How to Build Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams

How to Build Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams. Church staff regularly request our recommendations regarding which personality profiles and leadership style profiles are best suited for the various leadership roles within their church. On the surface this may seem like an easy service AssessME should provide. But, in reality, it is not so obvious.

Why? Because of the influence imposed by Organizational Personality. Every church possesses a unique Organizational Personality that defines their core systemic values. Each temperament exhibited by the key influencers within a church combine to form its unique Organizational Personality. The result: Some churches are very corporate in style, while other churches are very relational, still other churches are highly artistic. These are only a few examples of differences that impact the mobilization process. (NOTE: The proven Meyer-Briggs construct can also apply to Organizational Personality to identify 16 potential organizational types). This variety hinders our use of a one-size-fits-all team building solution. However, there are common principles and practices church leaders should learn and apply so that they can effectively mobilize ministry teams. Today, let’s examine How to Build Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams.

Four Basic Ministry Team-Types

At a basic level, temperament theory suggests there are a minimum of four categories of ministry teams. These categories are not based upon titles such as “Youth Leader”, but rather upon the fundamental functions practiced by our One God, expressed through three personalities: 1) Creative/Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams, 2) Human Resource Management Teams, 3) Task/Systems Management Teams, and 4) Human Care & Recovery Teams. For practicality sake, we divide the Administrative/Management function between management of people and management of tasks.

  1. Entrepreneurial Ministry Team
  2. Human Resource Management Team
  3. Task & Systems Management Team
  4. Human Care Team

How to Build The Entrepreneurial Team

Regardless of the ministry department (Children’s Ministry, Teen Ministry, Outreach Ministry, etc.), whenever your church desires to start a new ministry program, recast and implement a new ministry vision, or start a new church, you will want to learn How to Build Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams. Entrepreneurial leaders and ministry teams can do wonders for any church or program, IF they are allowed the freedom to create, and receive support from fellow leaders who are not threatened by their strong personalities and immense capacity for casting vision. This team-type, like all others, should be comprised of a Three-Strand-Cord team of leader-members. In our present case, the Ministry Team’s entrepreneurial purpose will define the kinds of people that will comprise this leadership-team.

Entrepreneurial Team Lead 

When your church leadership seeks to build Entrepreneurial Ministry Teams, the Team Lead should include an individual with a Leadership Style of “Pioneer” and an ePersonality profile consisting of one of the following: Designer, Planner, Creator, or Super Leader. Which is best suited for your church and your particular team mission? Well, this is where you will require discernment from the Holy Spirit. In all honesty, I believe AssessME.org would do damage to many ministries if we bypassed your responsibility to discern God’s will and purpose by forcing a one-size-fits-all solution for team building. Each of the listed profiles include entrepreneurial abilities. Look at the bulleted summaries of each profile below and ask yourself, which kind of Entrepreneurial Leader would I likely select for for a given open position?

 

Creator

Entrepreneurial Temperament Types

Creators like to do ministry as it has never been done before. New practices, new systems, new procedures. Creators are often driven by a unique vision which may clash with establishment leadership. However, they will gather data and develop strategies to prove the validity of their ministry dream.

 

Designer

Designers are good organizers and systems planners. In essence, they want to first develop an accepted blueprint

for the ministry to be developed, but once it is developed, they get quickly frustrated if establishment leaders do not get onboard with the blueprint. They have a small relational pool, so their ability to persuade others may be limited.

 

Planner

Planners are one of the rarest temperament types. They are truly visionary and can perceive all the steps necessary to build for the next five years or more. They think in process, systems, and strategy, and can pull people together to support a noble vision. Obtaining the vision is the goal and glue that holds the Planner’s ministry team together. The Planner excels at positioning the right people in the right roles. The Planner will follow-through relentlessly pursuing his/her strategic plan.

 

Super Leader

Super Leaders are leaders of leaders. This temperament is the most relational of the four entrepreneurial types. Super Leaders are the least visionary, but ably pull the necessary people together to accomplish the new ministry objective. Strong at strategic planning, they are also ardent change-agents…everything can always be done better. Their perfectionism creates high standards that quality leaders will want to strive to uphold, but may cause lesser leaders may grumble and complain.

There are certainly similar qualities within each of the four entrepreneurial temperaments, but also some distinct differences. Another way to evaluate the differences in each profile is to look at their ePersonality graph scores.

