You are here: Home / Archives for BOOKS / The Ministry

DO YOU KNOW WHY 90% OF PEOPLE WASH OUT IN THEIR EMPLOYMENT?

by

DO YOU KNOW WHY 90% OF PEOPLE WASH OUT IN THEIR EMPLOYMENT?

  1. IT IS NOT THEIR INABILITY TO DO THE JOB AT HAND.
  2. IT IS THEIR INABILITY TO HAVE REPORT WITH THEIR SUPERIORS. (Present oneself formally as having arrived at a particular place or as ready to do something. Present oneself arrive turn up   clock in sign in punch in show up be responsible to (a superior or supervisor).
  3. IT IS THEIR INABILITY TO RELATE TO PEERS. (They can’t understand the need to relate to peers.)
  4. IT IS THEIR INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR SUBORDINATES.
  5. SO, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ADJUST YOUR ACTIONS AND ATTITUDE TO YOUR BOSS, YOUR PEERS, AND YOUR SUBORDINATES. (You may do as you like, but you must also take   responsibility for your actions, attitude, and words.)

MINISTRY AND BUSINESS

by

YOUNG PASTORS DON’T UNDERSTAND THE MINISTRY

MINISTRYKen Blue

“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.  But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4.

I went to Bible College to learn the Bible and be a preacher. One comment by our Homiletic’s professor stands out in my mind more clearly than any other. He said, “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”. That comment offended me, and I didn’t believe it. I loved to preach, so he can’t be correct in that comment.

When Joyce and I started the Open Door Baptist Church in 1969 we had an empty building with about one hundred empty chairs. Back then everything was about soul winning and preaching however, before that year was over, we had over a hundred in the morning service and all in the same room.  We had a problem, and something had to change, and change quick!

We had to get the nursery age out of the preaching service so, I had to find a place and a worker for that problem. The girls’ bathroom became a place and my wife became the worker but that did not completely solve the problem. The six through eight year olds were bored, restless and distracting. There was an unfinished room in the back of the building.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”[/perfectpullquote]

This room would work, but we needed a teacher. We found a faithful lady, so that problem was readily solved. However, now it was time to move to a new location if we were to continue our growth.

We found a local school where we met for about a year but, we had to set up and take down all the chairs. So someone had to be appointed for this task. In addition, we now needed ushers, money counters, book keepers and expenses paid. I had no idea that we needed to be incorporated in Washington State. This was “business” that was required by law, and Bible College forgot to tell me about these things.

Moreover, for the first three years I was the song leader, so it was my task to select songs everybody knew. In time, God gave us someone to play a piano, but at that time, we did not have one, so that became another order of business. In addition, I also directed our small choir and taught the teachers next Sunday’s lesson…..Whew!

More and more I needed the help of others. In a few years there where hundreds of ministries that needed to be attended to, and someone had to attend them and I was learning that my professor was right.

There are many gifted preachers who can’t tie their own shoes, thus they can never build a growing church. Then, there are men gifted in management, who are not the best of preachers. Guess who builds a growing church? The one who learns how to manage the business side of the ministry!

My advice to the novice pastor is three things. Learn all you can about soul winning, (I mean getting them saved, baptized and in the church membership). Learn how to recruit, delegate and manage the total ministry and learn how to rightly divide the Bible and how to teach it. Bathe all this in prayer, depending on the Holy Spirit.

You must learn how to manage as well as preach, but if management is a weakness of yours, then find someone in the church you can trust, and let them help you in this area. “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry” but, “Pastoring” takes both preaching and management.

A ONE STRING MINISTRY

by

ADVICE TO YOUNG PREACHERS

ONE STRING“One of the evils of such a course is to beget in his mind a monstrous development of that particular truth. He soon loses the symmetry and proportion of a Christian man, becomes too much a man of one idea, loses sight, in a great measure, of other branches of reform, and is in danger of becoming censorious, towards all others in whose minds there is not the same monstrous development of that particular truth. This is a dangerous state of mind, exceedingly injurious to his own piety and usefulness, and dangerous to the Church of God. Such men are found not infrequently to be loudly denunciatory in respect to all Christians and ministers who are not swallowed up, as they are, in that particular branch of reform. They go up and down through the Churches lecturing, making their particular topic a test question, and measuring every thing and every body by the importance they attach to the particular branch of reform in which they are engaged. To them it appears that no body else is doing any good–that nothing else is at the present time of much importance, and that little or nothing can be done for the salvation of the world, until that particular branch of reform is perfected. These brethren seem not at all aware of the state of mind in which they are. They seem not to consider that they have so long dwelt upon the bearings and influence of one branch of reform, that it has in their mind grown out of all proportion as compared with other branches of Christian reform. I beseech you, brethren, take heed lest you come to be among the number of those of whom I am speaking. Do not understand me as speaking against agencies or agents, for no doubt these agencies need to be prosecuted. But I would earnestly warn you against being drawn away from the whole work of the ministry to engage in them, without a manifest call from God. And if you should be called to engage in them, I beseech and warn you to be on your guard against the tendencies of which I have been speaking. Without being at all aware of it, many of the lecturers of different societies have diffused a very unhappy spirit through the Churches, and wherever they go, they seem to plant a root of bitterness, and to get up a kind of faction, and to embitter the minds of certain classes of professors of religion against the Church in general, and the ministry, and in short against all who have not a single eye to that particular department of reform.” Charles Finney

