Quick Tips for Christian Ministry

Dr. Lyndon Wall of Refresh Ministries points out that burn-out is often predicated by a loss of hope.   He prescribes six remedies to recover your hope and prevent burn-out.   The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.     Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here.         --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Anna Burns has a recommendation: Reach out to your donors in a personal way by sending them a Christmas card.  This is a simple way to say, "Hey, I'm thinking of you and wanted to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas." Anna Burns is with The Great Commission Foundation.   Click here for the InCourage Journal for Christian Service Workers.            The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.     Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here.         --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Dr. Joel Thiessen continues his synopsis on the reasons people go "post-church". The thesis he advances is that most of the reasons for why people diminish their involvement in church attendance has virtually nothing to do with what churches do or don't do. Most of these things have to do with broad cultural changes within society. Dr. Thiessen identifies these eight reasons:   Rejection of exclusivity  Life transitions Teenage choice Too busy Scandals and hypocrisy Intellectual disagreement Interpersonal tension Social ties     Dr. Joel Thiessen continues his synopsis on the reasons people go "post-church". The thesis he advances is that most of the reasons for why people diminish their involvement in church attendance has virtually nothing to do with what churches do or don't do. Most of these things have to do with broad cultural changes within society. Dr. Thiessen identifies these eight reasons:   Rejection of exclusivity  Life transitions Teenage choice Too busy Scandals and hypocrisy Intellectual disagreement Interpersonal tension Social ties   Joel is the Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. Follow Dr. Joel Thiessen on Twitter, his website, or The Flourishing Congregations Institute.   And read his intriguing book: "The Meaning of Sunday"    The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Anna Burns answers this week's question — "It's so hard to get donors on board and then keep them interested in supporting my project. I seem to be losing supporters. How can I keep them donating?" Anna Burns is with The Great Commission Foundation.   Click here for the InCourage Journal for Christian Service Workers.            The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.   The background music featured on this podcast is by Christian musician Steve Bell and his producer and recording engineer Dave Zeglinski. It's called “Jesus My Glory“ and is from their Landscape disc in the Pilgrimage boxed set. Check him out at http://stevebell.com/.   Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Dr. Joel Thiessen talks about people who claim to be Christian... but only show up in church for religious holidays and rites of  passage. Between 40 and 50% of those who identify as Christian attend religious services mainly for religious holidays and rites of passage. They show up every Christmas. They show up every Easter. They baptize their children. They want to get married in a church, but they don't attend any other time of the year. Dr. Thiessen identifies three reasons they do show up occasionally in church: Tradition — Tradition is a powerful anchor that guides our behavior. Family — Much like sitting around the dinner table, attending a religious service brings back the family memories. Sacred Space — feeling closer to God in a church.   Joel is the Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. Follow Dr. Joel Thiessen on Twitter, his website, or The Flourishing Congregations Institute.   And read his intriguing book: "The Meaning of Sunday"    The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Organizational Coach Dr. Ken Thiessen responds to a ministry worker in Southern Africa about team conflict. She asks: We have some communication and conflict problems on our ministry team. I feel very isolated and don’t know how to deal with this. Please… could you have your podcast give some regular tips for team conflict resolution. And how to deal with a team leader who doesn’t bring out the best in us? Dr. Ken Thiessen has a 30 year track record of leading, consulting, and coaching organizations to realize their imagined future. Church leadership teams will benefit from the resources on his Anxious Congregations website.     The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Dr. Joel Thiessen shares his insights about people in Canada who claim to have no religious affiliation.   Joel is the Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. Follow Dr. Joel Thiessen on Twitter, his website, or The Flourishing Congregations Institute.   And read his intriguing book: "The Meaning of Sunday"    The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Anna Burns answers this week's question — "What works best when asking for donations, sending out a fundraising letter or meeting with the potential donor face-to-face?" Anna Burns is with The Great Commission Foundation.   Click here for the InCourage Journal for Christian Service Workers.            The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.   The background music featured on this podcast is by Christian musician Steve Bell and his producer and recording engineer Dave Zeglinski. It's called “O Love“ and is from their Landscape disc in the Pilgrimage boxed set. Check him out at http://stevebell.com/.   Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Dr. Joel Thiessen again shares insights on the dominant trends of religion in North America. Europe and North America are moving in a progressive and increasingly secular direction. Secularization is a dominant narrative.  The rise of people who say they have no religion represents one in three teenagers, one in four  adults. It's the fastest growing "religious" group in the modern western world. For example in Canada: ...one in two Canadian teenagers never attend religious services today. One in three Canadian teenagers say they have no religion. If you want to know where a religious group is going, you look to your young people. It is very rare that people convert later on in life. It doesn't mean it's impossible and we would all think of anecdotal stories where that's happened. On the whole, you look to your young people. Another trend pertains to Christian identification. Christianity is the lead religion in Canada. When you ask Canadians, "What religion do you identify with?" 67% of Canadians say, "Christianity." However, over the last decade this has diminished over 10 percentage points. I think the take-home point here is that Christianity is the lead religion in terms of identification, but it is waning. What does that mean for local churches then when fewer and fewer Canadians in your neighbourhoods, in your cities and your communities have even a passing reference to Christianity? A generation ago we could take for granted that people would know who Jesus was, who denied Jesus three times, all these kinds of things. There isn't that cultural memory relative to Christianity. I think that's an important trend to grapple with. Joel is the Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. Follow Dr. Joel Thiessen on Twitter, his website, or The Flourishing Congregations Institute.   And read his intriguing book: "The Meaning of Sunday"   The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

