Christmas!

As Christmas approaches we have an opportunity to reflect on the “year that was”, as well as the coming Christmas season.

At Willow Creek Australia we have cause to be thankful for the many lives that have been impacted and influenced through attendance at WCA events, or engagement in any of the other WCA resources or programs. We are hugely grateful and indebted to all of the volunteers who help these events run so smoothly.

As we look forward to another Christmas season, I pray that all of us who know Jesus will reflect something of His love for us to the people who are a part of our lives. May our lives bear witness to our relationship with Jesus, not necessarily by what we say, but by who we are because of that relationship. Let’s pray that all we say and do, and the people we serve this Christmas will be influenced because of our love for Jesus.

Finally, I have very much enjoyed my 6 months at Willow in my role as interim CEO. It’s been great to work with all of the staff, and also with the volunteers I have met or spoken with on the phone. I am very excited by Andrew McCafferty’s (Australia) appointment and the contribution he will make to the continuing ministry of WCA.

May God bless you and your families this Christmas,

Arthur Conomos

Interim CEO (Australia)

The Power of Delegation

A good leader knows that to delegate is to multiply their effectiveness exponentially.  Effectiveness results from building teams and releasing others into ministry.  This means that the leader is self secure and is content to see others flourish. 

Humility is at the heart of a true leader.  A really good leader is so gripped by the vision and interested in developing people that they will gather around them a team made up of people who can do things much better than they can do them.  Greater is the one who multiplies the workers than the one who does the work!

All great leaders have learnt the art of delegation.  If not, at least three very negative things result.  First, they will limit the amount of work and responsibility they can handle, thus limiting their own growth.  Secondly, they will inhibit the growth of others, thus limiting the growth of the whole organisation.  Thirdly, the quality people in the organisation will leave to find a place where they are appreciated and can make a difference.

Delegation is not passing the buck.  It recognises that the task is so big that it can only be done by recruiting and empowering others.  It also means that the key leader must be free to allow others to do things differently from how the leader might do them!  Where there is a will there is a way and where there is a team there is more than one way!

The parameters for delegation depend on the competencies and experience of the delegatee.  If the person is highly skilled, has experience in the task, is mature as a leader, etc, then they can be trusted to get on with the task with little interference from the leader.  On the other hand, the delegatee might have little experience, and have minimal competence, so that the leader would need to meet regularly with them to check how they are going, what resources they need, etc.

In the first case the person might only require encouragement and personal support/recognition, while in the second case the person would require regular contact and clear direction from the leader especially in the early days.  These are two extremes, and there would be many instances of delegatees sitting somewhere in between.  Frequently leaders overlook this.  Also competency varies from one task to another.  A person who needs little supervision on one delegated task, may require much tighter supervision on a different task.

In delegating tasks it is important to make clear what is expected of the person in terms of the task itself, its outcomes, its time lines, etc.  It also should be clear what support they will receive and what reporting relationships are established. Absolute clear communication is the basis for fruitful delegation.

When should a leader delegate?  It is paramount for leaders to ask key leadership questions of themselves:  What must I do that no one else can do?  What do I do that results in the greatest outcome for the organisation?  What is the best use of my strengths?  Almost anything else can be delegated, thus empowering people and releasing latent potential.

Dean Brookes

Uniting Church Minister

Leadership Development | Coach and Mentor

Beyond Our Shores

The countdown is on... Less then a week until I board a plane destined for a far off exotic land. I am soon to embark on a short- term mission trip and with only five days until we leave the excitement in our team is palpable.

I have visited the travel doctor who jabbed me with three too many needles for my liking, I have scoured the stores for culturally appropriate clothing (much harder then you would think) and have exchanged my cash to the (previously) almighty US dollar.

Each year there are hundreds of thousands of people, just like me, who take part and serve on a short-term mission trip in nearly every earthly location imaginable.  Yet I have to admit, even as I stuff my mosquito net into my backpack, there is a small part of me wondering if the rapid rise of popularity for these short-term ventures are for many little more then a noble way to spend their holidays.

This adventure of going to a country for a few weeks to check out God's work around the world is a relatively new, somewhat post-modern phenomenon. Today we can practically traverse the globe in relative affordability and comfort. Yet in past times, the words 'short' and 'mission' rarely appeared together.

Those in by-gone eras, called by God to share the message of Jesus with other cultures, were known to pack all their belongings, not into a suitcase but rather a coffin, their coffin, with no guarantee that they would ever return to their homeland. Theirs was a life-long mission, one of language learning, culture, living and sharing with people.

Today, some would say that the landscape of mission has changed forever, that long-term cross-cultural mission (where people spend at least seven years in a country) is gradually falling into extinction.

Our attention spans have grown too short and our careers too important. And yet it is clear that truly effective cross-cultural mission is based on a foundation of strong relationships, a common language and discipleship, all of which take years.

