Lesson 1: Always stay light on your feet. Effective ministry does not require huge overheads from the costs of buildings and people. While I understand that Richard is a unique person, few have had his impact and done it “light on their feet”. It really can work.
Lesson 2: Always focus on being a movement: Avoid the forces of institutionalization that depersonalizes or at worst chews people up. Organism is to be preferred over organization; but organization is not “bad”. Just stay dynamic and nimble; only have the minimum structure necessary.
Lesson 3: Always attend to the soul’s growth in grace: Distractions to this abound; even religious distractions. Richard says “we evaluate everything with the simple question: will this help people grow in grace?”
Lesson 4: Always center on life in the Kingdom of God: The advance of Jesus and his Kingdom comes first. Always. We must decrease that Jesus and his Kingdom can increase.
Lesson 5: Always prefer people over programs: What really helps and enhances the lives of people? ... If we are pushing ourselves, or staff or our volunteers too hard we back off. We should never have to disobey the way Christ taught us to live in order to do the work God has given us to do.
Lesson 6: Always trust the Spirit, never the flesh: By “flesh”, Richard means humanly initiated activity without any reference to God. Richard often critiques [our] work by asking “how much of what has happened at a certain event cannot be explained by our skill or brain power, or how was our skill and brain power used in ways that is beyond us”?
Lesson 7: Always follow the passion: Before launching a new initiative, [we] always wait until someone demonstrates passion. This requires discipline and patience. They have at times waited for years for the right person, passion and resources to come together. Then they step out in faith…
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2 comments:
Good stuff, thanks.
Good stuff, thanks.
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