Cokesbury is proud to announce their new children’s curriculum, Grow, Proclaim, Serve! 

Visit the website to watch videos, preview sample lessons and learn more!

Grow, Proclaim, Serve! incorporates Bible stories, activities, crafts, media, and games into a full faith experience for children. With Grow, Proclaim, Serve! children will develop the skills to unlock the Bible and grow their faith by leaps and bounds.

With Grow, Proclaim, Serve! children will grow in mind and body, they will also grow in heart and soul. Grow, Proclaim, Serve! will nourish and enrich children, from birth through tweens, in their faith. They will be able to proclaim the good news of God’s love and serve God and neighbor. Children will realize that their faith goes with them as they grow.

Parents can get involved too! As a parent, finding a church home that reinforces and encourages the spiritual development of your child’s faith is very important. The resources that a church utilizes to accomplish that task can be equally important. Encourage your church to us Grow, Proclaim, Serve!

Sign up for the Grow, Proclaim, Serve! email newsletter to stay up-to-date on top of all the latest announcement! 

United Methodist Insurance Newsletter
 February 2012
 

 
 
Securing Your Church Facilities

Though every church is unique in how they approach this issue, several key principles can be helpful, regardless of size, location, or type of church. 

COMMUNICATE

The security of the church facility is everyone's responsibility. Therefore, by clearly communicating the responsibility of each member and group is a good first step. Let everyone know what you expect of them. Have policies and find as many ways as possible to communicate to the masses. Approach it from a stewardship issue. Help people know that caring for the facilities and property God has given to their care, is a faithful act of stewardship. 

SHUT IT UP TIGHT

Some churches are fortunate enough to have a full-time custodial staff. Some even have around-the-clock security. But many rely on a small staff and volunteers. Regardless of the size of your church, someone should be responsible for doing a walk-through at the end of the day. Not only are you looking for open doors and windows, but safety concerns. A candle that was not extinguished or a leaky toilet can cause a great deal of damage.  

LIMIT ACCESS

Regardless if you still use the key system or have a security/electronic access system, you will want to find ways to limit access to the facility and the areas within the facility to those who are authorized. Each year a list should be made of those who have a need to get into the church facilities. It is highly recommended that you lock interior doors, into such areas as offices or sound equipment rooms. With more and more technology, it is also wise to seriously consider a monitored alarm system for your facility.   

CHECK IT REGULARLY

Occasionally, someone should be asking "has anything changed that might cause us to want to re-examine who is getting access to the facility?" For instance, if a leader has been asked to resign, or if a staff person has moved on to another church, you would want to make sure that they no longer have access to the facility and that the keys have been collected, or the electronic access codes have been changed.

HANDLE CONCERNS QUICKLY

When you do come to the church and find a door open when it shouldn't be, find out why. Check to see who was there last. Remind them of the concern and policies. If outside groups use your church, the tendency is to give them a key. But do you really want a church key floating around the community? Alternative methods should be considered, such as charging a fee that will allow a church member or custodian to unlock and lock the facility for the group. If violations persist, then a new method of securing the facility should be considered.

Last, but not least, due to the change in our society and the more frequent loss of property and misuse / abuse of church facilities, leaders should think about what changes they need to make before there is an incident. One church, after two break-ins in the same week, finally got to a place where they were able to say, "Maybe we should re-think our approach." Don't wait for this to happen. Discuss it now, and avoid the losses that could occur by doing things the way they've always been done.
 

Achieving Your Goals

You will know them (disciples) by their fruit.” (Matthew 7:16)

Achieving your goals will be challenging but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Ideally we would like things to work like this:

Present                                                    Goal

State                                                         Accomplishment

We would like the movement toward accomplishing our goals to be a straight line - the shortest and most direct path to accomplish the goal. In reality, that rarely happens if it occurs at all. There are things we do not anticipate, things we learn along the way and challenges that we encounter that require us to turn and twist along the way. In reality, working to accomplish a goal looks like this.

Present                                                    Goal

State                                                         Accomplishment

In the church, there are a variety of levels of ability to accomplish goals. Two churches can use the same program and one is successful and the other church is not successful. Churches that succeed generally follow these principles.

What helps a church to accomplish its goals?

1.       Pray – The work/ministry of the church is a spiritual discipline. We are not a business or a secular organization. We are a part of God’s movement and this begins with prayer that listens deeply and petitions God for strength, people, wisdom and spiritual depth to accomplish the church’s goals.

2.       Measurable Goals – The clearer and more measurable the goal is, the better the chance of reaching your goal. For instance, a goal to increase stewardship is not a practical goal. Rather you might state it this way: Increase the average giving per member by 4% or increase the number of people who pledge by 20%. These are measurable and will help a congregation identify activities to accomplish the goal.

3.       Hold People Accountable – If you believe your goals are a spiritual endeavor and if you believe they are what God wants for your church and community, then people should be accountable for their ministry. Accountability doesn’t need to be harsh or punitive but it does need to be clear and direct. When a goal is set, people should be assigned to a goal and the person should recruit others to work with him or her to accomplish the goal. A goal should not be assigned to a committee. You cannot hold a committee accountable. Also committees generally talk about ministry while individuals carry out ministry. By assigning a goal to a person and allowing that person to choose their team to work on the goal, you increase the opportunity to achieve the goal.

