organization displays a “temperament theme”. A temperament theme is defined in terms of “shared-quadrant-values” (e.g., Independent vs. Social) and not by the dominance of a specific ministry temperament (e.g., Protagonist) represented throughout the organization. Please refer to the |
|
