 PPC: Leadership Nurturing Communiqué “LiNC” “the local church is the hope of the world, Welcome to the LiNC! You are receiving this email because you are a servant leader at PPC: you are a ministry team leader, committee chair, elder, deacon, or church staff member. The LiNC will be sent via email twice a month and will contain reflections on leadership so that you can be nurtured and encouraged in your ministry. First, let’s introduce ourselves: Members of our ministry team are: Deb Ebling, Dennis Engers, Dottie Spencer, and Linda Hassett. We hope to share practical ideas on several dimensions of leadership. We will use as our guidebook, Ultimately Responsible, by Sue Nilson Kibbey, who is executive pastor at Ginghamsburg Church in Topp City, Ohio. She has worked extensively with leadership development and is widely regarded as one of the top church administrators in America. Now, let’s get started. One of the pressing challenges that you will face as one whom God has called is to be a servant leader. It is not your own noteworthy, public accomplishments that imbue those around you with inspiration. It is the downright practical daily moment-to moment choices you make as their servant leader that God uses on behalf of the spiritual growth and ministry deployment. As we will discover, great leaders in Kingdom work are willing to sacrifice ego, self-significance and self-image importance in order to live downward into increasing effectiveness, no matter what it takes. As described in Ultimately Responsible, that’s the extent to which true leaders take ownership of their call to lead and manage ministries. This does not mean you should take care of every detail by yourself. It does mean you are responsible to provide the spiritual inspiration, the masterminding, the choreography of direction in simple and motivating terms so that those around you not only get in touch with their desire to serve God but also rise up and get rolling on what must happen. Workshop for Ministry Team Leaders We look forward to this exciting new ministry team and welcome your feedback. May 6 Building a Team
April 15 Happy New Year, Ministry Teams!! April 1, 2008 What is Gifting and How does this Impact Your Leadership Duties? Your Leadership Mantras: You are not just a logistical leader; you are also a spiritual shepherd. Part of your leadership role is to build others up in Christ (II Corinthians 10:8). Encourage your team members to understand and claim the gifts that the Holy Spirit provides. Paul emphasizes the importance of Spiritual Gifts. He talks not about vocational skills but about abilities and enthusiasms that are gifted by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts equip the members of your team to successfully and joyfully carry out your team’s mission. Read and ask your team members to read I Corinthians 12: 1 – 31. You can also suggest that they take a Spiritual Gifts Inventory to help them identify how they are distinctively equipped for servanthood by the Holy Spirit. Deb Ebling can provide printed Spiritual Gifts Inventories for you to distribute to your team. Resist identifying others’ gifts for them, and let them discover for themselves the unique strengths God has equipped them with. Focus on validating and providing means for your team’s servants to exercise their God-given gift mix for ministry. Biblically, we are challenged to be authentic and to use the strengths and gifts we have been given. Your team will work best if each member uses his/her spiritual gift(s) to move your team forward in accomplishing its mission. Leader discernment is important and comes largely as the result of prayer. Pray for guidance on how to help your team members acknowledge, embrace, and maximize their giftedness for service. Your team members should not feel badly or frustrated if they do not possess particular spiritual gifts needed by your team. Acknowledging and respecting individual spiritual gifts gives your team members permission to not be good at everything. You as leader can pray for insight on how to add a servant specialist when your team has need for another talent and gift. All are blessed when your team “grasps their God-given abilities and invests them collectively on behalf of servant-hearted priorities”. As a leader, you have the privilege of bringing discovery, application and affirmation of God’s spiritual gifts to those on your team! March 18, 2008
What is it that connects the dots—that links all of PPC’s ministry teams? What are the ties that bind our hearts together? We are joined in our love of Christ, our acknowledgment of our need for forgiveness and God’s grace, and our response by using our gifts in service. We are a team of teams, but each of us—each of our ministries—is a part of the overall vision ….the mission….the core values of PPC. Each area of ministry—needs to be a ‘fit’ with the task and the vision. It’s not as snug as fitting in a puzzle piece. There is great opportunity for expanding existing areas of service and creating new areas of service; however, there is a framework, albeit flexible, for programs and activities to fall within the vision, the mission, the core values of PPC. What are the core values of PPC and where do they come from? The ‘umbrella’ mission of PPC, for many years, has been To Know Christ and to Make Him Known. The core values are noted on the church’s web site, and the mission and core values are listed in the Congregational Plan Book. Please let us know if you would like hard copies. Areas of attention include worship, service, nurture, care, and