Accountability is about ownership. That's the bottom line.
Here are 5 practical ways to increase your ministry’s sense of ownership & accountability.
1. Be aware of victim conversations.
Look for people (maybe you) who tend to focus on past failures. Human nature leads us to blame external forces for those failures. You need to be accountable in your conversations - you need to be the one who encourages others to take ownership of actions and results. When you feel a conversation headed down the external blame road, try saying something like “I wonder what lessons we can learn about ourselves from that failure.”
2. Communicate your vision often.
You (and your people) need to be reminded often about the importance of your vision. Keeping the focus on the main thing should be inspiring to you and those you serve with. Here are two great resources to get you started on this:
Making Vision Stick - Andy Stanley
7 Ways to Help Others Understand Vision - Rick Warren
3. Model Ownership
Your actions will speak louder than your words.
By modeling expected behaviors, you make it safe and normal to embrace ownership and accountability. If you are walking the walk, you have eliminated at least one excuse that others may use for not taking ownership.
4. Clarify expectations using vision language.
Healthy accountability often begins with clear expectations. Understanding what is expected is key to both individual and ministry-wide accountability. Don’t make up random expectations that sound good. Use the language that you already use to communicate your vision to set your expectations.
“We are making changes in our children’s ministry to better minister to the families in our community that we want to reach.”
“We are adding facility space to make room for the 1,000 people that we want to meet Jesus each week.”
"We need our volunteers to wear the same shirt because we want people to feel comfortable in our building.”
5. Focus on the future.
True accountability is not about the consequences of the past. Talking about past failures does little to motivate a sense of ownership and enables people who tend to blame external forces. Talking about the future can motivate ownership. By its nature, the future is unwritten and is optimistic. Cast a future vision that people want an ownership stake in.
In what ways are you encouraging ownership and accountability in your ministry? Let me know!
Accountability is about ownership. Gauging your level or others level of ministry accountability should focus on determining the level of ownership of your vision. If you don’t have a clear ministry vision or need help clarifying it, I can help.
To determine your level of ownership or the “buy in” for yourself or team members, ask the following questions:
1. In one sentence, what is the vision of our ministry?
Either you have this down or you don’t. Not a lot of gray area here. If you cannot communicate this for yourself or to others, don’t bother with the remaining questions - work on this one.
2. What specific elements of the vision are meaningful to you?
Having head knowledge of the vision is one thing, being able to explain personal understanding and motivation is the next. Motivation matters.
3. How would your life change if our ministry were to realize our vision?
If you are living a life that is dedicated to the vision, surely your life would change significantly if that vision were achieved - right?
4. Who have you shared the vision with?
Followers of Jesus share the Gospel - it’s what followers of Jesus do. Owners of vision share the vision - it’s what owners do.
5. What specific actions have you taken to advance the vision in the last month?
It is one thing to think happy thoughts about your vision. What are you doing about it?
6. What challenges or barriers exist that may get in the way of the vision?
If you own the vision, you should know the things that could kill it.
7. How much money have you given to advance the vision?
Show me your budget and I’ll show you your priorities.
What other questions help you clarify your ownership of your vision? Let me know!
If you have spent any time in church leadership you know the danger in making a bad hire or recruiting the wrong volunteer. You spend time and energy trying to “fix” them. You worry about firing them or asking them to leave. You inevitably fire them or ask them to leave. The ministry suffers. Odds are that their relationship with your church will never be the same. There is a danger that their relationship with Jesus will suffer - I’ve seen it happen.
The best method to prevent a bad ministry ending is to never let it have a beginning. I have found asking myself three questions before making a hire or approaching a potential volunteer to be helpful.
1. Whose bucket are they filling?
My first job out of college was teaching middle school. A wise principal and mentor of mine often said that teachers have one of two basic motivations for being a teacher. They either are there to fill their own bucket or to fill the bucket of others. Teachers are in it for the emotional, feel-good affirmation of being a teacher (filling their emotional bucket) or they are selflessly dedicated to helping students and families (filling the bucket of others). I believe this principle applies to working or volunteering in a church. You are either in it for your own needs (affirmation, proving that you love Jesus, guilt) or are sold out for making disciples for Jesus. It is crucial that you discern the unstated, often clouded motivation of someone who you might ask to serve. If they are in it to fill their own bucket, their focus will be on themselves and their particular ministry program. If they are in it to fill the bucket of others, they will breathe life into your entire ministry and impact people.
