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During the weekend of 16/17/18 February a group of church members participated in a Partners In Ministry (PIM) training workshop/seminar. The training was given by Nell Martin from the Southwest Texas Conference office and our own Pastor, Charlie Parker. The training premise is that since all Christians are called by God, we must learn to work as a team (lay leaders and clergy), leading the church in the ministry each of us is called to share. We were immersed in the principles and skills of being partners in ministry.
 Pastor Charlie |
 Nell Martin |
 Feed Them and They Will Come |
This material is intended to give attendees a high level reminder of the training they received and others a glimpse into the training in the hope that when it is next offered they will want to sign up to learn more about the ideas and tools shared below.
The backbone of the training and interwoven throughout the training was the HEART principles:
| Hear and understand me |
| Even if you disagree, please don't make me wrong |
| Acknowledge the greatness within me |
| Remember to look for my loving intentions |
| Tell me the truth with compassion |
The following ground rules were agreed to up front by all participants:
During the two and one half days of training we were presented with a number of modules, many of which included practical application training activities which allowed us to try out the skill tools we had just been presented with. The following is a list of the modules we went through and a summary of their content/purpose.
In loving and and leading from the heart, we are called to speak the truth to one another in love. When we do this, however, we do so with humility from the context of being a forgiven sinner; and we must be open to hearing the truth in return. Living from the heart means sharing the Holy Spirit with others by responding to unspoken requests others make of us. It means being aware of these requests and honoring them. By living this way, others will be attracted to us and to the church, and even more importantly, to our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a practical way all of us can "go into all the world and make disciples." (Matthew: 28:19)
We rated ourselves on 25 Heart Principles and then we graphed our responses in these categories:
Getting from win/lose to win/win does not happen automatically. It requires a personal committment to a win/win way of dealing with people and a desire to build relationships - leaving winners rather than losers in your wake. By following the five steps (Become Aware; Share Awareness; Identify Needs; Explore Alternatives; Reach Agreement), win/win solutions can be achieved far more frequently than people imagine. Instead of being at the mercy of seductive win/lose situations, you can recognize them, manage them, and transform them into win/win solutions. Such an attitude allows you to be a winner and to create winners. In addition, this attitude benefits the church as a whole by improving the work climate, by improving teamwork, and by remarkably increasing the creativity that ultimately fuels every congregation.
An effective tool when listening for understanding can be a listening check. A listening check is simply a restatement of the other's message of point of view. It is putting what the other person has said into your own words and feeding it back to them. It is a very simple technique, but one that can save hours and dollars invested in undoing mistakes made due to poor listening. By making a listening check, you can be assured you have the message right; or, if you have misunderstood, the misunderstanding can be corrected immediately, not after long hours of working on the wrong problem or in the wrong direction.
You can have Indirect and Direct Communication. Indirect communication can have its uses, but it is fraught with potential problems such as being misleading, less influential, less powerful, ambiguous and vulnerable to misinterpretation. Indirect communication does not build relationships and teamwork.
Direct communication offers greater clarity and less chance for misinterpretation and is more powerful and influential because of its vulnerability. Direct communication is riskier because it highlights differences of opinion and creates opportunities for having to deal with issues in a forthright manner. It also has the potential to create and build relationships based on openness, mutual trust, and respect.
We can be successful as a church when both lay and clergical leaders trust each other enough to work together effectively. This trust is built over time and is based on a foundation of credibility. We establish our credibility by making and keeping agreements with each other. We must protect our credibility at all costs. As people who worship and serve a God who keeps His word, we must keep our word. The world is watching. We need to be known as the people who keep their word.
Giving and receiving feedback and self-disclosing are processes that enable us to increase our communication skills and build trust in our relationships. Thus, they are important interpersonal skills that we need in order to work effectively with others and to develop teamwork.
Jesus was extremely open with His disciples about who He was (John 14:8-10). His mission was to reveal the heart of God. He was the Word made flesh. He advocated openness in His followers. Jesus also had a way of penetrating facades of others.
Feedback is one of the most valuable and powerful tools we have to help each other grow and develop. One major indicator of a healthy team is the extent to which team members solicit and offer honest feedback in a spirit of being helpful. It is also one of the most effective ways to develop good teams for the future.
Conflicts are a natural part of living and working in teams. Yet, most of us dislike facing negative situations are are scared off by our fears, even though avoiding necessary confrontations can cause deterioration in relationships. The steps outlined in this module can help you confront with firmness and compassion:
The following are important characteristics of a vision:
Why acknowledge greatness? Recognizing and acknowledging greatness in others enhances their self esteem, helps them to perform better, and helps them to grow. We acknowledge our own greatness because we can do no more for others than we do for ourselves and because our ability to acknowledge our own greatness sets the parameters for acknowledging others.
Goals are important in life, in general, and especially in helping to transfer what we learn into daily practice. Unless you set your goals to help you use what you learn, it is highly unlikely that you will get the full value from your learning. To further insure that the goals you set are helpful, they should be very specific short-range goals that have time boundaries associated with them.
It almost goes without saying, but most people need a permanent record of their goals. Write them down on paper, not just in your head. Repeat them often with feeling, and reward yourself when you suceed.
If you have made it all the way down here I hope you found your journey to be informative if this is new to you and that it has created in you an interest in future training of this nature. If you have already taken the training, I hope you found this to be a helpful overview of your training.