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This site was last updated on 1st May 2008. Bookmark this site to keep in touch with the growing list of resources available for free use (in the Resources section). Better still, use the Response page to ask to come on to the e-letter list which will inform you as new items come on-line.
This page includes news items from the past 12 months. For details of John's current availability, scroll right to the bottom.
When did you last see your desk?
John offers a special half-day (or longer) black bin-sack session in your study for Ministers who have lost sight of their desk or even the carpet. During this time he will bring desk and floor back into full view, and provide you with a fresh start to your own administration. The effect on morale and therefore ministry can be quite startling.
But you don't have to be in total disarray for such a session to be helpful. He is happy to sort out your filing system with you, rearrange your library, sort your emails into a new and less stressful system, or help you rethink your 'To Do' list in a more sensible way. Much can be achieved in four hours.
The time usually includes some coaching on how to handle paperwork and personal administration so that the improvement is permanent, not temporary. Ask for details if you are interested. He offers this at his half-day coaching rate of £175 plus train fare provided he can get to you and home again within one day. If you have to pay the fee out of your own pocket (rather than from a training fund) he offers generous discounts. May 2008
Mixing a G and T
"People talk a lot about teams but their understanding of the term is often inadequate. Christians, in particular, are apt to use the term too freely, without recognising the challenge that the idea brings."
That is how one of the sets of Training Notes added to the site this month begins. What makes a group a team, Training Notes TN41, offers an outline of four features of a team that distinguishes it from a group. These are expressed as:
One task and vision An agreed way of working A committed membership An identified leader.
The notes explain why the difference is important and act as a background to John's various training events on team-working.
Also available this month is the set of Training Notes TN42, A review of global mission stragegy. This takes the form of a case study on how one church reviewed this particular area of ministry, making significant changes as a result. April 2008
Keep an eye on employment law
Many churches and most mission agencies employ staff. But most will be too small to have an HR department! So someone needs to be responsible for keeping an eye on current employment legislation because mistakes in this area can prove costly in all sorts of ways.
A survey by the Church Urban Fund, published last month, found that many faith-based projects had not changed their policies in the light of recent legislation: such as the Working Time (Annual Leave) Amendment and the Disability Discrimination Act. I suspect the results would be no better for churches. I found myself that I was out-of-date with details for both maternity and paternity leave and pay when I researched them for one of my clients last week. So it pays to watch out for the changes.
CUF are offering advice called Just Employment at www.cufx.org.uk on a donation basis. Other helpful websites are (take a deep breath) the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, www.berr.gov.uk; ACAS, www.acas.org.uk; and Business Link, www.businesslink.gov.uk. March 2008
A cry for a fresh approach to financial administration
"The way most churches administer general fund finance urgently needs a radical overhaul."
So starts the latest article to appear on this website. Administering church funds (Article A18) examines three aspects of common practice and finds them wanting. The first is the weekly offering. The practice and thinking of giving, receiving and offering in many churches is still designed for a society based on cash transfers, giving a message of subscription more than of spiritual discipline. New ideas are proposed.
The second aspect concerns communicating financial information through accounts. The suggestion here is to think in terms of story-telling - and to see the budget, not the historical accounts, as the plot.
The third part of the article goes behind the scenes to ask awkward questions about the attitudes displayed by church leaderships and finance teams. What is a right approach to thinking about ownership, about generosity and about faith? The article has 6,800 words and, as with all resources on this site, is available for free downloading or printing out (up to 30 copies).
February 2008
Reduced fees available for 2008
John's charges for work, though modest by normal standards, can be quite an obstacle for smaller churches and missions, and for individuals. But subsidies are on offer in certain circumstances, financed through the kind gifts of a few friends who want John's services to be available to all who can use them.
Typical cases where such subsidies are offered include smaller churches in deep-rural or inner-city areas, mission agencies with very tight budgets, and cases where lack of finance may be the issue that John is asked to address.
The fund is also used to offer significant discounts for one-to-one coaching where there is no training budget or church account to cover the cost and the person concerned is paying from their own pocket.
If you are interested in discussing the possibility of a discount, please contact John who is very happy to talk this through with you in confidence. Although he has to charge for his work, he never wants lack of finance to be a reason for not taking on an assignment.
January 2008
Help for appointing an Administrator from scratch
A new set of training notes just published on the site is designed to help any church thinking their way towards their first appointment of a paid Administrator. The notes will also be of use to churches appraising an existing appointment, or that of a PA or Church Office Secretary.
The notes consist of six sections listing ideas to think through. These checklists work well as discussion starters for any planning group.
The six are titled: Justify the appointment, Define the purpose, Select the priorities, Employ well, Be prepared, and Plan for development. Each of these checklists has either seven or 14 points to consider.
Appointing an Administrator can be found on the Training Notes page of the Resources section of the site, reference TN40.
Published at the same time is TN39, We've got news for you!, which shows how taking the concept of NEWS can radically change the way we try to communicate in print to those who are not church members.
December 2007
Your opportunity to contribute to the Church Health Review
(For an explanation of the Church Health Review, available as EM4 and EM5 in the Effectiveness Models section of the Resources page on this site, see the October item below.)
The Review, first published on this site in October 2007, is deliberately stated as being in DRAFT form as the aim is to update and improve it over the coming year. John would specially value input on any aspect of its structure and on the detailed wording of the questions and sample tests.