2. Are they focused on the people we are trying to reach?
People who are eager to serve on a church staff or volunteer often have awesome intentions and will be an asset on your team. Occasionally, what may seem to be a good intention is a mask hiding a personal agenda. It may sound nice when Nancy applies for a job in your Children’s Ministry because she “thinks it needs improvement.” After all, it may need improvement. It might sound like a good intention when Ken, a recently retired executive, volunteers to organize your hospitality ministry because “we need to be more organized around here.” That is probably true! Nancy and Ken have agendas - and they may not even know it. You don’t want their agendas, even if they are right. You want servants focused on reaching people. I’d rather have someone who just plain loves kids serving in Children’s ministry. I’d rather have someone who likes serving people volunteer in hospitality. I want people who are sold out for the vision of our church.
3. Do I want to hang out with this person?
This one is simple. You will be spending time with this person. Possibly a lot of time. Do you want to spend time with them? Do they give you energy or do they cost you energy? If the answer is no, save yourself from future problems and don’t hire or recruit them.
What questions do you ask yourself before making an “ask” of someone? Let me know!
You are probably familiar with the Tom Northrop quotation, “All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they are now getting.”
Based on your experience, you know it’s true. Isn’t it?
Your church is most likely very good at ministering to your members. Do you want more for your church? Answer these three questions:
1. Where are you now?
2. Where are you going?
3. How are you going to get there?
Can you answer those with absolute clarity? Can your people?
Do you have a clear strategy to get from where you are to where you want to go?
If not, you need a plan.
I’m often asked why a ministry should take the time, effort and expense to create a strategic plan. Here are my 8 reasons why your ministry should launch a strategic planning effort - now.
1. Strategic Planning Helps You Focus Externally
The natural inertia of any organization is to focus inward over time. Asking and answering probing questions to focus on those you wish to reach is necessary for any ministry that wants to grow. This is hard to do on your own.
2. Strategic Planning Clarifies Your Code
Every ministry is unique. Strategic planning helps clarify your “Ministry DNA” so that you can build your plan on a firm foundation.
3. Strategic Planning Raises Key Issues
The planning process predictably identifies known problems or issues in your ministry. There is power in naming and identifying those issues. Planning will also raise unexpected issues - issues that when first mentioned will cause your planning team to simultaneously nod in agreement. Those issues would never be raised in a healthy way outside of a planning process.
4. Strategic Planning Gives Direction
Part of moving your organization forward is deciding how you are going to get from where you are to where you want to be. Clearly defining where you want to go is key in both the planning process and the health of your ministry.
5. Strategic Planning Creates Excitement
The planning process should create a level of excitement in your leaders, participants in the process, and your greater community. Clearly stating where you want to go and how you are going to get there should ignite the passion of your people.
6. Strategic Planning Shares Leadership
A process based on collaboration invites those with a passion for your ministry to participate in its envisioned future. Increased participation, Increased ownership, and increased commitment are the expected results.
7. Strategic Planning Launches Revitalization
Aside from the mysterious work of God through the Holy Spirit, it takes intentional work to intentionally plan for future ministry effectiveness. Strategic planning can be the spark that ignites a fire in your ministry.
8. Strategic Planning Builds Community
There is power in talking through tough issues as a church. Passionate people united behind a plan creates a bond and increased sense of community that your ministry needs to grow.
Taking the time, effort, and expense to plan strategically is worth the investment several times over.
I have a (healthy) obsession with ministry numbers. Numbers are not everything in ministry, but I believe the right numbers are important. Never forget that numbers represent people and people matter to God, so they should matter to you.
There are many different numbers a church could analyze. Not all numbers are created equal. My experience partnering with churches to clarify their vision and focus their ministry tells me that there are some numbers that are vitally important to track.
1. Weekly Worship Attendance
Many mainline denominational churches focus on the total number of members in their database as a measurement of church size or growth. I believe that this is not an adequate measure of your ministry. Membership today is not what it used to be in decades past. The whole idea of membership is foreign to many people and it is not a good indicator of someone's involvement in your ministry. If you are honest, there is a good percentage of your membership database that should be "cleaned up" and taken off your roles. While not a perfect measurement of your ministry size or reach, I find that weekly worship attendance is a key number to keep track of. At the least, it gives you a good idea of those who are active or marginally active in your ministry.
You should figure weekly worship attendance in the following way:
Sunday Worship Attendance + Sunday Children's Ministry Attendance + Special services (midweek, Christmas services, other worship services) divided by the numbers of weeks in your ministry year (likely 52) = Your Weekly Worship Attendance.