 

Graph Score Evaluation

Creator

ePersonality Super Leader

How I Relate to People

Please evaluate the bar graphs. Note that the Creator and Super Leader are solid “Social” people on the “

How I Relate to People” dichotomy. While social people will be more pleasant to work with, they will not likely be as strong in the area of strategic planning and systems development. Social people like to relate to other people through “being with” them; whereas Independent people prefer to relate to other people by “working with” them…relationships are formed through shared t

ePersonality Designer

asks and/or projects.

How I Process Information

All four temperament types are “Abstract” thinkers. This is an essential trait for envisioning what is not yet built, as if it were already fully developed.

How I Process Decisions

Also, all four temperament types process decisions with their “Head“.  In other words they use reason, logic, and data to make decisions.

How I Relate to the World Around Me

The Creator and Designer are “Adaptive” in how they relate to the world around them, while the Planner and Super Leader are “Systematic” in style. Adaptive people are more quick to change the plan as the perspectives of other people are

ePersonality Planner

considered. Whereas the Planner and Super Leader, being more systematic in nature, will stick to a decided plan unless verifiable data dictates plan modification. In some cases flexibility might be considered a valuable trait. But, in most cases it is not. When plans constantly change, people become frustrated, timelines are never met, and budgets quickly get out of control.

Score Intensity

Another point of evaluation is Score Intensity, or how strongly each profile tends to score within the dichotomy statements. The stronger the dichotomy score, the more that attribute will control the way a person thinks, feels, relate to others, and makes decisions. A 90% Independent will exhibit a much stronger internalization of the analytical and strategic planning thought process than will a 60% Independent. Similarly, the person assessed with a 90% independent score will also likely exhibit poorer social skills, which may inhibit team member recruitment.

This is the process I work through when considering candidates for various positions. In each case represented here, a temperament strength also represents a temperament weakness. This is why I strongly advocate Three-Strand-Cord leadership teams. The basic Three-Strand-Cord Leadership Team looks like this…

3 Strand Cord Leadership

In our present scenario, How to Build an Entrepreneurial Ministry Team, the Team Leader within the three-strand-cord model is replaced with an entrepreneurial leader who serves as the team lead. The Administrator provides support by managing the many tasks associated with the ministry team. A Nurturer/Care leader helps care for the emotional/spiritual needs of the team members as well as the needs of the people they lead.

Finally, I would never make decisions about people based exclusively upon their data. Personal interviews are critical to either affirming your mental picture of the candidate, or disproving your mental picture. We should never prejudge people without first giving them the courtesy of a personal interview. If the candidate is not ideal for the current open position, then my next question is: “Where should they be positioned within the ministry?” Let’s not dismiss or reject people based upon their scores, for each person is a God-given resource to help your church succeed in it’s ministry mission.

A Cautionary Tale

What happens when churches fail to build entrepreneurial ministry teams? Many years ago, Group Publishing had a Church Consultation division. Their consultants used AssessME to analyze all the congregants within 100 stagnant or declining churches. They found in each of these stagnant or declining churches that there existed not one person with an entrepreneurial temperament. Why? Over the years, all the entrepreneurial types of people had been forced out of the church. This is a very common scenario within change-resistant churches. People who wish to help implement change are resisted and sometimes even vilified. As a result, in frustration and experiencing the pain associated with rejection, entrepreneurs leave the change-resistant church. Now, when they need entrepreneurs the most, they no longer possess the very people essential to their future development. The loss of entrepreneurial leadership is one fundamental cause for the plague of dying churches across Europe and North America.

Please respect and nurture your entrepreneurs. They will constantly challenge the status quo…and that is a good thing!

 

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Why Can’t Church Staff Pre-List Skills?

Why does AssessME.org use organic skills list development rather than permit church staff to pre-list what they are looking for?

 

This is a very common question. I recently received another email inquiry about this issue so I thought I would finally publish my response for all to read:

 

Dear Pastor:

In our study of how to use skills, our initial format was to allow church staff to create a list of the skills they were looking for and to seek responses from congregation members. While this seemed like a simple solution, it actually resulted in far less data from a congregation. People saw the list, realized these were the skills valued by church staff, and would perceive that there skills were not of value. Pre-listing skills reduced user participation. This assumes, however, that church staff is encouraging people to take all three assessments plus list their skills and micro-resume.

