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Ø      Prayer has to be the first tip,

Ø      Find a mentor outside the church you minister in, someone who you trust and consider to be a wise and mature Christian. You need someone to bounce things off and someone who will give you an unbiased and objective view on the issues.

Ø      Ensure you have some friends out side the church, your church, again people who you can talk to about the issues,

Ø      Do not discuss issues with people from within the church you minister in, I can’t stress this one enough.  More than 70% of the difficulties and pain my family went through while doing ministry started with something being said to someone in the church and was then passed on and on and finally back to the minister in a form that was obviously distorted and inaccurate.

Ø      Find out who the movers and shaker are in the church and make every effort to stay on their good side,

Ø      Be careful what you say, how you say it and to whom you say it.  I have said many innocent comments to the wrong person who took what was said completely the wrong way,

Ø      Prayer again, it is vital to stay in close relationship with God and use his strength and wisdom in all that you do,

Ø      If you have any input into who is on your youth committee or support team in the church where you minister, do not choose close friends, if something goes wrong, they may be put into a very difficult position of having to vote on whether you remain in ministry in that church,

Ø      Expect the unexpected, expect that things will happen that will not be pleasant and even painful, and remember what Jesus went through during his years of ministry and expect no less (1 Pet 5),

Ø      Do not have too high an expectation of what a church should be like or what they should do, the only perfect church is a church where there are no people,

Ø      Communication is of vital importance, you must be clear in what you say and be mindful of how the other person might perceive and interpret what you have said.  Also be clear in what others say, repeat back to them what you think they have said and ask…”Is that what you mean?”  Also it can be helpful if you write things down as soon as possible, especially if it is something that might come back to bite you in the b--.

 

 

If you would like to add a tip, please send me an e-mail.

 

ywsn@bigpond.com

 

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