Be sure to throw out any outliers that would significantly impact your numbers. Example: My home church worships around 1,000 a week, except when it snowed an inch in the midwest and everyone freaked out and around 400 hearty souls came to church on a Sunday a few months ago. If you were only to keep track of one ministry number, it should be your weekly worship attendance. But, you should keep track of a few more.
2. The number of people taking a Next Step
Defining what steps people should take in your ministry is important work - it is some of the most rewarding work that I do with churches. Whatever your next step expectation for people is, it should be important and if it is important, you should keep track of it. If the next step for someone who attends worship at your church is to join a small group or Bible study, then count the number of people who are taking that step. If your next step for someone who has been around for a year is for them to give a percentage of their income, then count the number of people who commit to percentage giving. Keeping track of those taking their next step is key to encouraging individual spiritual growth and measuring your church's effectiveness in maturing disciples.
3. The number of people who give
Martin Luther once said, “There are three conversions a person needs to experience: The conversion of the head, the conversion of the heart, and the conversion of the pocketbook.” I believe generous giving is an important part of discipleship and your ministry should be teaching and encouraging people to give not because your church budget needs it but because giving is an important part of discipleship. However you measure who is giving is fine, just count the number of people doing it. I suggest keeping track of the number of people who give something, the number who have committed to percentage giving, and the number who have pledged to tithe.
4. The number of first-time guests
If current worship trends continue, you will need 4 first-time guests each week for every 100 attendees to maintain your current size over the next 5 to 10 years. Want to grow? You will need more. The number of visitors will also give you an idea of how your community sees and values your church.
5. The percentage of guests who stick around
Average churches see around 10 percent of their first-time guests become regular attendees. Fast-growing churches see around 30 percent. Keep track of your number.
6. The number of engagements on social media
This is a new number for most churches, but a number that is increasingly important to track. Social media can be used to effectively draw people to your community and inform/invite them to events. For people that are already part of your ministry, their level of engagement on social media can tell you about their actual engagement in your ministry. Most of the major social media sites/apps have analytics built in or a third party app that can do the same. I don't believe there is a magic number of social media engagements to strive toward. I do believe that growth and a general month to month or year to year growth curve are important.
What numbers does your church keep track of? Let me know!
1. Have someone outside your organization lead your process.
This is critical. If for no other reasons than good communication, organization of the process, and credibility.
2. Remember that strategic planning is more than an event; it’s a process.
Once you’ve developed the plan, your work is just beginning.
3. Educate participants to the strategic planning process.
This is another responsibility of a consultant who is leading your process. Without the understanding of basic concepts, your plan will just be words on paper.
4. Communicate your strategy.
Once you’ve developed your strategic plan, let all of your stakeholders know about it…multiple times in multiple ways.
5. Keep your plan alive.
Specific actions steps should be spelled out as a part of your process. Following these steps is crucial to keeping the vision alive in your organization.
6. Link your strategic plan to your budgeting process.
There is nothing like putting our money where your mouth is. One way people and organizations show commitment is through their wallet.
What other tips do you think are important? Let me know!
I think that some of the toughest, mentally draining work that a leader can do is the task of taking something that is complex and making it simple.
I came across the term Simplexity a while ago and think it aptly explains this task. Engaging in Simplexity is one of the most valuable things that you can do for your ministry. You are in a unique place as a leader. It is likely that you and only you are in a position to understand the information, discussion, collaboration, and sweat that has gone into building an idea or initiative. It is your job to boil it down to a simple idea that people understand and can support.
This is important - just ask Apple or Google who excel at making things simple. Better yet, ask the former leaders in their industries, Microsoft and Yahoo!. Skipping the steps of making the complex simple will lead to confusion, frustration, and possible failure.
I have spent the better part of the past two weeks trying to make some Simplexity happen. I serve as the Church Administrator in my local church as my full-time job. The last few weeks have been largely devoted to developing our Annual Ministry Plan. This is the organizational document that drives our entire ministry and fiscal budget for the next year. It's kind of a big deal.
Hours, days, weeks, and months go into preparing this plan. It would take me an hour to describe the priorities and details of the plan to an informed audience. No one (not even my mother) would listen if I attempted to explain the full process that we went through to decide some of the priorities and details. I have about five minutes at one meeting and maybe an email or two to communicate this important item to an audience that was not a part of the process and may or may not be interested in listening.