True skills are an outgrowth of temperament. Your temperament as a child causes you to like some activities and dislike others. The things you like become more and more practiced and form true skills. As a result, skills become another layer of the temperament check and balance system inherent in the AssessME assessment program. So, it’s not just about getting some skills wanted by church staff.

Finally, we learned that an organic skills program not only will provide people with the skills sought after by staff, but it will also provide for many other important skills that church staff never considered but can also be helpful to Kingdom ministry. Let me share an example from my extended family. Recently my in-laws were visiting a mega-church in Detroit. After the service, their car would not start. This church of over 5,000 people had no idea who they could call upon within their church to provide mechanical support. The staff said they never even considered tracking such skills as important. When we pre-list skills specifically associated with our programming needs, we skew the data to that end to the neglect of other important skill areas.

I believe God gives every faithful church everything they need to do His will…this includes every skill represented in the church.

In Christ’s Service,

 

David A Posthuma

AssessME.org

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Flower Power

Years ago, when I was a young pastor in my twenties, the Lord used me to start a new outreach church within a community devoid of healthy churches. Most of the people who came to our outreach ministry had little or no church background. What church experience community members had, they disliked passionately. As a result, I made it a point to promote Christ rather than our church. In my sermons and many conversations, I tried to work-in a key-phrase to emphasize my perspective: “There is a real God working in our real lives”. I was surprised, however, by the negative responses I often received. Many people did not recognize God’s work in their lives. To them, God was distant, abstract, and seemed to lack consideration of their personal needs or concerns. I realized that many people in my congregation did not perceive Jesus Christ as alive, real, and personally involved within their lives…this troubled me deeply. I did not know it at the time, but God was about to reveal himself as very real and very involved within the lives of our congregation…but it would take the power of a simple flower to enable us to acknowledge God’s gracious faithfulness.

As I wrestled over how my church members could be helped to perceive Jesus as “a real God at work in their real lives”, the Lord impressed upon me two different biblical lessons:

  1. People are naturally forgetful and need help remembering – People today are no different than the people if Israel, as soon as God did a great work among them, they would forget and begin to once again complain. Psalm 106: 21 states, “They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt….”
  2. Our highly programmed church services don’t often allow people to publically encourage one another with prayers and praises of how God is working in our daily lives – The Psalms exhort God’s people to sing to one another “new songs”; new songs are songs of praise for how God is actively working in our lives. Psalm 40: 3 states: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord”.

I shared my concerns and insights with my church board and we began to brainstorm how we might create a church culture that would help the congregation see God as real and active in their lives, encourage people to share their “new songs” with the congregation, and keep people from forgetting how God had worked in our lives. The result was the Flower Power strategy.

Our church purchased a giant grapevine wreath with nothing on it and hung the wreath in a highly visible part of the worship center. Below the wreath, we positioned baskets filled with silk flowers and blank tags. Every week I challenged the congregation that if they had a sincere prayer concern, they were to take one flower for each prayer concern, write the prayer concern and date on one side of the tag, and tie the tag to the flower. They would then take the flower home or to their office and keep it in a prominent place as a reminder of the concern they were bringing before God in prayer. Each week we also reminded the congregation that when God answered the prayer, they should write on the back of the tag how the prayer was answered, and the date it was answered.

At first, people would sheepishly come to me on Sunday mornings with their flower and quietly tell me how God had answered their prayer. I challenged them that God had given them a New Song testimony that was meant to be shared and encouraged them to share publically in the worship service. As people shared their testimonies and the congregation clapped and cheered at how God had worked, they would make their way down from the stage to the wreath and wrap their silk flower and tag into the grapevine wreath. It did not take long before our praise and thanksgiving celebration each Sunday revolved around these events and our wreath blossomed with New Song testimonies about how a real God was actively at work in our real lives. Our congregation emerged into a people who naturally encouraged one another regarding God’s faithfulness. Visitors to our church were drawn to the floral wreath and were in awe at what they discovered tied to each flower. Often, when I would become discouraged, I would find myself tearfully standing before the wreath reading the many stories of God’s faithfulness. The flowers included stories of how God had enabled people to move into their first homes, find the perfect job, and healed their marriages…there was not a single divorce during my five years serving this congregation, The flowers also included stories of how family or friends came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, been delivered from alcohol or drug addictions, and even how individuals had been physically healed.

It’s amazing how a simple flower can so dramatically remind us of God’s power.