When holding people accountable, you assist them by setting benchmarks. A benchmark is markers along the way to indicate what will be done by when. This means developing a set of activities or actions to accomplish the goal and a set of deadlines for each activity. Assigning different activities to different people and each person knowing there activities and when they are completed gives direction to the team. Below you will find a team benchmark sheet that can help you organize your team and timeline.

The team leader, the person assigned to achieve the goal should regularly check in with each team member at least once a month and more often as necessary to ask the following questions:

a.       What have you done since the last time we talked?

b.      What roadblocks are you encountering and how are you overcoming them?

c.       Do you need any support or help? (Team leaders help people problem solve or help to recruit others that can help the person complete their tasks)

d.      Let’s talk again in ___ weeks. What do you think you will be able to accomplish by then?

These questions can be asked following church, on the phone or in an email. Try not to use email too often. The more personal the contact, the more helpful a team leader will be.

A team should gather as often as necessary and for no more than an hour. Team meetings should be focused and offer an opportunity for people to report to one another on how they are doing and what support they need. Too many meetings and meetings that last more than an hour tend not to be productive and can lose focus. Check in meetings should begin and end with prayer.

When someone is not completing their tasks, let them know how important their work is to the project and the church and ask the individual: When will you be able to accomplish your task? If the person needs help, provide them with support. If a person cannot complete their work, assign the tasks to others. It may be a mismatch of tasks and an individual’s gifts or the individual may not have the time. Thank them for trying and let them know why you will be inviting someone else to pick up their tasks. Encourage the individual and let them know there will be other opportunities.

There should be someone engaging the team leader as well. A church leader should ask these same questions of the team leader.

4.       Celebrate Small Victories Along the Way – When someone accomplishes part of the goal, thank God and the individual and let the other team members know what has been accomplished. This will increase motivation within the team.

5.       Communicate Results to the Congregation – Communicate to the congregation progress toward the goals and ask for their prayers, support and involvement. This will help the congregation to engage in the ministry and it will motivate others working on goals to accomplish their goals.

6.       Excellence – God needs and wants our best. When we do not do ministry well, to the outsider, it is a reflection on the God we serve. Good enough may not be God enough. Excellence also attracts others to get involved.

7.       Evaluation – Evaluate the teams work by asking:

a.       What went well?

b.      What did we learn?

c.       What will we do differently in the future?

Build on successes and improve upon future efforts.

The Essential Ingredients to Reaching Your Goals

There are three ingredients to reaching goals.

Gifts                      Ministry                    Fruit

Gifts – Gifts are the resources from God for your ministry. Ensuring you have the appropriate gift set is the most important part of achieving your goals. If you get this wrong, it will be like pushing a rock up a hill and may make the difference between achieving your goals and not achieving your goals. There are three important gifts that are needed for success.

1.       Time – Enough time and appropriate time. This begins first with God’s timing. Is this the right time in your congregation’s life to be working on the goal. Are people open to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to work in your midst? Praying before you launch into your goals and seeking God’s guidance about the right time to start working on the goal is essential. The right time might include things like sufficient energy within the congregation to work on the goal, your church calendar is not so filled with activities that people do not have time to work on the goals, and you are not preparing for a major event, like a church anniversary that will sidetrack people from working on the goal. You must also provide the appropriate amount of time to reach a goal. If you do not allow for challenges you may encounter along the way, you will frustrate people because they will feel rushed. You also do not want to provide too much time because people will procrastinate if they feel they have plenty of time. Some sense of urgency is appropriate.

2.       Money – Have you provided the team working on the goal with sufficient financial resources to accomplish the goal? Ministry requires financial support.

3.       People – This is the most critical of all. In the church we are not always discerning of people’s gifts. We want to include everyone, even if they do not have the gifts for a particular project. If someone does not have the appropriate gifts, encourage them to engage in another ministry which is better suited for their gifts. If people’s gifts are being matured, do not assign them more than they can do with excellence. You may also assign a mentor to guide an individual who is maturing in their gifts. Growing leadership through smaller projects or by mentoring them will be a gift to the individual and the future of the church.

Ministry – The activities the church does to carry out your goals. The activities should clearly work together to reach a goal.

Fruit – The results of the gifts and ministry of the church. Churches should evaluate progress based on the fruit. Many churches evaluate activity. We are good at activity, but it is the fruit that is essential. Jesus said, you will know disciples by their fruit. Measuring activity can make us feel good but it is the fruit that we are working to achieve. If you are not bearing the desired fruit, you should change either your gift set (people, time, money) or ministry or both. Also recognize that sometimes it takes time for a ministry to achieve its desired effect. Do not change the ministry too quickly. A new worship service may take 1-2 years to grow.

Working on and achieving goals can be a very rewarding experience and it will strengthen your ministry and your congregation. Everything will not go smoothly but learning and working on improving will continue to strengthen you church’s ministry.

