Month: January 2022

Resources

I’m pulling together a list of resources for congregational leaders in my Presbytery and will share it here too…

What other resources would you add to the list..?

Resources

Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland newsletters

Link: churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/newsletters1

You can subscribe to the various Church of Scotland E-newsletters:

Ascend – Ministry Support
Children’s and Youth Ministry
Priority Areas
Life and Work
The Guild

News and Events on the web

Link: churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events 2

Children’s and Youth Ministry

Now your talking Facebook group.

Worship Resources

Stirling Presbytery List

Link: stirlingpresbytery.org.uk/page/59/worship-resources 3

Leadership & Change

Carey Nieuwhof

Link: careynieuwhof.com 4

ITsForMinistry

Link: itsforministry.org 5

Podcasts

Podcast links here are to Apple podcasts, but many will also be found on Anchor, Spotify sand wherever you find your favourite podcasts.

To Listen to:

To Be Fair

Link: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/to-be-fair/id1606507351 6

Rev Martin Fair reflects on faith and popular culture

Working Preachers’ Sermon Brainwave

Link: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/working-preachers-sermon-brainwave/id282364902 7

How to:

Anchor – tools to power any podcast

Link: anchor.fm/features 8

Create and Promote Video

How to create a YouTube channel

Link: blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-create-a-youtube-channel 9

Bible Study

Logos Bible Software

Link: logos.com/connect/compare-subscriptions 10

Music

Itsforministry.org/music

Link: Itsforministry.org/music 11

Various links to music on the web, much of which can be used in recordings and worship streams. (Always ensure that you have the appropriate licenses in places when recording or streaming)

Fischy

Link: fischy.com 12

Events and innovation

TryTank.org

Link: trytank.org 13

Rev Lorenzo Lebrija

Link: lifeandwork.org/news/news/post/1588-beginning-a-culture-of-innovation 14

A series of events will take place in March to kickstart new support for innovation across the Church of Scotland.

A joint event with the Scottish Episcopal Church, the workshops over the weekend of March 17-19 will be led by the Rev Lorenzo Lebrija (above), founding director of the US Episcopal Church’s TryTank initiative.

Graphics/Design

Canva

Link: canva.com 15

Canva.com is a brilliant for content creation. The full version is available freely to charities on submission of OSCR registration verification. Great tool for creating, scheduling and posting Social Media posts, creating posters, powerful presentations, graphics of all sorts.

Pixlr

Link: pixlr.com/16

Edit photos and create stunning designs right in your browser, on your phone or desktop for free (and paid options) Start from an empty canvas, a photo, a video or select one of the crafted templates.

Images to use

Link: itsforministry.org/images 17

Listing of free (and some paid) image download sites.

Procurement/ Discounts

Charity Digital – Software

Link: charitydigital.org.uk/home 18

Charity Workers Discounts

Link: charityworkerdiscounts.com/19

Digital Offerings, Donations and Fundraising

Donr.com

Link: donr.com/20

Funding.scot (SCVO)

Link: funding.scot/21

Find funding for your charity, community group or social enterprise using our free online search engine. From small grants to funding for big capital projects, we can help you track down the funding you need to make a difference in your community.

BeyondGiving.co.uk

Link: beyondgiving.co.uk/22

Our aim at Beyond Giving is to support you find the best solution and turn a complex problem into a simple solution. We can also help you achieve financial sustainability through the accessing of grants and funding, including exploration of new income generation models, enabling your mission and community based projects to flourish.

1: https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/newsletters

2: https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events

3: https://www.stirlingpresbytery.org.uk/page/59/worship-resources?fbclid=IwAR2PTWhRUpkdEypMTn1cROgFYNJ-ocGsVRgoKqxlkCNo8OVCy7z2edloyc

4: https://careynieuwhof.com

5: http://www.itsforministry.org

6: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/to-be-fair/id1606507351

7: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/working-preachers-sermon-brainwave/id282364902

8: https://anchor.fm/features?fbclid=IwAR00qylTZkOprpBmAurkxmEpum9f8ak3fLwUxrkKtfKoVUPAbAMkZ8vlc

9: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-create-a-youtube-channel?fbclid=IwAR03E11VTxVzvp3ZeVhmnSjNTJ4vDP8mi9UgbjE9xbSa7Sprkv0V8Om8

10: https://www.logos.com/connect/compare-subscriptions?fbclid=IwAR2l7Nzt2Xfzo8M0iLx6-MjoOLSDINBByAHu1vvSsLrnvga8YXKFqwxgU

11: http://www.Itsforministry.org/music

12: http://www.fischy.com

13: http://www.trytank.org

14: https://www.lifeandwork.org/news/news/post/1588-beginning-a-culture-of-innovation