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Discovering Your God-Given Purpose

By Shana Schutte

“There once was a man who netted three trout from a mountain stream and carefully placed them side-by-side on a thick patch of grass. Before he removed them from the water, they were like a liquid ballet in motion. Fluid. Graceful. Vibrant. Alive. After he netted them, it was another story.
As the trout lay on the grass, they were motionless. Their eyes were fixed. They gasped for air, and they looked — and acted — stupid. The man noticed they seemed unhappy, so he talked to them, hoping that his encouragement would change them. “Little fish don’t be sad. You’ll like the grass. Just try it out for a while.”
No movement. No response. No change.
A few more seconds passed. The man’s neighbor walked by. “Hey, Bob! Come and check out these fish!” Bob sauntered over and the man explained that he was certain the fish could adjust. “I’m sure they could prosper here on the grass. Don’t you agree?”
“Why not?” Bob replied. So, he also tried to tell the fish it would be good if they learned to like the grass. After all, he liked the grass. Why shouldn’t they? Still, the fish didn’t blink. They just lay there looking dumber by the second.
A little boy approached and exclaimed, “What are you doing? Put them back! They can’t be all they’ve been created to be when they are out of the water!”
Finally convinced, the man carefully placed each fish back in the stream. After splashing for a split second, all three swam away effortlessly. Again, it was like a liquid ballet. What ease! What grace! What beauty!
In that moment, the man realized that no matter how long the fish lay there they would never adjust to the grass and would never be satisfied — no matter how much he (or anyone else) told them otherwise. Even if the fish tried to convince themselves they could learn to like the grass, they never would, and they would never prosper. In fact, they would eventually die.
Do you feel like a fish out of water? Your prolonged dissatisfaction, God-given gifts, passions and the voices of others could be telling you that you were created for another purpose. And like these fish, if you feel like you are dying inside, listen up. It could be just what you need to push you into another, more satisfying ocean.”

From: Focus on the Family – https://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/faith-in-life/discovering-your-god-given-purpose/discovering-your-god-given-purpose

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Finishing Our Work

As we approach Easter, we turn our attention to Christ’s days preceding his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. In John 17, we find Jesus’ “Priestly Prayer”. This prayer is a model for us to see how Christ now stands in God’s presence interceding for us. Look at Hebrews 7:23-25…

23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

But as Christ begins his Priestly Prayer, he makes a very important statement that also would apply to you and me as we seek to pursue the mission ordained for us. John 17:4 states:

4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

Just a God gave Jesus a crucial mission that only he could complete, so also God has ordained a unique mission for each one of us. Ephesians 2:10 tells us:

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So, you and I were created in Christ to complete specific good works that God prepared for us before we were even born. That is mind-blowing! Yet what is more, as with Christ, we actually get to bring glory to God as we seek to finish the work God has given us to do.

But we are not to complete these good works which God prepared for us in our own strength. In the same way that Jesus Christ spent much time in prayer seeking the support of God’s Spirit, we also are called to complete our unique missions not in our own strength, but rather in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Philippians 2:13 instructs us accordingly:

13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”.

So, this Easter, consider letting the Holy Spirit, that same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead (See Romans 8:11), empower you to complete the good works he has ordained for you. For our lives are meant for so much more than the mere humdrum daily routine. Look for, and allow the Holy Spirit to enable you to see beyond your routine and so perceive and complete the mission to which you have been called.

If you are confused about what your mission calling looks like, I want to encourage you to complete the assessments found at https://www.assessme.org, and read my book: Made for a Mission. May that same Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead, dwell in you and empower you to serve our Lord faithfully.

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Free eBook Download for Church Leaders New to AssessME.org

AssessME Free eBook

Free eBook Download

Title – BETTER TOGETHER: The Top 5 Strategies to Maximize Volunteer Mobilization

For many churches, volunteer mobilization is a never-ending plea for more help. Announcements in the church program. Announcements in Sunday services. Announcements on the church website. All these announcements may provide some support, but while these volunteers are good-hearted people, are they really the right people for the available positions? Wouldn’t be nice if your volunteer mobilization efforts could move beyond plugging programming holes, to helping people fulfill God’s call upon their life?

Well, if you are new to AssessME, get started now by downloading our FREE eBook entitled, BETTER TOGETHER: The Top 5 Strategies for Maximizing Volunteer Mobilization.