As I stared at the work that had been done, I labored to make things simple for those who were not part of the process. I ended up making three options for an interested person to choose for themselves how much information they wanted.
Option #1 An 8x11 handout with only a headline and graphic/picture that explained our plan.
Option #2 An 8x11 handout with an outline of 3 major priorities and a few sub-points under each.
Still high-level. Still not overly complicated.
Option #3 A full 15-page printout of the entire ministry plan. I figured that there just might be someone other than me who might be interested!
I'm sure that Option #1 is the preferred option for most of our church community, with a few wanting the next level of detail contained in Option #2.
It's a work in progress for sure. Making the complex simple always is.
4 Ways to Practice Simplexity in Your Ministry
1. Do simple often.
As a leader, make sure you take multiple opportunities to communicate your vision in clear, easy to
understand ways. No business jargon or churchy language. Simple aids understanding. If you want
to practice communicating in simple terms, practice in front of kids. They will let you know if you are too complicated!
2. One priority, not three.
If you communicate something, such as the Sunday message or organizational goals, limit your communication to one primary point that your communication is built around. What is the one most important thing? What is the one most important action you want someone to take? I understand the practice of the three-point sermon or three point business-talk outline. The more I lead and communicate, the more convinced I am that multiple priorities are just competing for space in people's minds and lives. Simplexity is key to help people learn and grow.
3. Build Simple on a Firm Foundation.
Structure your entire ministry in a simple, easy to understand way. This makes communicating so much easier! This is one of the ways that I work with ministries to help them grow.
4. Make Simplexity Your Filter.
When you are communicating something important, use the filter of Simplexity. Always ask: Is this the simplest way I can explain this? If your answer is yes, then you are ready to communicate your priorities. If the answer is no, then you have more work to do.
How are you making the complex simple in your Ministry?
I was a few months into a new ministry leadership position when a church member asked to speak with me. When we spoke over a cup of coffee he expressed his appreciation for the work that I was doing and offered the following opinion: “the work you are doing is great and I appreciate all you have done so far. But, you seem a bit obsessed with the numbers.” I thanked him for his compliment! I explained that I do have a healthy obsession with numbers in the church. I care deeply about numbers. I know that behind every number is a person. Every number can tell a story - a story of someone who needs Jesus.
I unapologetically focus on numbers as a way of expressing what I believe to be the central mission of the local church - to connect people to Jesus. I take seriously the words of Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus makes the command to make disciples of all nations. In ministry, I believe that more disciples are better than fewer disciples. I believe that fewer in hell is a good thing. To be frank, I have a hard time understanding why anyone, much less someone who works in ministry, would disagree with that. I may have a hard time understanding it, but I am not surprised by it. I have heard and read the "numbers don't represent real growth" and "clear teaching of sound doctrine is the only thing that matters" speeches and blog posts. I do not think that numbers are the only thing that matters. In my simple way of thinking, I see it this way:
More followers of Jesus = Good
Fewer followers of Jesus = Bad
In my reading of scripture, I have never come across a limit that Jesus put on how many people that He wanted the church to reach. In fact, the book of Mark refers several times to "large crowds" following Jesus. The book of Acts constantly points out the specific numbers of people following the early church and borderline brags about the growth that it was experiencing.
When someone connects to Jesus in your church, it is a reason to celebrate!
Two Important Thoughts on Ministry Numbers
1. Numbers do not matter without a mission.
If the only thing you are doing is counting people, and that is your bottom line, you are missing the point. If a business only counted the number of customers it had, it would lose sight of the quality of their product, customer service, and the reason they started the business in the first place. If your numbers are not connected to your clear mission, you are counting in vain. Numbers are a means to an end. They help measure where you are with what is most important to you. I partner with churches to help clarify their mission and focus on what is important.
2. Numbers count regardless of church size.
When talking about numbers in ministry, most discussion or debate tends to center around what size church is best. Most often, smaller churches or churches in decline will say numbers don't mean that much. Larger or growing churches may focus on growing numbers; to a fault. When speaking of numbers in ministry, church size does not matter. Every single person sitting in a pew in a small country church that worships 35 on a Sunday counts. Every single person sitting in a folding chair in a strip mall church plant that worships 11 on a Sunday counts. Every single person sitting in a cozy padded seat in a mega church that worships 12,000 on a Sunday counts. Every single person sitting on the red clay dirt under a tree in Africa with a thousand of their local villagers worshiping God counts.