He would especially like to hear from any church prepared to use all or part of the Review. He is expecting to make changes in the light of the experience of its early users.
The Review has been devised in a simplified form so that any church can use it without special permission or charge. A more detailed way of using the questions and tests is also available. This is also free of charge but can only be carried out under licence. In this case John will train those undertaking the review of their church and will levy his normal consultancy charges for this.
The hope is that the Review will also prove of value to church leaders and administrators needing a checklist of areas of church life to consider and plan for.
November 2007
Launch of Church Health Review
The latest item to be added to the website represents the most ambitious upload to date. The Church Health Review (CHR) offers a tool to enable any church to assess how well or sickly it is.
Many churches are familiar with Christian Schwarz's Natural Church Development and Robert Warren's Healthy Churches' Handbook. Both are held in high regard. They list a number of 'marks' of a healthy or growing church.
The Church Health Review, in contrast, has a different starting point by seeking to assess every area of church life. Its framework can therefore be used as a checklist for an overall assessment. But it does mean that it is more detailed than other tools currently available.
The Review takes a medical analogy and assesses the health of five 'themes' of church life. These are as follows, each with the two sections listed here and a third on Development. GODWARD (the heart) - Gathering and Discipleship USWARD (blood pressure) - Belonging and Bonding OUTWARD (eyes and ears) - Openness and Outreach LEADERSHIP (mind) - Priorities and Action SUPPORT (digestive system) - Administration and Resources The Review is based on 45 questions, nine for each of these five themes. Each question is then given five sample tests to give an idea of how to assess health.
The Review is published as EM4 and EM5 in the Effectiveness Models section of the Resources page.
October 2007
Help now available on how to appoint staff
The latest article in the Resources section has been written to advise on staff recruitment and selection for those who have no HR department to support them.
Applications include the appointment of youth workers, office secretaries and evangelists to churches, and administrators and regional representatives to mission agencies. The article also applies to the appointment of a CEO or a church minister (though it does not cover the specialist topic of C of E patronage).
Article A17, Staff selection step-by-step, added in mid August, is based on a set of twelve RAQs. Not heard of those before? The initials stand for Rarely Asked Questions.
By asking these, and following the ideas presented under each, you should be able to prepare paperwork, advertise the vacancy, short-list the applicants, prepare a thorough interview programme, and tackle the formal interivew in a way that enables you, and the candidates, to learn much about yourselves and make good decisions.
As with all items on the site, the article may be downloaded and up to 30 copies printed without charge.
September 2007
At last! The monk has bought a flat screen
The 57 free items now available within the Resources section of this site have been categorised to aid both search and filing. The index pages now show a file reference for each resource.
At the same time we have introduced design improvements for the complete series which include a series of new cartoons to match the file references. These correspond to the six areas that John classifies his work under on the 'On Offer' page on this site: leadership, management, structures, planning, communication and administration.
Micki Hounslow, who has been drawing cartoons for John for longer than either of them wishes to count, has prepared new colour pictures of the 'Resource Monk'.
But keen watchers of this site will be glad to note that we move with the times. The medieval monk who has adorned all the resources for the past few years has, in each of the six cases, been given a flat screen to go with his (clearly, new) computer.
Sadly, a plague of medieval mice appears to have overrun the monastery and at least two appear on each cartoon, in varying positions. Spot the one that has taken over as the computer mouse!
To see the new cartoons and the design makeover, click on the red Resources (one new cartoon there) and then choose one of the index pages. From here click on a range of different items.
August 2007
Guidelines published on when to appoint church staff
A set of training notes helping churches determine when a vacancy in church life merits a paid staff appointment have just been added to this website.
To pay or not to pay? (TN37) outlines six cases when a paid appointment makes sense. The list includes any time when the post requires a full working week and when it needs the post-holder to be on duty at fixed times, especially if these fall within working hours.
Two of the more general cases are when church members are time-poor and when leaders are being diverted from their priorities.
But the notes also offer six warnings of potential dangers. The first one concerns a denial of body ministry. It is possible for a church to be run by a professional staff, with the congregation just turning up for worship and other activities. Or it may be that staffing and leadership become confused with each other. A more obvious difficulty is when the money to pay staff cannot be found.
To read the notes, go the Training Notes index in the Resources section of this website and click on TN37.
June/July 2007
One-to-one coaching
Although most of John's consultancy work consists of major assignments for churches and missions, he also offers one-to-one coaching to individual clergy, Church Administrators and CEOs of mission agencies. Most sessions are one-offs and consist of half a day normally at the client's base, with an agenda of their choice. Typical examples include help with personal administration, big picture planning, or an appraisal of ministry. For a few this develops into a regular meeting every six months or year for an MOT service on their ministry.
John can also work through a training event one-to-one, applying it to the client's own situation. Or this can be done with a small team.
Charges are designed not to put anyone off. A half-day one-to-one session anywhere within reasonable reach of public transport links from the South-East usually costs £160 plus travel, with the offer of a £50 discount on the first occasion when a client has to pay from his or her own pocket, rather than from church or other training funds.
May 2007
John's diary is almost full, and so closed for major new assignments, until mid-July 2008. He is however available throughout much of the summer holiday period. Use the response page to enquire about possible assignments or events or email him direct (see welcome page).
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