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Preparing for Our Mission, Part 3

Promoted to Royalty

Your world is at war. You were born into a world of chaos and destruction, pain, and division that so often typifies war. And as with all wars, you are expected to choose which side in this war you will support. Revelation 12:7-9 tells us how the war began…

“7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he (the dragon) was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him” (New International Version).

For most of us, it is in our nature to avoid conflict if at all possible. We despise conflict, particularly the intense conflict war brings. However, the reality is that you and I were indeed born into a world at war. This war has been raging since before the creation of the world. It is a war in which you and I, if we are not careful, may feel like mere pawns, weak and disposable, in an epic game of chess. However, while chess pawns have limited fighting power, their real power is in their ability to get to the opponent’s far side of the board (the back rank) and be promoted into a noble and more powerful player in the game such as a Queen or Knight. Satan would deceive us to believe that we are mere pawns, weak and disposable, in this epic game; that we cannot really make a difference in this world. Yet while this was once true of all of us, we are no longer weak and defenseless. Through our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…that God took on flesh and became in every way like one of us: tempted, tormented, rejected, yet sinless and victorious over death, hell, and the grave; and through our public confession that we are sinful and in need of his forgiveness, that he is Lord over all, especially Lord and Master of our lives…we also, through faith in Christ, are now victorious having been promoted through Christ from mere pawns to royalty possessing the very same authority and power that belongs to Christ within his Kingdom.

Romans 8:17 states: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Yet while our status as royal co-heirs with Christ is a reality, we likely do not yet understand how to live as royalty, or rightly wield the weapons that those who are Spiritual Royalty are given by the Holy Spirit to use in this epic warfare. When a biblical pawn is promoted to royalty, through faith in Christ, the new “Royal” must be trained and equipped to effectively apply their royal status, authority, and expanded powers so that they may eventually make a real difference in this fallen world. The Bible refers to this training process as “disciple-making”.

The word “disciple” comes from the same root we use for “discipline”. This is not the kind of negative discipline we commonly understand as punishment. This is the kind of discipline an athlete uses to become proficient at their “discipline”.  Look at how the Bible refers to our training process:

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (NIV) “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”

As new royalty in Christ, our “strict training” will involve preparation in three distinct developmental areas as outlined in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6:

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (NIV) “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 1) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we 2) take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will 3) be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

I have underlined specific phrases because it is important that we do not miss their meaning. According to this passage our “strict training” involves three areas of discipline development:

  1. As the Holy Spirit leads us, we remove everything from our lives that would keep us from loving our Lord (i.e., we nurture our relationship with God).
  2. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we “take captive every thought” by submitting it to God (i.e., we transform our inner thought life)
  3. In the righteousness we have in Christ, we demonstrate our love for God through our obedience to his commands (i.e., we surrender our will/control).

This tri-part “strict training” (Relationship, Thought Life, & Will/Control) is required of every pawn who through faith in Christ has been promoted to royalty. This training is a life-long process of learning to surrender self to the transformational work of the Holy Spirit. Please note the respective roles in this training process: We surrender ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit does the work to transform us, teaching us to surrender self in the areas of relationship, thought life, and will.

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Preparing for Mission, Part 2

Getting Childish

 

Isaiah 11:6 (New International Version)

“The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a little child will lead them.”

 

See Yourself as Childish:

Isaiah 11:6 envisions a future time when Christ’s Kingdom is made complete. Scholars don’t know for sure when or where this prophesied event will take place, only that at that time God’s shalom (Hebrew: “peace”) will reign throughout his Kingdom…and through God’s shalom, a little child will be able to lead both vicious and gentle creatures alike. And what is more, you and I are among the “little children” whom God will enable to lead both the vicious and the gentle of this world to share in Christ’s Kingdom. The “Child” image is very important in Scripture, so much so that Jesus asserts that it is impossible to enter into Christ’s Kingdom unless we become like little children. In Mathew 18 Jesus says:

Matthew 18:3 (New International Version)

“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become

like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

What is it about little children that Jesus values so much? Certainly, children are far more innocent than adults, and Jesus may be challenging all people to become more innocent. But I think Jesus’ challenge goes much deeper. I believe Jesus is challenging adults to see themselves in this fallen world in the same manner as children innately perceive themselves as demonstrated through their imagination.

