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
Below is a PDF file for how YWAM handles grievances from its missionaries towards Leaders and other figures of authority within the mission. Definition of “Grievance” – an official statement of complaint over something believed to be wrong, unjust or unfair. Within the PDF, which is updated from time to time, is an Overview section […]
Principles of Conflict Mediation
How can you help friends, co-workers or family resolve their conflicts and disagreements? The stress and pain involved can become so strong that people cannot bring resolution on their own. They may have tried to go to the person directly themselves, (as Matthew 18:15 exhorts us in cases of one person sinning or doing wrong […]
Loving the Stranger – A Stranger Love
How can you love someone that you don’t even know? In many ways I find the idea of “loving the stranger” a rather bizarre concept. In other words, love precedes knowledge. Of course, love at first sight does happen, however normally knowledge and understanding precedes. The stranger must first be known, and cease being a stranger, […]