23Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

Planning and faith

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Equipping
Mar 6:39-40 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. As Jesus stood before as many as 10,000 people and learnt that only 5 loaves and 2 fish were available to fulfil the task he must have had to dig deep in faith! My friends, John and Alex Kpikpi in Ghana, experienced a similar challenge when they put down a deposit for a substantial piece of land on which they wanted to develop a church building and other facilities. They knew the cost and they knew that they did not have the necessary amount of money to complete the purchase in only a few days. However, they moved forward in faith, not presumption,…
Read More
18Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

What is in your hand?

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Equipping
Mar 6:37-38 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." Let us return to Jesus and the disciples on the hillside. The sun is beginning to go down and perhaps as many as 10,000 people (including women and children) are in need of food and drink. Jesus’ next move was to establish what resources were available for the task. He involved the disciples by directing them to ask the crowd what food they had brought with them. It seems…
Read More
16Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

The answer is ‘Yes’, the question is ‘How?’

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Equipping
Mar 6:37-38 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" And he said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." As Jesus stood before well over 5000 people he needed to exercise faith and be in touch with the Father. Administration must always live in an atmosphere of faith and be responsive to the revealed will of God. Administration does not exist to give reasons for not doing something but rather to help create conditions to ensure the vision is fulfilled. I have often quoted a catch phrase which…
Read More
11Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

Co-operating with the Holy Spirit

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Equipping
Mar 6:35-37 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" As we look further into these verses we see that, in administrative terms, Jesus was presented with a huge task. Organising and feeding 5000 men (who knows how many women and children were also there) is no small matter. First, clarity of definition was needed. Without such definition how will we know that the project…
Read More
08Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

Administration helps God-encounters

Administration in the Church, Conference Administration, Equipping
Breakfast in Brighton I have just had breakfast at the Brighton Conference Centre! This is the venue on Brighton seafront for many political party conferences and prestigious pop-concerts, but this week the gathering place for over 2000 church leaders and 1500 students and twenties from around the world. Each morning the Management Team meets for breakfast to review the previous day and fine-tune the new one. Under the title Together on a Mission (TOAM) – which describes the purpose of this Newfrontiers gathering – the week combines two conferences. One, Leadership, is to equip and envision church leaders in the fulfilment of their local and our corporate vision. The other, Mobilise, is to equip the next generation of leaders and church planters. Sometimes the two conferences meet separately and at…
Read More
06Jul 2009 by Nigel Ring

On-the-job training

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Equipping
Mar 6:35-37 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?" When Jesus found his plan to debrief the disciples had been hindered how did he respond? Because he was clear about his calling and knew his job description, as defined in the Kingdom manifesto of Is 61, he went ashore and began to teach the crowd. He also saw this as a further training opportunity.…
Read More