Children seem to share a remarkable and common understanding that God created them to participate in an epic story as a prince or princess within God’s Kingdom.  Reflect back on when you were a child. If you were a girl, did you ever pretend to be a beautiful princess or some other idealized character? Or, if you were a boy, did you pretend to be some kind of victorious prince, knight or super-hero? When I was a boy in the 1960’s, I played-out the prince-role pretending to be a cowboy or playing cops and robbers. Later generations of children, influenced by the Star Wars movies, could often be seen pretending to be Jedi Knights. Children have an innate perception that their lives exist within an epic story of good versus evil. As adults, many of us identify with the characters portrayed in epic stories conveyed in the books we read and the movies we view. My favorite movie is “Lord of the Rings”. I cannot imagine a better portrayal of a good-verses-evil epic story…except one…the Biblical epic. As I watched Lord of the Rings for the first time, I found myself passionately identifying with the Hobbit Frodo on his mission to carry the Ring of Power back to the fiery pit from where it had been made, so that it and its evil might finally be destroyed. I could not help but ask myself, “What did the ring represent in my life…my mission…that I would be willing to live, suffer, and die for it?” For me, epic stories like Lord of the Rings enables me to reenter the world of my childhood and once again see myself as I once did, as my Heavenly Father sees me now…that I am a royal prince on an epic mission quest.

But, sadly, as we grow from childhood to maturity, we become “reasonable” and “responsible” and set aside our childish self-image as a prince or princess who serves victoriously within an epic event that overcomes evil. Adults become accountants, businessmen, factory workers, husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers. And as responsible adults we justify to ourselves: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (1 Corinthians 13:11)” As we put childish ways behind us, we all too often satisfy ourselves with making a living rather than living to make a difference. God does want us to make a living and to provide for ourselves and our families. But he also desires for us to make a difference in this world, so much so that Jesus brashly re-defined our priorities…

Luke 14:26 (New International Version)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” 

This passage is not telling us to “hate” our families, rather this is an Aramaic colloquialism intended to challenge our priorities to the core of our being. Simply put, Jesus is telling us that no one and nothing can come before our Kingdom service and loyalty to Jesus Christ. To hold any family member or even our own lives as a value above the things of Christ is a form of idolatry. God simply will not allow us to have any other gods before him (Exodus 20:3). So we are called to become like little children who are reborn into his Kingdom, adopted as co-heirs with Christ, raised to maturity in Christ so that we may serve our King as royal warriors, fighting a universal spiritual battle to establish Christ’s rule and authority within an ever-expanding Kingdom of God’s grace and mercy.

Let’s take a few minutes and review what the Bible has to say about our royal status and position in this world. Please read the following Bible passages, and summarize/personalize each passage in your own words, noting what the passage says about your status and function as a prince or princess called to promote Christ’s Kingdom in this fallen world.

 

Conclusion: Summarize and Personalize the Following Passages…

1 Peter 2:9 (New International Version)

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Example:

“I am a chosen person, to serve as part of Christ’s royal priesthood within His holy nation, and I belong to God so that I may declare the praises of Him who called me out of the darkness and into His wonderful light“.

Summarize & Personalize:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ephesians 1:5 (New International Version)

5He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Summarize & Personalize:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Romans 8:35-37 (New International Version)

35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Summarize & Personalize:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

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Preparing for Mission, part 1

Prepare for Mission by David A Posthuma

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You are Royal

How do you see yourself? When you attend a social activity, how do you introduce yourself? How do you describe yourself to others? Does the interaction go something like this?

“Hi, my name is David”. “So, David, what do you do?” “I‘m a Ministry Systems Designer”. “Oh really…Who do you work for?”

It may be normal in our fallen world to describe ourselves this way, but let’s consider for a moment how the introduction might differ if Jesus introduced us to others at a party….

“Hi, this is my friend and brother David”. “Oh really, what does your brother do?” “David is a Princely Warrior”. “A Prince and Warrior…Whose kingdom does David serve?” “David serves his Heavenly Father who adopted him as his son, made him a Prince within his Kingdom, and has given him all authority and power to accomplish a significant mission assignment that will help restore this fallen world, destroy the power of the Evil One, and bring all things under the leadership of my Father in Heaven.”