THE IMPLODING CHURCH

by

  imploding church

By Ken Blue

How do you keep from having an imploding church? Let’s assume you are going to start a church from nothing. The one thing you must consider is, where are we going to meet? Will we meet in a home, a barn, or some other facility?

Next, on your priority list will be soul winning. You can’t have church without people, and you can’t have people without some form of contact. Therefore, every thought, and effort will be on how to reach others, and get them into the new church. This will be the driving force at the time, and rightfully so.

As new families come into the church, you have the challenge of how to teach the different age groups, and provide child care for the infants. These are just a few of the growing pains, but you learn how to solve them.

New growth brings new needs. People need real discipleship. They need ministries to serve in. At this point, you may have to consider a new meeting place to care for the growth. So, property is located, buildings are built, and finances are needed. More and more the church adds new demands. The church is humming with excitement.

That is why success may be your downfall. Little by little, the vision shifts. Everyone now has someone to fellowship with. They are becoming one happy family. Everybody knows each other, and pays extra attention to each other.  The growth has brought new demands. Thus, most of the money, time and service is bestowed on the existing congregation. Everyone is busy, but something subtle has happened.

Planning meetings are no longer about soul winning, and growth. All the plans now are about how to feed the monster. The outreach has shifted to programs, and activities.  A new missionary may be added once each year for conscience sake.

The church has now reached its stagnation point. Everything is about the “church family.” The very thing that gave life and growth, is now forgotten and left behind. Most of the members have grey hair. They are comfortable and don’t want to be disturbed.

The death of the church is inevitable. The only way to keep a church alive is to have new, young blood added every week.  Where are all the great soul winning churches of fifty years ago? They are either dead and gone, or dead and being embalmed each year. Your church, too, will die unless you keep outreach hot, and on the front burner. A church must be a maternity ward, or it becomes a museum.  If you neglect these, stand back and watch the implosion.

PROTECTION FROM PEDOPHILES

by

 Pedophile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


By Ken Blue

 “Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:” Proverbs 24:3

No guarantees that your child will not be molested. A pedophile, a serial killer, a drug addict, or a thief can live under your roof without you knowing of their wickedness, or devices.  

  • According to a Community Information Packet provided by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office in Washington State, one in four girls are assaulted by age 18. One in five boys is assaulted by age 18. Over 1/3rd of child sexual abuse involves children age five or younger. 85-90% of child sex offenders are known to the victims and their family.

Most pedophiles are male, but not all. Pedophiles love to play with and be around children. Obviously they feel safer, and find it easier to control and “groom” them. We will speak more about the grooming process later. Not every person who loves to play with children is a pedophile, but when they prefer to be with small children rather than adults, it might be a red flag.

Not all pedophiles are stalkers. They fall into three major categories. We will also deal with these in another blog.

In this article there are some things I believe you should consider in order to protect your church and children.

  • Submit a background check on every person who works with children under 18. You can secure these from the police department, county sheriff, or State Patrol. Explain to the one you are doing the background check, that it is being done, and why. If they refuse, you already know they have a past.
  • Do not give them the ministry until you get the background report back. Wait until the report is processed, and you have it in hand before you meet with the person. If the report is negative, never place that person in a ministry where they will be alone with children.
  • Have two male teachers in every boy’s class. Explain to each teacher, if he/she sees any inappropriate behavior they should warn the other teacher. Knowledge of actual sexual abuse must be reported to the police at once.
  • Have women teach girls, and men teaching boys.
  • Have windows in every classroom.
  • Do not allow any obstruction on the windows, for any reason.
  • Have the class arranged so you can see the teachers through the glass.
  • Have hall monitors to look through the glass twice during class time. Do not have a set routine for these checks.
  • Never allow teachers to go in the bathroom with a child. Have them stand outside the door.
  • Never allow students to sit on the laps of male workers.
  • Install cameras in key locations. If you need advice, ask a police officer for help.
  • You are required by law to report any sexual complaint from an adult or child.  
  • You could also contact your insurance company for advice. In some cases, your cost will go down when you impalement deterrents to sexual abuse. 

(Special thanks to Officer Mike McBride for suggestions, and providing the literature we are gleaning from).