I have a (healthy) obsession with ministry numbers. Numbers are not everything in ministry, but I believe the right numbers are important. Never forget that numbers represent people and people matter to God, so they should matter to you.
There are many different numbers a church could analyze. Not all numbers are created equal. My experience partnering with churches to clarify their vision and focus their ministry tells me that there are some numbers that are vitally important to track.
1. Weekly Worship Attendance
Many mainline denominational churches focus on the total number of members in their database as a measurement of church size or growth. I believe that this is not an adequate measure of your ministry. Membership today is not what it used to be in decades past. The whole idea of membership is foreign to many people and it is not a good indicator of someone's involvement in your ministry. If you are honest, there is a good percentage of your membership database that should be "cleaned up" and taken off your roles. While not a perfect measurement of your ministry size or reach, I find that weekly worship attendance is a key number to keep track of. At the least, it gives you a good idea of those who are active or marginally active in your ministry.
You should figure weekly worship attendance in the following way:
Sunday Worship Attendance + Sunday Children's Ministry Attendance + Special services (midweek, Christmas services, other worship services) divided by the numbers of weeks in your ministry year (likely 52) = Your Weekly Worship Attendance.
Be sure to throw out any outliers that would significantly impact your numbers. Example: My home church worships around 1,000 a week, except when it snowed an inch in the midwest and everyone freaked out and around 400 hearty souls came to church on a Sunday a few months ago. If you were only to keep track of one ministry number, it should be your weekly worship attendance. But, you should keep track of a few more.
2. The number of people taking a Next Step
Defining what steps people should take in your ministry is important work - it is some of the most rewarding work that I do with churches. Whatever your next step expectation for people is, it should be important and if it is important, you should keep track of it. If the next step for someone who attends worship at your church is to join a small group or Bible study, then count the number of people who are taking that step. If your next step for someone who has been around for a year is for them to give a percentage of their income, then count the number of people who commit to percentage giving. Keeping track of those taking their next step is key to encouraging individual spiritual growth and measuring your church's effectiveness in maturing disciples.
3. The number of people who give
Martin Luther once said, “There are three conversions a person needs to experience: The conversion of the head, the conversion of the heart, and the conversion of the pocketbook.” I believe generous giving is an important part of discipleship and your ministry should be teaching and encouraging people to give not because your church budget needs it but because giving is an important part of discipleship. However you measure who is giving is fine, just count the number of people doing it. I suggest keeping track of the number of people who give something, the number who have committed to percentage giving, and the number who have pledged to tithe.
4. The number of first-time guests
If current worship trends continue, you will need 4 first-time guests each week for every 100 attendees to maintain your current size over the next 5 to 10 years. Want to grow? You will need more. The number of visitors will also give you an idea of how your community sees and values your church.
5. The percentage of guests who stick around
Average churches see around 10 percent of their first-time guests become regular attendees. Fast-growing churches see around 30 percent. Keep track of your number.
6. The number of engagements on social media
This is a new number for most churches, but a number that is increasingly important to track. Social media can be used to effectively draw people to your community and inform/invite them to events. For people that are already part of your ministry, their level of engagement on social media can tell you about their actual engagement in your ministry. Most of the major social media sites/apps have analytics built in or a third party app that can do the same. I don't believe there is a magic number of social media engagements to strive toward. I do believe that growth and a general month to month or year to year growth curve are important.
What numbers does your church keep track of? Let me know!
I love being physically present in the outdoors. My ideal vacation is a few weeks in the Rocky Mountains with each day split equally between fly fishing on a rock strewn mountain stream and spending hours in a comfortable chair just staring at the mountains. Being outdoors and in nature is where I find peace and mental refreshment. I don’t love that it is a struggle for me to find time to be outdoors. I must intentionally look for opportunities to get outdoors often because I know that it makes me a better leader and servant.
A simple google search reveals numerous mental and physical health benefits to being outdoors. I won’t attempt to discuss all the possible benefits of being outdoors. I know that those who work in a church or related ministry struggle with a unique set of challenges and stressors that can cause a multitude of spiritual, physical and mental pitfalls. A speaker at a recent church leadership conference I attended noted that most church work environments are designed (unintentionally) to keep workers “spiritually disillusioned, physically fat and out of shape, and mentally drained.” His words were a harsh indictment of most ministry work places. I agree with his assessment.