There’s quite a difference in the two descriptions, isn’t there? The first is rather bland…it certainly doesn’t make David out to be the life of the party. In contrast, the second description seems too incredible to believe…yet it is true. From a Biblical perspective, this is how God views every Christ follower. We are God’s adopted sons and daughters through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ…who being in very nature God, took on flesh to become like one of us, to suffer like one of us, and to die for the penalty due to us for our sin-nature and sin-acts; on the third day following his death, Jesus was raised to life and has since ascended to heaven where he intercedes to God the Father on our behalf. Through faith in Jesus, we have been adopted into God’s royal family, and so you and I are now also royalty, we are princes and princesses in God’s presence and emerging Kingdom. The Bible describes us as “co-heirs” with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). Reflect for a moment on the ramifications of that assertion! We are co-heirs with Jesus…everything that is his (status, power, position, authority, glory, and suffering) belongs to us as well! Sadly, however, few Christ followers live their lives based upon their royal position. In fact, to a certain extent, I believe we are all guilty of living short of our royal status. All of us live like the hero in the story: “The Little Princess” (Frances Hodgson Burnett, St. Nicholas Magazine, 1904) whose father possessed great riches, position, and power; yet in ignorance of her inherited status, the princess lived in poverty and servitude.

How we perceive ourselves…our self-image…impacts all our life choices, values, and goals. If I see myself as a princely warrior who serves in a vital capacity within an epic battle, then my life decisions will support my self-perception. If I perceive myself as just a “Ministry Systems Designer”, then my life decisions will support that version of my self-perception. If I perceive myself to be weak and of little value, as Satan would deceive me to believe, then based upon that belief I would cower from accomplishing anything of value for Christ’s Kingdom. From God’s perspective, you and I are indeed princes and princess warriors with vital mission assignments intended to help take-back this fallen world for Christ.

It is important that we perceive ourselves correctly, the way God intends. A healthy Biblical self-image is essential not simply because God adopted us as royalty, but also because our unique design points us in the direction of the mission-purpose God intends for us. God designed us exactly the way we need to be to accomplish the ministry mission he ordained for us.  I also believe the more we learn to appreciate our unique design, the more we will learn to appreciate our unique Designer, whose image we were designed to reflect.

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How to Use Small Groups to Launch AssessME.org

Benchmark Small Group Strategies

Small groups can be a wonderful venue for launching and supporting AssessME.org within your church. However, to be successful with AssessME.org, it should not simply be seen by staff and the congregation as merely a small group learning or discussion series. Churches that are successful with AssessME.org make AssessME a fully integrated part of their church culture. Let me first discuss benchmark small group strategies, and then how to successfully integrate AssessME.org into your church culture.

1) Small Group Strategies –

Leadership must first determine the extent that they want their small group leaders involved in the church’s overall volunteer mobilization strategy. The typical options are as follows:

  • Simple: Launch AssessME through Small Groups
  • Moderate: Use Small Groups to Train Group Members
  • Difficult: Use Small Groups to Mobilize Volunteers

 

SIMPLE: Launch AssessME.org

It is easy to use your small group program to help launch your AssessME.org assessment program. Your group leaders need only to share with group members your church’s unique Assessment Page URL, see samples below.

Assessment Center URL

And if activated, the Registration Code Key (Warning: Activating the Code Key will significantly reduce the numbers of people in your church who will register and take the assessments).

Registration Code Key Generator

Your small group leaders should be equipped to introduce each assessment and be able to explain why each assessment is important.

  1. The ePersonality – Built upon the proven Myer-Briggs construct, it is a sociologically validated assessment, with a proven 89% accuracy rate. All other assessment results are judged accurate in as much as they agree with the ePersonality.
  2. The GraceGifts – The GraceGifts assessment provides “Gift Expressions” which are personality defined ways the people will make use of their gifts.
  3. Leadership Style – Helps explain how the Body of Christ, and its many parts, fit together in team-based ministry service.
  4. Organic Skills Tracking – Enables your people to create skill categories and micro-resume’s related to their skills. Our skills are an outgrowth of the personality God has given us. Our personality determines the kinds of experiences we like or do not like. The experiences we like, over time and through experience, formulate as skills.
  5. NextSteps Disciple Making – Helps church staff to meet you at your point of need to help your faith in Christ to grow stronger and your relationship with Christ, more intimate.