15: http://www.canva.com

16: https://pixlr.com/

17: https://itsforministry.org/images

18: https://charitydigital.org.uk/home?fbclid=IwAR0IwahDuUo9d5DCRwSAmrzyOL36HjZLAae1a2wQYBymM70IXqf3OeO7X8

19: https://www.charityworkerdiscounts.com/?fbclid=IwAR0z6iacKoguQgpEe29RPEyJnqPpVp2g2PsppeRK1zlsXPY6G5Pn9M7BJ6s

20: https://www.donr.com/?fbclid=IwAR2rmbaE8UWaL6tQF5gQcMwyCtInzlpn2TCT9qzkx8pq6bTb-J0QlXAzI

21: https://funding.scot/?fbclid=IwAR2-OhiCu5x6JMKD1zcuMeT5lBvwwEsUfoJ7OqhRcbebqFXNoU7Ds7PhNU

22: https://www.beyondgiving.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR3WnzKDbweNOLDA6KDuUPVKjHun70jXdIKY8TOwJgHddfivMHA5x8vzUzU

Uncategorized

Blessed are the Treelike

‘Blessed are the ones… like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.’
From Psalm 1

Like trees we have roots, trunks, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit

Roots

Drawing on strength and inspiration from God, family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, we are nourished, sustained and blessed. Intentional time to care for ourselves and nurture these relationships, and be equipped, encouraged, strengthened and enthused¹ by them, is key to succeeding in our plans and projects.

Trunks

The trunk represents personal development – taking time to develop skills and hone abilities. Taking time to ‘sharpen the saw’ as Steven Covey would say.

Branches

The branches are the ways we connect with the world and its people – sharing our gifts, our art, our practice. ‘We make a difference in the world when we seek to make a difference – not because it’s easy but because it matters. This is all part of the practice’²

Leaves, Flowers and Fruit

and the leaves, flowers and fruit are the outcomes… some which we didn’t anticipate at the beginning… some functional, some simply beautiful and some to nourish others…

‘Blessed are the ones… like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.’

Isn’t ‘Enthused’ a wonderful word – from the Greek ‘en Theos’ – literally ‘in God’ ↩
The Practice, Seth Godin, Chapter 42 ↩

Change Leadership Prioritising Productivity

Your Contribution

What must you do today?

What are you up to today….?

✅ What will you do today…?

✅ What difference will you make..?

✅ What will you learn..?

✅ What questions will you ponder..?

✅ Who will you ask for help and support..?

Brainstorming Change Mission

Toast on Beans

I recently came across weand.me which has some wonderful ideas about how to make online meetings better with good questions, and creating involvement and engagement.

There are some freely downloadable resources featuring ice-breaker type questions – along with the more deep and meaningful…

I had posted an example on the ITsForMinistry FaceBook page:

It generated a bit of discussion – with ideas about how to do ’beans on toast’ differently – with cheese – not on top but under the beans… another suggested adding chorizo to mac and cheese…

Which got me wondering about what ingredients we might try adding to our otherwise tried and tested mission practices!

It’s good to bounce around the trivial – sometimes it prompts deeper thinking…

I’m off to have some toast on beans now…!

Brainstorming Change Prioritising Productivity Resources Saw Sharpening

I have a dream…

Martin Luther King Jr Day is marked on the Third Monday January – close to his birthdate 15 Jan 1929

He famously said, “I have a dream…”

Not, “I have a plan… an idea… a project…

With the emotion of a dream he led others to action, changed beliefs, ideas, and plans… but it all began with a dream…

What are your dreams… your hopes… for the World, the Church, your nation, your community, your family, your self…

Change

Tradition

“Tradition is peer pressure from dead people!”

“Tradition – the living faith of the dead
Traditionalism – the dead faith of the living”.

Uncategorized

Our deepest fear…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

Brainstorming Leadership Meetings Productivity

Enabling the Impossible

It’s only impossible until it’s done”, words attributed to many including Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela.

On a Thursday morning in January 2022, 24 ministers, elders and others from within the ITsForMinistry Facebook group meet on Zoom for a Conversation triggered by some of Seth Godin’s thinking around Leadership always being qualified by ‘this might not work’.The Seth Godin’s Video which all had watched prior to the conversation was this one:

The recording of the conversation is available to those within the FB Group. If you are not already a member there you can request to join. (There are a few simple questions including commitment to the group rules which must be completed)

The Practice

Following the conversation a number of the group have committed to reading Seth Godin’s The Practice and to meet regularly to discuss its content and to encourage one another in our practice in the context of ministry.
Details are in the FB group if you are interested in joining in.