Competencies
Articles in this category focus on how a Christian leader can build and nurture competencies and apply them practically in ministry life.
Waiting … Waiting
Every once in a while I see leaders hesitating to act for no apparent reason. Probing, I've found a number of leaders seem to be waiting for permission. What keeps them paralyzed is that those expected to grant permission don’t even know their permission is hoped for.
Corey Olynik
Active Recovery
We want to bring the best of ourselves to work. There is a science to how we rest and restore our energies and creativity.
Rick James
Spiritual Leadership – Bringing Inside-Out Change
A large Christian NGO in Africa demonstrates the powerful combination of strong, servant leadership with relentless prayer and painful personal confession. Change was not cheap, easy or quick. But it happened.
Rick James
Great Leaders Are Great Observers
Here’s my hypothesis: the more we talk, the less we notice. What do you think?
Adrian Pei
So Much of Our Teaching Is Not Sound and This Is How to Fix It
People waste years and sometimes their whole lives, never coming close to their purpose in God, because they get caught up in their own or someone else’s religious speculations. If we are to be effective and balanced teachers of God’s Word, we must recognize that our doctrines have various levels of significance and of authority. Jesus said there are certain doctrinal matters that are “more important” than others. By implication, this means there are some doctrinal matters that are “less important.”
Malcolm Webber
A Coaching Conversation: 6 Steps
What might coaching one of your staff look like? Even if you don’t see yourself becoming a coach as a main ministry, these skills are so useful in everyday life that I would encourage anyone, and especially leaders, to at least get basic coaching skills training.
Stephen Mayers
4 Signs Decision Fatigue is Degrading Your Decisions
Christian leaders, or any leader for that matter, face a kind of fatigue that can rob our energy and diminish leadership effectiveness. “Decision fatigue” refers to the way decisions degrade in quality after a long string of successive decisions. In other words, the more decisions you make, the more the quality of those decisions declines.
Charles Stone
Hidden Insight
We've all seen this in our meetings. Some people will begin speaking and keep talking until something valuable comes out of their mouth; they engage their minds with their mouths open.
Corey Olynik
A Master at Asking Questions
The coaching approach listens and asks for understanding through open questions first, rather than sharing opinions and making judgments. It can be useful for all kinds of issues and in all kinds of relationships, including marriage and family, not just ministry or with our staff.
Stephen Mayers
The Two Things a Leader Does That Last
Leaders come with a variety of experiences, tools, approaches and methodologies. The thing they all share, however, is the belief that they can bring value to an organization in the form of substantive change. They all believe they can guide a group to achieve a given goal. But no matter what area of expertise or experience, no matter where they start in the process of influencing an organization, there are basically two categories of value a leader brings that last.
Jess MacCallum
Deliberate Rest
It seems that like breathing, we can all rest naturally; but to perform at our peak, we can all learn to do it better. It turns out that we have to work at taking deliberate rest. What do you do to rest and recover? How do you detach from your work?
Rick James
Why Telling People What To Do Doesn’t Work
In our leadership contexts, and crucially, within our natural and preferred leadership styles, let us never forget to consider whether our approaches are genuinely reflective of Kingdom values or not.
Nick Franks
The “Real Stuff” of Cross-Cultural Coaching
We won’t always get the details of culture right. Yet, when our attitude is humble and Christ-like, allowing the Holy Spirit to spur our internal GPS to “recalculate” over and over, when we let the client lead, rather than our culturally bound expectations, there is grace and transformation ahead!
Tina Stoltzfus Horst
Today’s Challenge to Christian Teachers
The goal of teaching someone to climb mountains is more than teaching mechanics of climbing. The teacher equips the student with all the nuances of safety and planning as well as appreciation of the splendor at the top. God empowers all believers to serve with their gifts and not just to listen to teaching. Teachers must help keep the body of Christ in balance, and George urges teachers not to get so wrapped up in brilliant teaching as an end in itself, but to realize it is the means for the Body to be equipped to use their spiritual gifts to serve.
George Patterson
How Old Am I Emotionally?
The following four questions and statements can give an insight into whether we are infants, children, adolescents, or adults emotionally.
Stephen Mayers
3 Ways to Crush the Idol of Innovation
In ministry, innovation can be a great thing when utilized to reach and serve people. But like all great things, innovation can become an idol—something that ministry leaders seek as an end in itself. When innovation becomes the goal, it has moved from tool for reaching people to an object of affection. How do we know the difference?
Eric Geiger
6 Tensions of Life in a Small Ministry
If you serve in a small church, you understand tension. You can’t get away from it. Truthfully, ministry anywhere comes with tension regardless of the size of your church. But the tensions in a small church are unique and are worth a fresh look.
Brannon Marshall
20 Lessons I Wish They’d Taught Me in Seminary
The Bible says that wisdom is worth more than gold, and understanding worth more than silver (Prov. 16:16). David learned many wise lessons during his more than 20 years in music and worship-leading ministry and shares them here to encourage serious introspection.
David Manner
What No One Tells You about Being a Leader
Good leadership demands that we understand what we control and what we do not. Among numerous healthy reasons for this is so that when followers are playing the blame game, we are not drawn into an unhealthy discourse: both with others, and within our mind’s conversation.
Kevin Thompson
5 Types of Goals Ministry Leaders Must Avoid
Here are five big mistakes ministry leaders make when they think about setting goals.
Eric Geiger