In this special episode you will learn some YouTube worship music video creation tips. David Wesley of Basement Praise and YouTube fame shares with us the story of how he got started making his music videos and his process for creating his multi harmony praise and worship music tracks. From time to time we will be bringing you these special episodes with Christian Creatives, such as musicians, authors, and other artists who create as a ministry. David is a Canadian musician who describes himself as a "self-producing artist creating multi-track magic in my basement to share the gospel and have a little fun on the side :)...." And he brings a lot of enjoyment to us! In this podcast episode he tells the story of how he started making his music videos. And, he explains how he put three songs together in his "Amazing Grace" medley. You can enjoy the full version of David Wesley’s "Amazing Grace" medley by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8plSomxS5Yo. This piece is a "Mash-up" of 3 modern adaptations of "Amazing Grace": "But For Your Grace" - by Rita Baloche "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" - by Chris Tomlin & Louis Giglio "Grace Like Rain" - by Todd Agnew & Chris Collins   The other music track we featured on this podcast is David's "In Christ Alone", which you can watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/oab9giH2cG0   The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

  In this fourth episode we hear insights on Short Term Missions. Are they worth the cost and effort? Mark Crocker is Executive Director of STMleader.com   Mark shares with us his insights on Short Term Missions, having trained tens of thousands of volunteers to head overseas and make a difference. Mark served as the chair for short term missions at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s Global Mission round table. He now consults and trains for faith-based and secular NGOs. He heads of STMleader.com and Stopover.ca.  His training courses are practically geared for  STM beginners and masters level college courses. Mark leverages his extensive experience in the field, which includes leading multi-million dollar development projects in Congo and Haiti. You can read about Mark’s STM leadership training and certification at the website STMleader.com.  He can also be reached through Stopover.ca where he provides diversity training and benevolence coaching. He and his team specialize in delivering customized training to individuals and organizations. Their coaching is engaging and memorable and will immediately give you the tools you need to make an impact as you travel abroad. Here are a few links to Mark Crocker's articles on the subject of his talk: http://stmleader.com/is-stm-a-waste-of-time-barometer/ http://stmleader.com/stm-is-a-waste-of-time/ http://stmleader.com/good-leaders-need-training-bad-leaders-dont/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STMleader/ LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/crockermark     Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.         --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

Dr. Joel Thiessen shares his insights about what makes congregations thrive.   Joel is the Director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute at Ambrose University in Calgary. In this episode Dr. Joel Thiessen points to five things that are emerging as starting points for entering this study of "flourishing congregations". Congregations that have a clear self-identity. They know who they are, they know what it is they're trying to do, and where they're going. They have a committed leadership. They equip and empower leaders, they have leaders who stick around for the long haul, and leadership is a central part of how and why congregations flourish. They have a desire to grow numerically, but they also desire to grow spiritually and organizationally. They measure. They count. They are accountable in various ways for the kinds of things they're doing at a congregational level. They are a hospitable community. These are places that receive people well, that are warm places that people feel connected to, that they feel loved, and embraced, and these kinds of things. They have a vibrant spiritual life among leaders, among congregants, across a congregation. Dr. Joel Thiessen also points to other determinants in the DNA of flourishing congregations: Embrace risk and try new things Stewardship — not just of money — of resources, land, volunteers Intentional discourse on "what are we leaving to the next generation"? Ability to navigate conflict well A strong outward-facing presence in the community   Follow Dr. Joel Thiessen on Twitter, his website, or The Flourishing Congregations Institute.   And read his intriguing book: "The Meaning of Sunday"   The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.    Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

In this second QT4CM episode we are benefiting from the insights shared by Anna Burns on how to get your newsletters and emails read by supporters. Jenny, a ministry worker in Québec, sent us this voicemail: My question is: “how do I get people to read my ministry reporting emails and requests for donations?   It seems that my donors don’t often open my emails. What do I do?"  Anna Burns is with The Great Commission Foundation. Anna asks "Would you want to read your own newsletter?" She gives us tips for getting supporters to open and engage with our communications. Click here for the "Ask Anna" article she referred to in this episode. Click here for the InCourage Journal for Christian Service Workers.            The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ.   The background music featured on this podcast is by Christian musician Steve Bell and his producer and recording engineer Dave Zeglinski. It's called “Come back to me“ and is from his Landscape disc in the Pilgrimage boxed set. Check him out at http://stevebell.com/.   Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message

This first episode describes the background and intent of the Quick Tips for Christian Ministry podcast. The QT4CM podcast is a peer knowledge sharing initiative for personal and professional development of Christian ministry workers.   Quick Tips for Christian Ministry is produced with the support of The Great Commission Foundation… to benefit those who serve in the Name of Christ. Are you serving in any Christian ministry? Are you on a church leadership team or board? Maybe you are a pastor, worship leader, chaplain, or a missionary or evangelist. You may be a Christian serving in humanitarian aid. Or maybe you are thinking about Christian ministry as a vocation in your future. Well this podcast series is for you. Want to contribute your thoughts? Click here to suggest a topic for a future episode. Or, click here to send us your proposal to be interviewed.   Want more information? The Show Notes can be accessed by clicking here. Or, subscribe to receive the Show Notes each Friday.       --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/refresh-ministries/message