or as the brits would say, organisation...
anyway, this was something that we could/should have done much better while i was at nexus. this is a tricky area, because if you do it well, you should never really notice or have to work on it, but if done poorly, the entire ministry could suffer very much.
the things we need to work through together, and hopefully i can start drafting things for us to think through, are things like, church polity, how will we make major decisions, how will we make minor decisions, what directions will we go with certain things, say our music guy or youth girl or children's person decides that he or she needs to leave, how will we fill that certain role. what roles will we have, what ministries will we create.
on the one hand, we do not ever want to give the impression that this is a business and must be run as such, that is not the purpose of church. there are certain things about church that are messy, and necessarily so. it is a place where ragamuffins tell other ragamuffins where to find bread, to steal a paraphrase from brennan manning.
however, we should also have the insight to learn from those that have foolishly ignored any kind of structure and injured themselves and their ministry. for instance, when it comes to how money is spent, all too often that is left at the sole discretion of the pastor. this then turns into a dangerous practice in which the pastor has more pressure upon him or her than necessary. it also opens up avenues of temptation for the misuse of money.
the things we need to work through together, and maybe the most important, is a system of checks for ... checks. how do we make sure no one can abuse money, while at the same time trusting eachother? also, how do we want to make decisions? the thing we have to keep in mind while we work through these things is that our church may very well grow very large, and it may very well stay small. we have to have some sort of process that works for either.
this is not a popular subject, but once we have this kind of thing worked out it will enable us to do ministry and care about people without worrying about the same things over and over.
the move went well, we are here in waco now, jobless and disorganized. pray that god would provide, and please, leave any needs you may have here for the rest of us to know. it is not to early to build our own community.
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Pack some sweaters, we're going to Denver!
Oh, we WILL see some snow baby!
Here We Go: All About the Snowy City of Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and most populous city of the state of Colorado. Denver is located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed The Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5,280 feet or approximately 1,609 meters) above sea level. The United States Census Bureau estimates that, in 2006, the population of the City and County of Denver was 566,974, making it the 27th most populous U.S. city. The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2006 population of 2,408,750 and ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area, and the larger Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2006 population of 2,927,911 and ranked as the 17th most populous U.S. metropolitan area. The city claims to have the 10th largest central business district in the United States.
4 comments:
Well I will be the first to comment on this topic. I think organization is key to being successful regardless of being a business or church. Now I personally don't know the best way of checks and balances to make sure things are done the right way and ethically, but I think us doing research of how other churches, business or possibly even governments to see how they protect themselves would be beneficial. I do think the checks and balances need to be in place before we get to Denver. I also think the pastor shouldn't be the one or apart of the group deciding where the money goes other than voting on the issue. I think the pastor helps lead the church spiritually and that should be his sole purpose. If he adds finances to his plate then I think it is way to much to put on one person's plate. Now that is my own personal opinion so take it for what it is worth. I am getting ready to move to Lubbock and start classes at the end of August, your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
we ought keep in mind that organization can be highly advantageous to us reaching our goals in some capacities while being destructive in others. so, what we decide to organize and not organize should, in my estimation, be a reflection of our priorities. i think it would be beneficial to be highly organized in our communication processes while it could be diminuitive to our ministry to over organize a budget or polity. my priority is people. people are fluid and dynamic entities, thus demanding we also be fluid and dynamic in our approach and mindset. don't hear me saying i disagree, i just want to provide some avenues of thought that may usually be sidestreets. as brandon says, my thoughts and opinions, which of course, i always think are right... jk... kinda
i would say definitely people should always be our number 1 priority. i think organization is a great slave and a terrible master, as such, we should always make organization to do what we want it to do, and be sure that we handcuff it to only go that far.
that being said, i think it is always positive to talk things about between us, to decide as a community what way we will go in certain situations, etc. something i have noticed is that many times when you dont have a plan, someone comes in and dominates with their opinion and it becomes their plan, instead of the desire of the community. of course, we will never think of everything, but i think it will help to write down things we decide on and be careful with wording on things such as constitution and bylaws.
budget i think can be apretty fluid thing, so long as it is not a fluid that runs too freely. budget can be a whole other animal, but i think there is a lot of wisdom in maintaining our priorities, as grant said.
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