Time Management pt 2 – God’s perspective and cultural differences

Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Time Management
What does God think? Before we discuss specifics about Time Management I want to take just one posting to consider briefly what God’s view of time is. In Ps 90 the psalmist tells us to ‘number our days’ (v12) having already told us in verse 10 that ‘the years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty’. I once spoke to a Godly ‘elder statesman’ who took verse 12 literally, telling me the exact number of days since he started praying for revival, which coincided with the number of days since he became a Christian! 70 years is 25,567 days. How many of those have you had? Use the diagram to work it out. Verse 12 continues ‘…that we may get a heart of wisdom’. The…
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Time Management pt 1 – What is it all about?

Administrative Skills, Equipping, General, Planning, Time Management
Do you feel in control of your time? I think I can help you! 25 years ago I recognised that I was very inefficient at managing my time despite the fact I had been heading up a research team in Rehabilitation Engineering for 15 years. I had never heard the expression ‘Time Management’ and started to pray about how to improve. God sent a wonderful solution in the form of a visitor from the USA who told me about, and sent me an audio course on, the Insight Time Management System (sadly, I can find no current reference to this). Had God answered my prayer? When I received this course I had to make a decision – was this God’s answer or not?’ I decided to believe it was and…
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Administration in the Church and Ministry with the Poor: Index ~ June – December 2009

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, HIV, India, Kenya, Ministry Report, Poor, Zimbabwe
I have been writing this blog for about 6 months and am aware of a growing following, so some may have missed the early material. To help you find that material it seems appropriate at the turn of the year to Index these 6 months. Clicking on the Topic will take you to the first in the series. There have been 3 main series on Biblical Administration and The Poor. There are also some Ministry Reports and National Reports, and two on Conference Administration which punctuate these Series. Series June 17th – Aug 29th Lessons from Jesus the Administrator in Mark 6. Jesus - The Administrator! Sept 3rd – Oct 22nd Some ‘good practice’ Indicators when ministering with the Poor. The Poor deserve the Best - part 1 Oct 26th -…
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Biblical Administration part 9 – Qualifications of an Administrator – Personal Morality

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Ghana, Leadership
1Ti 3:2  Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach Continuing to look at the character qualifications related to an Administrator the next phrase in this verse is: ‘.. the husband of one wife..’ Although this should need little exposition in the context of the western world it does become a real issue in some nations where polygamy is practised. What is permissible for a man who has many wives once he is converted? Can he become an overseer? A friend of mine, John Kpikpi, who leads the Newfrontiers church in Ghana and is planting churches in 7 West African nations, has written particularly helpfully on the subject of marriage in an African context in his excellent book God’s…
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Biblical Administration pt 7 – Qualifications of an Administrator – Spiritual Wisdom and Faith

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Leadership
Full of the Spirit and wisdom Returning to our examination of qualities that make a good Administrator we shall now look at Acts 6:3. Here we see that the apostles specify that the candidates must be ‘full of the Spirit and wisdom’. In times of tension, which undoubtedly was the case with the particular dispute that gave rise to the need for these appointments, there is no room for what many would call human or natural reactions to dominate; these can rapidly become ungodly. It would be easy, out of frustration, for those charged with solving the problem to resort to heavy handedness and try to impose a solution. Recently I have been involved in a sad situation in which a key leader, with significant administrative responsibility in a Christian…
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Biblical Administration pt 6 – Qualifications of an Administrator – Character

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Leadership
Job vacancy! We live in an upside down Kingdom. When advertising a post the world will pay great attention to the qualifications needed for the job – a degree in Business Administration or Economics may be a good start. However, the Bible does not seem to be particularly interested in such information, concentrating more on spiritual gifting, calling and character. I doubt if Joseph would have become the senior administrator in the nation if his curriculum vitae were taken as the guideline – precocious teenager, slave and prisoner hardly qualified him to be Prime Minister! Nevertheless, God used all these situations to shape his character, preparing him to fulfil his calling as saviour of the nation. If we follow the world’s model of giving preference to those who are highly…
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