stewardship. These have been developed by Session, utilizing a number of studies and documents including the congregational survey/self study, the visioning workshops, and a prayerful study to understand what God wants us to be as His church in this community. As the visioning workshops summary suggested, “A well-constructed vision is expansive, passionate, paints a picture, excites others, and can change over time.” Our vision is a living tool. We pray it will continue to enable us to be an exciting witness to the love of God as together we focus on Christ as our compass, regularly keep in communication with God through Bible study and prayer, and express the mission of PPC in our individual ministries. As we ensure the alignment of inspiration, purpose, and plan, encourage your team to see in their call to service the connection of their task to the vision of PPC. See your servant work through different eyes. Connect with the bigger God-picture of which your call to serve is a vital part. Embrace a servant role with the sense of fulfilling a calling. We trust God to connect the deep calling of servants to specific tasks and allowing them to fulfill it. “Serve refers to the spiritual growth that comes through joining Jesus on a mission
March 4, 2008 What is a servant leader? Guides using initiative and energy God is our servant leader. He works beside us guiding and encouraging. As leaders of our groups, we, too, work as servant leaders as we serve God and one other. Remember our Northstar Strategy? --our connection, our direction? We are servants of God and rely on his direction. We follow step by step, so that we might be prepared to lead. We, who have been called to serve as leaders at PPC, support, inspire, work alongside our team—serving as player/coach, ministering to each other. We are to be energetic, creative, enthusiastic, and dedicated to sharing the love of God with those in need. In the process, the church, those served, and those serving will be blessed to be a blessing. In I Peter 2:9-10, we hear that we are a chosen people. We have a relationship, we have a function, we have a responsibility. We are God’s children, we are commanded to go into the world, we are empowered to share His love. The liberating message of Jesus is that all believers—especially leaders—are transformed into the role of priest, united and consecrated in ministry together on behalf of a hurting and broken world. (Kibbey, pg. 65) Servant Leader? Yes. This is God’s model of leadership through Christ who showed us that we are His, we are sent into the world, we are to share His love. Servant Leader, we encourage you, we pray for you, we thank God for you! We urge you to pray for your fellow leaders. Together, we are the hands and feet of Christ as we carry out the mission of PPC—to know Christ and make Him known. You are part of a great company—our own ‘cloud of witnesses’: over 140 leaders of individual groups and teams, and hundreds of fellow servants. Whether your group functions once a year or once a week, whether your group consists of 2-3 members or 80-90 members, your role as a servant leader is to coordinate, nudge, and inspire to carry out your particular ministry. A recent Reflections on the Way urges us to “be still and sit in God’s nurturing and comforting presence.” Fill your cup, then go and pour out His love to others. volume 1, number 2 Northstar Strategy Those who travel by plane will recall the safety announcements…..about the buckle on the seatbelt, about the emergency track lights along the floor, and about putting your own oxygen mask in place before assisting others. That’s the same reminder we read in Ultimately Responsible by Sue Nilson Kibbey (pg. 22). “…one truth is crucial for all who are called to provide servant leadership for God’s people: it is impossible to fully know and follow the heart of God as you lead without a “northstar” strategy—both for yourself and for them.” Servant leaders seek vision and direction by spending time regularly with God in prayer and Bible reading. There are a variety of resources which can be helpful in this: The Word/Share/Prayer format which is used before session and committee meetings is a process of guided reflection and prayer. The Upper Room devotional is available at the PPC welcome center. A variety of devotional books can be borrowed from the Gould Library. Our own cup must be filled before we can pour out leadership and assistance to others. The first step of the journey is taken on our knees. As servant leaders in the church, we do not follow our own plan; the direction and inspiration come from God—to fulfill His purposes. The planning and strength come not from a sense of obligation or a need to get the job done, but from the caring depths of our hearts. Share with your committee, your group, your team this pattern—this connection with the source of our strength and direction. This shared alignment of inspiration, purpose and plan will validate and enrich your ministry and that of those around you. Whether you are new in your role, or this is a long-time familiar ministry, first put on your own ‘spiritual oxygen mask’—your northstar ‘centering’—and then go about assisting others. Spend dedicated time in prayer and study of the Scriptures. Focus on your northstar compass to provide direction for yourself, for those on your ministry team, and for those whom you serve. Lord, not my will but Thy will be done. (Matt. 6:39) Thank you for your leadership at PPC. YOUR ministry matters!
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