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In my new role of overseeing the Life Group Ministry at Church of the Redeemer I am rereading a book that I read several years ago, “Creating Community” by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits. There is a lot to share from this book, but one thing I found valuable for any organization was the clarification between a community and a committee. I’ve paraphrased this principle below.

You can choose to do ministry (work, life) in the context of relationship in communities, or on committees.  The purpose of a committee is to accomplish a task. Tasks are fine because we need to get a lot done, but it is incomplete. It is important to operate in a relational way that values people as much as their contributions. The goal is for people to be highly successful in their roles, yet experience a level of community. 

I highly recommend this book not only for those involved in small groups, but for any church leader that wants to create a relational culture.

Something we probably already know, but rarely apply is the fact that consistency is the key. It is the key to growth, increase, progress, and desired results - both personally and corporately.

1. Consistent exercise = noticeable strength
2. Consistent study = noticeable knowledge
3. Consistent investment = noticeable dividends
4. Consistent spiritual discipline = noticeable spiritual growth

Don’t just give it a try, put it into practice. Create routines, schedules and systems in your life and organization to bring consistent wanted results.

*Please note: This works negatively also. (Consistent overeating = noticeable health issues)

Life is full of busyness and noise. I love technology, but it can also be very distracting. Here are some practical ways to turn down the noise:

1. Limit your TV to just a few hours a week or cut it all together.
2. Plan strategic times to turn your phone off or on silent.
3. Limit the time you spend on the internet, specifically social networking. Also, it is good to take breaks from social networking on a regular basis.
4. Plan times of solitude. What works best for me is getting up early when the house is quiet (more about this in a later post).

Progress takes time and hard work. Be patient and stay consistent. Eventually progress will happen.

1. Determine what is most important.
2. Then go do it.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

What do you want your organization and family to value as important? Where do you want the people of your organization to invest their time and resources? Values help us to align what we desire to see happen with what we are actually doing. This concept is applicable on an individual level as well. What do you want your family to value? The first step in pointing your organization, life, or family in the direction of your values is determining what they are and putting them in writing.

Do you have clearly defined values? If not, start writing some down today.

Being a part of a rapidly growing church it’s important to realize that some things will never happen, if you don’t realize this you might end up pretty frustrated. It is easy to view most things in ministry as problems to be solved, but the reality is that many things will never be “fixed” and shouldn’t be. Many issues in a thriving organization are actually tensions to be managed not problems to be solved. Here are 4 things you will never do in a growing church (at least not for a long period of time):

1. You will never have enough volunteers. This issue shouldn’t be the result of poor recruiting, but because of increasing ministry opportunities. Develop a culture of “each one recruit one”.
2. You will never have a large enough budget. Be a good manager of the resources that you have and trust God to provide the resources that you need. He is faithful.
3. You will never have enough staff. Pour into the staff that you do have and teach them to lead and equip volunteers to do the work of the ministry.
4. You will never have enough space (especially kids space). If you’re growing rapidly you need to find creative ways to create more space for ministry. Clean out the closet, meet outside, go multi-site, add another experience time.

So, if you are faced with some of the these “tensions” then view them in a positive light because you are on the right track.

I came across this article online via @CatalystLeader and it had some real practical tips on managing your time. Below is the bullet point version, but I encourage you to check out the full article here. It will be worth you “time” (pun intended).

1. Evaluate your time.
2. Set daily goals. 
3. Design your own to-do list. 
4. Group similar tasks.
5. Break down daunting tasks. 
6. Make meetings matter.
7. Take breaks. 
8. Allow for unexpected interruptions.

Clocks from Diamantini & Domeniconi.

Our lives are full of deadlines. We all have urgent items that are knocking at the front door, things that demand our attention. Granted, a lot of these urgent items need and should be given attention, but not at the expense of what is important. There will always be a tension between what demands our time and what needs our time. The trick is giving our attention to what is important regardless of the tangible urgency because what is important is not always urgent. Here are a few examples of Important Vs. Urgent:

Leading Vs. Doing

People Vs. Tasks

Planning Vs. Working