You will also find best practices and resources for on the best practices tab for:

1.       Making new disciples

2.       Improving and growing worship

3.       Starting and leading small groups

4.       Engaging people in community mission

5.       Increasing your congregations mission giving

Keep in mind, these resources are dependent on using the above approach to achieve your goals and ministry.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS!

I was elated when my daughter recently sent me a text

message, "book my flight for December 14!" It meant that for the

first time since she went away to college four years ago she would be

home early enough to help in the selection of the family Christmas

tree. The first year she came home and was disappointed that we had

not put up a 5+foot tree; we thought the NorfolkIsland pine in the bay window was sufficient. The

next year she came in around the 21st or 22nd;we put up the 5+ foot tree and she left after

Christmas lunch to spend time with a friend in Columbia. Wethen sat around and sipped our after

dinner coffee, admiring the tree and missing our daughter. Last year she came home on Christmas

Eve. She was flying in from Paris after spending the entire semester (fromAugust 28th) in Niger.

Our last conversation with her on December 23 was that she was homesick and miserable, and that

the friend who was supposed to drive her to the airport had baled. Wewere almost in tears as we

advised her to go to the concierge and seek assistance in having a taxi available in the early

morning so that she could get to the airport in plenty of time. You will remember (or not) that last

year Paris experienced a fluke snow storm on Christmas Eve. So, without the ability to connect via

cell phones or email, we, actually I, anxiously watched Flight Tracker to see where her flight was.

Due to operator error (mine), I was beginning to panic thinking that the flight had been delayed. I

was pacing the house, planning a 5 hour trip to Atlanta to secure our daughter if her flight was late,

if she was delayed in customs, if she missed her flight. You see, I had been counting the weeks and

the days until I could see my "baby" (now21+).Then my always calm spouse came home for lunch,

helped me correct my error and I realized that while her flight had been delayed, she was actually in

the air. She was scheduled to land in Atlanta at 4:30 and to board her next flight at 5:30.

At 4:35 she called to say that she was in Atlanta. She sounded more than tired: weary and

forlorn come to mind as appropriate adjectives. About 35 minutes later she called sounding like a

weary but happy traveler; she was on her flight to Charleston. She said as she passed through

customs an airport employee - a stranger - a native of Ghana - called out to her; he recognized her

African Calabash as something familiar. He approached her and asked about the Calabash which

is a huge Gourd that has been hollowed out to use as a bowl for transporting personal goods from

place to place, often carried on the head. His next words were, "Youlook like you could use some

help; where do you need to be?" He immediately secured a luggage cart, and escorted her quickly to

her gate. Otherwise, she may have indeed missed her flight.

Gary was busy leading worship at John WesleyUMC,so I went to pick her up at the airport.

There was a mother waiting for her son to arrive from Germany and others as well, but when I saw

my daughter and she saw me, the crowd parted. It really was like a Hollywoodclassic. She

dropped everything and we stood and hugged and cried and jumped up and down and hugged again

for a full two minutes. We collected her things in baggage claim and loaded the car. As we pulled

away from the airport I asked my daughter if she wanted to go home or go to church - we would

probably get there just in time for communion. She replied, "Church! I want me some Jesus!" She

had been in a predominantly Moslem country for 4 months!

It seems that Christmas is indeed that time of year when we all think more about "being

home". Wethink about the people who make our lives special just because they are family. And

then, if you're like me, you remember how precious each member of your family is and how blessed

you are to share Christmas with them.

But I keep thinking about that stranger in the airport. John 1:10 says of Jesus,

"He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him."

Today more than ever I think that there are many who are strangers to Jesus and for whom Jesus

is a stranger. So many people have false ideas about who Jesus is. They often think of Jesus/ God

as a vengeful judge who fmds fault with human beings even though scripture teaches "grace and

truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17b).

There are many who think that Jesus has nothing to say to our world today. Myexperience

however, is that the words of Jesus are timeless, fresh and new for every age and for every need.

For instance there is no expiration date on these words:

"Loveyour enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for

those who abuse you" (Luke 6:27-28)

I am convinced that many who celebrate Christmas do not know the Christ and have never

experienced "the Mass" or The Eucharist. They are indeed "strangers to God". I pray that as we

continue our journey towards the blessed celebration of the Homecoming of Jesus, His Holy

Incarnation, that we would take time to reflect on who He really is and to introduce Him to those

around us: the stranger in line at Target; the mother struggling with her children at the bus stop;

the immigrant that so often is a stranger to us, though perhaps not to God; the folks who sing

about the Prince of Peace but do not know the One who alone can give that "peace that passes all

understanding". Seize the opportunity to invite folks, even strangers, to your services for Christmas

Eve and Christmas Day worship, to choral programs and children's activities. In so doing, you may

introduce them to The Christ, a stranger to them, who is ready to say, "WelcomeHome!"

Thank you for your generous gifts to Charleston Wesley Foundation in my honor. Mayyour

Holy days be filled with the joy and hope that Christ alone gives.

Patti