We recommend the assessments be completed in the following order: 1) ePersonality, 2) Leadership Style, 3) GraceGifts, 4) Skills, 5) NextSteps (i.e., if activated). The small group leaders should also be able to explain what will happen once each member completes their assessments. Common options include:

  • A ministry fair of Internal and off-campus para-church ministries
  • The pastor’s class seminar, to help people know how to apply their assessment report information
  • Personal pastoral follow-up
  • If using Church Community Builder, then create “JOBS” with assigned AssessME.org assessment report title types. People who match each JOB Profile will view the posting within their account and may “APPLY” for the position.
  • Leadership makes use of the AssessME.org Candidate Search Function to define ideal profiles based upon combinations of personality, spiritual gifts, leadership style, skills, and spiritual maturity, for any ministry service role. The result will be a short-list of matching candidates that leadership may relationally and proactively meet will to explore whether God may be calling any of the people on their short-list to the available service functions.

In fact, an ideal follow-up plan would include all these strategies.

 

MODERATE: Use Small Groups to Train Small Group Members

A more challenging benchmarked small group model uses group leaders to facilitate a small group study through the book, Made for a Mission. David A. Posthuma wrote this book specifically to serve as an equipping tool for AssessME.org users. The book includes personalized workbook pages that help each reader interpret and apply the AssessME.org reports to their own life and ministry calling. By the end of the book, each reader will understand why God created them as he did, also, the general purposes for which they were created, and the kinds of people they need to partner with to maximize their ministry impact.

Small group leaders would greatly benefit from weekly pre-training sessions where the staff member overseeing all small groups would model how they would teach through that week’s upcoming chapter. In addition, small group leaders should be pre-equipped with sample questions to ask which will help facilitate sharing and discussion. They would also benefit with suggested answers to commonly asked questions.

Finally, the small group leaders should also be able to explain what will happen once each member completes their assessments. Common options include:

  • A Ministry Fair of Internal and Off-Campus Para-Church Ministries
  • The Pastor’s Class Seminar, to Help People Know How to Apply their Report Data
  • Personal Pastoral Follow-Up
  • If Using Church Community Builder, Then Create “JOBS” with assigned AssessME.org report types. People who Match Each JOB Profile Will View the Posting within their Account and May “APPLY” for the Position.
  • Leadership Makes Use of the AssessME.org Candidate Search Function to Define Ideal Profiles for Any Ministry Service Role and to Build Effective Teams.

The ideal follow-up plan would include some combination of some or all these strategies.

DIFFICULT: Use Small Group Leaders to Mobilize Each Group Member

Today it is common for churches to challenge their small groups to serve together in various community service projects. While these service projects are wonderful group bonding and service opportunities, these experiences are not what AssessME.org means by “Volunteer Mobilization”. Our goal is to help each person identify and ultimately fulfill God’s calling upon their life. In all honesty, this is a task that is likely beyond the scope of most small group leaders. Our philosophy asserts that how God designed a person points them in the direction of the kinds of ministry service that would best fit them. However, identifying one’s life-calling may yet be years away. The goal at present is to help church members practice and perfect the kinds of ministry service roles that fit them best. Additionally, your people need to learn how they best fit within a ministry team, and to serve that team with humility and excellence. The average person does not know how to serve in partnership with other people. Some people have authority issues and do not presently serve well under the authority of appointed leadership. These are growth traits that make take years to mature. For this reason, we have not yet observed a successful benchmark church program that relies solely on its small group leaders to mobilize each of their group members to fulfill their life’s calling. At most, a small group can provide general support, encouragement, counsel, and prayer.

 

Creating an AssessME Culture Within your Church

The most important implementation strategy is to appoint a leader who will oversee the equipping of all pastors, staff, and key lay leaders on how to use AssessME.org to find the best candidates and build effective teams. This role commonly falls under the function of a Human Resource Administrator or Volunteer Coordinator. This person must ensure that your church leaders do not view AssessME.org as one of many church programs. For, if AssessME.org will succeed within your church, it must integrate into every program your church offers. Every pastor must be assessed before hiring. Every prospective staff member must be assessed before hiring, and every volunteer must be assessed before mobilizing them into service roles.

But creating an AssessME.org culture within your church goes much further than having everyone take the assessments, your pastors and staff must be equipped to use AssessME.org to personally search for prospective ministry candidates, and use the AssessME.org data to build effective teams. The Human Resource Administrator or Volunteer Coordinator must serve as the ministry’s primary source for leadership equipping so that every leader within your church is equipped and able to identify appropriate ministry candidates and to mobilize them within their sphere of ministry responsibility. In this way, the Human Resource Administrator or Volunteer Coordinator does not function as a bottleneck that controls mobilization, but rather as an equipper who trains and releases all other leaders within the church to mobilize as many people as possible into Kingdom ministry service.

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