Resources e-letter 11/4 - August 2011

This gives details of Article A27, Reliability in ministry, uploaded to the site in August. There are also details of latest improvements to the whole website.

Reliability in ministry  (A27)

The article first sets the scene by considering our duty to God to be reliable disciples.  He is utterly true in all he promises – to be godly we need to reflect his character.

It then takes as illustration a range of practical applications:

  • for churches – being true to all that is claimed
  • for Christian administrators - in the church office, delivering on time, attending to detail, etc.
  • for Christian leaders - in seeking out other leaders, keeping confidences, learning to say 'no'.

There is also a personal checklist for use by anyone covering delivery, diary, time-keeping, recall, confidences, deskwork, finances, prayer, planning and life.  The article concludes with a group exercise so that it can be used as a discussion starter as well as for individual study.  You can go straight to it here.

A shorter version of this article, designed specifically for Ministers, appears in the current issue of Ministry Today.  If you do not know this quarterly set of papers it is well worth checking out: www.ministrytoday.org.uk.

If you have already registered on the website you can log in and then comment on this article (and on all the 92 other resource items too!).  If not, you can register today: in the right-hand column of every page on the site there is a Log in / Register link in red.  Click this and follow instructions to ‘register as a website user’.  It is quite straightforward.
  
  

Latest improvements to the website

The new site was launched a year ago and has now had its first major revision.  The system for registration is now more straightforward, there are improvements for those joining the UK Church Administrator Network, and the look of the site has been smartened up.

If you have not explored the whole site yet, here is a quick overview:

Welcome – the section includes a News page with new items appearing about twice a month.  Click for an RSS feed so that you receive each item as it is published.

Services – describes the different aspects of my work.  I am afraid that my diary is fully booked until January 2012.

Resources – this is the section you probably know best, but have you explored the subject listings and checked out the cover page synopses for a range of the 93 items?

Administrators – my work as Co-ordinator of the UK Church Administrator Network (UCAN).  If you work as a Church Administrator and are reading this, you are not at present a member so do join today and receive a range of specialist membership benefits.

Vision – check out my vision and values for this work.

Dialogue – this includes some general web forums for which you need to register as a site member first – please do so if you have not already done this.
  
  

Administrator Area Training Days

UCAN launches an ongoing series of Area Training Days this autumn.  These are also open to Administrators who are not yet UCAN members so, if you have an Administrator at your church, tell them about

St Albans on 13th September
Belfast (Holywood) on 9th November
Birmingham on 29th November.

You will find full details about the St Albans day on the UCAN events page of the Administrators section of the website.  Birmingham will be very similar and details will be posted within a fortnight.  Belfast information will follow at the start of September.