Mental Health on the Mission Field
by Elizabeth Joy Redekop Leaders on the mission field have been given one of the highest honors. We are entrusted to make decisions for, care for, and shepherd God’s children, all to make God’s name known to all people! It’s a role of great influence. How are you influencing your team? How can you care […]
Caring For Your Staff Well
By Joanne Kilbry Being a Discipleship Training School staff newbie was so intimidating! I felt inexperienced, inadequate & insecure, so afraid I would not be enough. In fact, I was so used to feeling invisible and unremarkable, that when the school leader asked to talk to me, two weeks into the school, I was sure […]
Spiritual Eldership
At 21, in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) England, I was impressed by the wisdom of national leaders in their thirties. I listened eagerly as they spoke or discussed issues at staff gatherings. One or two even talked with me and advised a ministry strategy for my return to university after working in the refugee […]
Let’s change our terminology – from fundraising to MPD
Maybe you’re not familiar with this term MPD – it means Ministry Partner Development. Many mission organizations use it to describe the process of personal fundraising. I’ve found that it is not so well-known or used in Youth With A Mission (YWAM), but I would love to see it become part of our vocabulary. Why […]
Missionary Poverty, Debt and Budgeting
POVERTY I confess that I have been in debt before and found it to be disturbing, distressing, and demoralizing. I was an urban missionary in New York City with a family of six. We did our best to survive in one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Although my ministry […]
Comparing four styles of leadership: autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire and coaching
Leadership styles. We’ve all encountered them. Sometimes they felt like a warm bath or even better, being called to a great adventure with best mates. Other times they might have felt like painfully walking over a pebbly beach to go swimming on a hot summer’s day, slightly uncomfortable but you knew the goal was worth it. […]
Situational Leadership
Leadership Styles is our ELLC theme for this month, and I couldn’t help thinking what an interesting term it is. Is a leadership “style” just a matter of personal choice and preference, rather like our clothing style may depend on our choice to follow current fashion trends or not? Or is our leadership “style” influenced […]
Key Elements that Make Team Work
Teamwork makes the dream work!! This was the slogan on a t-shirt I owned and I made a joke about trying to sneak the expression into a staff meeting as many times as possible while wearing the shirt. By the third time, people were catching on so much that it started showing up in announcements […]
The Gifts and Skills Required to Lead Team
I won’t bore you with the arguments of why we should lead in team, from the trinity to Adam and Eve, Moses and the Israelites, David and his mighty men, Jesus and the apostles and Paul’s missionary teams…….you should be getting the point by now! You might agree it’s a good idea, you might even […]
Grievance Procedure Paper
Process for Dealing with *Grievances Against Leaders (and other figures of authority within YWAM) *Grievance – an official statement of complaint over something believed to be wrong, unjust or unfair. Begin with the concise overview, and for a more detailed explanation, click on each link provided or go directly to the full version from page 4. This document is mainly dealing with situations and conflicts where there is no evidence of criminal offence or activity. Where there is suspicion of serious criminal offence, we are obligated to contact the police. OVERVIEW STEPS TO TAKE IN DEALING WITH GRIEVANCES AGAINST LEADERS CONTEXT STEP 1 When someone has a grievance against another person, they should go and share their concern as Matthew 18 encourages. If your concerns are not heard, Matthew 18 advises taking a friend with you as a follow-up to help in the dialogue. This may be difficult because of differences in position and influence, but it should be attempted to keep the issue and situation as low key and relational as possible. We expect that most cases will be resolved here in step 1 and kept in the local situation. STEP 2 If a resolution hasn’t been successful in step 1, a simple mediation process is encouraged with an impartial mediator bringing together the two parties. The mediator or mediators should be people who are agreed upon by both sides, and could be elders, not necessarily in line leadership, who have some understanding of mediation. This will enable both parties to share 1 Version 21.02.24 European Field Circle Team working group. Revised as needed. their perspectives and seek to bring understanding and reconciliation. Guidelines for ongoing relationship, as well as learning and leadership development may be needed going forward. INVESTIGATION PROCESS STEP 3 In complex situations, a point person should be brought into the dialogue to ensure the process moves forward in a timely manner. The point person is someone who has been appointed by the base, nation, Area or Field to handle serious conflict or grievance issues. They should have a working knowledge of relevant national laws, as well as the formal steps to take. The point person should draw together a process team to decide on the next steps and to determine if there have been other similar complaints from more staff or leaders. STEP 4 The process team identifies and determines the severity of the complaints. STEP 5 If evidence emerges of serious suspected abuse in the full investigation process, formal steps must be taken and appropriate experts and authorities involved. An independent non-YWAM agency may also be consulted. We are subject to the laws of each individual country, and the process team should respond appropriately to all criminal activity. DECISION PROCESS STEP 6 The process team with reports now available, have three possible courses of action: 1. The ideal would be both sides meeting again with two people from the process team and the mediator(s). The purpose of this is to bring clarity of the facts, highlight misunderstandings, identify wrong- ‘attitudes, behaviour and communication’, encourage apologies, repentance where there is wrongdoing and reconciliation of relationships. 2. In cases of serious evidence of abuse (physical, verbal, sexual, coercive, spiritual), a complainant should not be forced to meet with an alleged abuser. Although Matthew […]