• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

The Difficulty of Honesty

Posted on April 3, 2015 by wtdavid

One of the reasons that I liked John’s book, In Other Worlds, was because of the simple honesty with which he shared his journey as a cross cultural worker.Honesty

As cross cultural workers, oftentimes we are averse to honesty about our ministry journey.  We can feel as if it doesn’t ‘play well’ to supporters, friends, or those praying for us.  We hesitate from sharing when a ministry project fails or doesn’t produce the fruit for which we were praying.  We try to put a positive spin on such a situation, so that others will continue to think well of us and our work.

John pointed us back to the truth that it is in our weakness that we find our strength.  It is when we find ourselves at ‘the end of ourselves’ that we see God’s faithfulness and love to use people like ourselves, ‘wrecks that we are’, for His mission.

There is actually a freedom in believing that the ministry is all about God’s work in our lives and others’ lives.  It allows us to be honest with our own failings and faults, and to marvel in the amazing truth that God loves us with such a deep and powerful love.

The outcome or fruit of basking in such a truth is the growing desire to serve Him and please Him more.

Filed under: Gospel, Honesty | 2 Comments »

In Other Worlds

Posted on March 30, 2015 by wtdavid

I hope you enjoy this interview with John (WT Canada).  I so thoroughly enjoyed John’s book and found deep encouragement in it for us as cross cultural workers that I would like to offer a free hard copy to every World Team worker.

If you would like a free copy of the paperback edition, please send a note to Cindy Nicholson at cindy.nicholson@worldteam.org before April 19, 2015.

Make sure you include the following information in your note:

  • Your first and last name
  • Your field
  • Your Sending Centre or partnering mission
  • Your postal address

Filed under: Core Values, History telling, Mission, Sharing the Gospel story | 2 Comments »

What’s the next step in personal health?

Posted on March 9, 2015 by wtdavid

In last week’s post, I wrote: “One critical area of personal health is growth in emotional intelligence.  In other words, growth in understanding how others ‘receive’ us.  As our attitude should reflect our love and devotion to Jesus, we often miss the mark and do not even realize that our comments can appear cutting or hurtful to others.  The outside-in input of others in a community in which we are engaged can greatly help us to recognize blind spots and learn to grow in demonstrating love to others.”Next Steps Old Wooden Sign

How do I get that outside-in input?  You ask for it.  You ask God for the courage to ask others around you and then you approach others to ask the following questions:

  • Is there anything I do that irritates you?
  • Is there anything you wish I did differently?
  • Is there anything you would like to say to me but have been afraid to?

There are plenty of other questions you might ask, but these might serve as a way to get you started.  As people provide you with feedback, you will begin to see common threads which should help you identify areas for growth in your emotional intelligence.

This is not about a self-improvement plan where you try harder to please others.  This is a growth process where the Spirit makes us aware of our ‘hurtful ways’ (Psalm 139) and drives us back to the Gospel to find the wisdom and strength to respond to others in a more Christ-like manner.

Filed under: Community, Emotional intelligence, Personal health | 2 Comments »

Why personal health is important

Posted on March 5, 2015 by wtdavid

In talking about the inner life, Jesus said: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”  (Mark 7:15)  His words created quite a stir among the religious leaders of the day (see Matthew 15) who based holiness on outward conformity to a set of sacrificial and ceremonial laws. personal health

If I were to try and put this in our language today, I would say that God yearns for each of us to have strong personal health or a deep inner life.  A deep inner life is the driver behind right and fruitful ministry activity.

Time, energy and effort must be given to cultivate our inner life.  It’s not something that happens by osmosis.  It’s not something that happens on our own.

Cultivating our personal health certainly includes meditation on the Word of God and honest dialogue with the Father.  However, the deepening of our own inner life also comes through our engagement and interaction with a community of believers.  In this context, we work out the truth of the Scriptural principles that “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

One critical area of personal health is growth in emotional intelligence.  In other words, growth in understanding how others ‘receive’ us.  As our attitude should reflect our love and devotion to Jesus, we often miss the mark and do not even realize that our comments can appear cutting or hurtful to others.  The outside-in input of others in a community in which we are engaged can greatly help us to recognize blind spots and learn to grow in demonstrating love to others.

Personal health is certainly ‘personal’ when we talk about one’s individual inner life.  However, one’s personal health depends in so many ways on the work of the Spirit and the input of others around us.

Filed under: Community, Emotional intelligence, Personal health | 6 Comments »

Merci encore

Posted on February 17, 2015 by wtdavid

Those were the words that opened the email I received today from a young man who had led worship in our local French church on Sunday.  He “thanked me again” for taking the time to send him a brief evaluation or assessment of his leadership on Sunday, and for the encouragement that it contained.Stift Konzept - Merci!

Reading that note, I recognized again how vitally important is our stance, our approach to assessment.

First of all, I needed to have a developmental approach towards this young man.  In other words, I had to see him as God saw him, with all the potential that He had placed in him.  I needed to find ways to spur him on in further growth in his gifting.

Next, this young man needed to view assessment not as a criticism of who is and what he does, but as an opportunity to receive feedback that he could use to grow in his capacity and fruitfulness.  Sifting through the assessment given, he could then establish growth steps to help him in further development.

The Gospel helps us overcome our default approach to seeing assessment as judgment and criticism by reminding us again and again that our value is not found in what others think about us, but in what He has already done for us!  This frees us to accept assessment and evaluation as a means of ongoing growth in our journey with Him, strengthening us to give Him greater glory.

Filed under: Assessment, Encouragement, Gospel | 5 Comments »

Assess one another

Posted on February 13, 2015 by wtdavid

When we start talking about metrics or providing indicators that allow us to assess God given progress towards a vision or goal, many of us immediately assume some hidden motive behind the request.  For example, we might think:

  • Our work is going to be judged on insufficient criteria (just numerical indicators);
  • Our leaders are looking for a way to justify closing down our ministry; or
  • We as an agency are being overly influenced by business tactics

 

assessment-center1Rather than taking the perspective that others will be ‘judging us’, perhaps we could look at indicators as a healthy way to ‘assess one another’ and ‘help one another’; to work together as a global community to fulfill our purpose and vision in greater ways.

Indicators (quantity and quality) might show that there has been limited fruit in a particular ministry over the past few years.  A healthy assessment would engage dialogue over a number of questions.  The answers to those questions might reveal a limited prayer network for the ministry and a significant lack of people resources.

Do we fold the ministry?  No. We as a global community bring the resources that are lacking to this ministry, or we network the existing team to needed resources.  Any assessment reveals how a ministry is doing and what we might learn from them or how we might come alongside them with help.

Filed under: Assessment, Community, Resources | 4 Comments »

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