Most of the stress that church workers experience stems from the fact that we place an extra burden on ourselves because we believe (rightly so) that our work has eternal consequences. The local church is God’s way of bringing people to faith and keeping them spiritually fed. As church workers, we are a crucial component in that mission. We shouldn’t take our charge lightly. Those who work in the church walk a fine line between being motivated by our mission and being overwhelmed by it. I believe that getting away from the church and being outdoors has some unique benefits to offer to the church worker.
Getting Outdoors Better Connects You to Jesus
My most influential school teachers made learning an experience. They immersed me through their storytelling and made sure I learned science through hands-on activities. We learn best through experience. What better way to learn from and experience God than to sit in the midst of His creation
and let Him do the teaching. Look at the beautiful words of Job 12:7-10 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (NIV)
By simply being present in God’s creation, we experience Him, we learn about Him and are drawn closer to Him. There is good reason that most church camps and retreat centers are in wooded areas and not in the middle of a suburban subdivision or on the 12th floor of a city skyscraper.
Getting Outdoors Reduces Ministry Stress
I suppose being outdoors reduces stress for most everyone, not just church workers. There is research that it helps increase good chemicals and hormones in our bodies and decrease the bad ones. Breathing in clean air and getting more Vitamin D helps reduce stress for the church worker and the atheist alike.
I feel that the unique benefit for the church worker is that being outdoors helps put things in perspective. There is nothing like standing in a vast open space or gazing at a mountain to remind us that God is big and the day to day worries of our ministry are small. Most of the time this realization comes not in a conscious thought: “Hey, look at those trees. Wow! God is mighty and not having the outline for the next worship series done is small.” Rather, this realization of perspective occurs most often as at subconscious level. As created creatures, we instinctively know that our value is in the one who created us and not in the things that we do. The more we experience the wonder of His creation, the more we realize that our work, while important, is not larger than the one who made us.
Getting Outdoors Helps Set Clear Boundaries
Dr. Henry Cloud says that “Every human being must have boundaries in order to have successful relationships or a successful performance in life.” Most dedicated church workers feel a deep commitment to their job. For many, that commitment serves their church and people well. For others, that commitment makes it difficult to set healthy boundaries in life. Church work comes at the expense of margin, family, physical health, mental clarity, and healthy relationships. Making time to be physically away from the church and in nature sets a clear boundary for you physically and mentally. Physically, the boundary is clear: I am in the outdoors and I am not at church. A boundary is also established mentally:
I am not at church, therefore I am not required to think about it (although my mind often wanders back to work issues and stress). Making a commitment to being outdoors and away from church is a commitment to set healthy boundaries.
Getting Outdoors Improves Your Ministry Focus
In ministry, there is never a shortage of good ideas or new ways to do things. The challenge for leaders in ministry is to discern the important from the not so important and to keep our eyes on our church’s mission and vision for ministry. We know focusing on what is important is key to ministry growth, but there always seems to be more distractions and legitimate challenges that need to be addressed. Push the eject button and get away for a while. Take a walk, a one-day retreat, or some extended time away and in nature to clear your head and remind yourself of the important things in your ministry. Simply being away from the office limits the distractions and the opportunity for others to fill your time and mind with competing ideas. Being outdoors lets you escape for a bit and helps you focus. Your ministry will benefit greatly from your increased focus on what is truly important.
Getting outdoors can benefit you and your ministry. In my next post, I will look at practical ways to make your commitment to getting outdoors more often a reality. What are some things that you do to get outdoors more often? Let me know.
As a church worker, you are busy and time is limited. One often overlooked benefit of working at a church is that your time is often flexible. At least, more flexible than many other jobs. You aren’t required to punch a timecard or wait for a whistle to blow before going to lunch. Your employer is likely understanding of family situations and realizes that ministry is taxing. Take advantage of your flexible environment. Schedule time to get away from your office and get outside. Here are twelve methods I try to use to get outside. I hope you can use a few of them in your attempt to get out more often.
Drink your coffee outside.
Read a book outside.
Make your family vacation an outdoor adventure. Think trees, mountains, or beach and not museum, city, or mall.
Read the Bible or a devotional outside.
Listen to worship music outside.
Go for a prayer walk around your neighborhood and pray for each neighbor as you pass by.
Take a short lunchtime hike. Find a trail you like close by and hike it a few times a week.
Walk around the building…twice.
Sketch something in nature. Go outside and draw what you see. Can’t draw? Doesn’t matter - no one has to see it.
Schedule a fishing trip (my favorite) or another outdoor hobby. Put it on your calendar and block it out.
Go on an outdoor photo hunt and post your pics on social media.
What ways do you find to get outdoors more often? Let me know!