Despite the downward trend, there are still many who are raising their hands to serve overseas long-term as they follow God’s call to be witnesses for Him in all the world. These people who are willing to go the long haul, to spend years learning the culture of the people and sharing Jesus as they go about every day life are certainly not relics of the past.  Rather they are the key to the future of Jesus’ life changing message reaching all corners of the globe.

So with this in mind, what role does short-term mission have to play? Not long ago, I was sitting in a seminar exploring this very topic. And while there were a number of opinions bandied around, there was one wise man who described these taste-and-see visits as an ‘investment of hope’.

An investment of hope not so much for the unreached people, but for us.

Short-term mission, when done with a focus on cultural learning and reflection can change us, open our eyes to see how God is moving in and through people and culture to bring them back into relationship with Him.

Through short-term mission our world becomes bigger and God’s love even greater and if we allow it, the few weeks that we spend in someone else’s land can forever move us.

Haylee Freudigmann

National Young Adults Consultant

Global Interaction

I want to be a flexible Christian

I am one of the most inflexible people I know.  When I do stretching I’m always the guy people laugh at who can’t reach past his knees when everyone else is touching their toes.  I’ve always been this way, and from time to time I’ve tried to do some stretches to get better, but I’m mostly resigned to the fact that I will be inflexible for the rest of my life. 

Thankfully for me when it comes to being a flexible Christian, it’s not about how far you can reach when you stretch.  Rather it’s about your ability to remain faithful to God but flex in order to take the good news of Jesus to the people around you.

In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul talks about his flexibility as a Christian.  Paul was flexible enough to become like a Jew to the Jews, to become weak to win the weak.  Famously he says, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some”. 

Paul did not compromise his faith to reach others, but he did not remain alien to the cultures he was ministering either.  I’ve noticed as I work with an increasingly unchurched generation of young people the need for me to flex in my outlook so that to the high school student, I become like the high school student.  This doesn’t mean I get acne and crushes on the pretty girls, but rather it means that I seek to understand their world view and culture in order that I can best shape the Gospel for them.

 The same is true for my non-Christian friends, I do not adopt their values, that wouldn’t be flexibility, it would be weakness.  Rather I seek to understand their culture and be flexible enough to allow it to influence the way I practice my ministry to them.

Christians have to be flexible if they want to win people to Christ.  We have to be flexible because we are not like people who don’t know Jesus. 

Our lives are so radically transformed by the Spirit that we are not like anyone else in this world.  We must be flexible but always remain connected to the source. 

Sadly many Christians often end up like me when I’m doing stretches, unable to bend past their knees and happy to let all those people they can’t reach slip away. 

I pray that I would not be like this but would continue to work hard at being a flexible Christian for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings and see many people bought to a knowledge and love of Jesus.

Chris Bowditch

Youth Minister

Holy Trinity Anglican Church Doncaster

Blog: www.youthministryandme.com

SOS

What would you give up for a greater purpose? Coffee, TV, chocolate?

How about every form of communication... for a week!

For the average 16 year old girl, communication is almost as important as breathing. Mums roll their eyes as the telephone rings for the 5^th time on a school night, Dads take temporary ownership of mobiles when sms texts beep all the way through dinner, and brothers stand at the bedroom door trying to overhear a top secret conversation between their sister and her friends.

So what could compel three young ladies to take a vow not to communicate for a week – no talking, texting, facebook or emails?

Justice. Or more rightly, injustice.

Lani, Tayla and Brittany first heard of the A21 Campaign when listening to 2010 Summit Speaker Christine Caine at Hillsong during their school holidays. They heard ‘about the A21 campaign and the things happening around the world and how Christine is trying to stop it. She shared all the statistics and it was then we decided we would do all we can to help.’

They are most passionate about helping young girls who are sold into the sex trade industry, saying ‘the statistic that made our hearts race was the fact that this [human trafficking] is the number two crime in the world and nobody knows about it. Human trafficking is happening right on our door step and we are oblivious to it.’ With reports of girls as young as four being sold by their families into brothels and forced to serve up to 40 men per day, they decided ‘we could no longer sit down and do nothing; we were determined to help set these girls free.’

Considering what the most important thing in their lives was that they ‘could strip away in order to raise awareness and funds’, they realized one thing they all had in common was a love to communicate.

Their aim was to raise $1200 to set one girl free. ‘We managed to raise $2400 which is an amazing effort by the community.’ This means that two girls were able to be freed from the sex trade industry. In addition to this the freed girls receive assistance with any medical needs, are provided safety homes and help to rebuild their lives. ‘With every girl that gets saved, the girl and the people who bought her go to court, [which means] more human traffickers get sent to jail, and it will begin to help change legislation in those countries.’

Whilst they all found the week to be extremely challenging, they highlight that they ‘managed to get through it with the support of our family, friends and God.’

For Lani ‘the most frustrating part of the whole experience was not having my phone or internet. Verbal communication was definitely hard for the first couple of days but I adjusted to that, it was more the fact that I could not text, email or facebook any of my friends that really got to me.’

For Tayla ‘the hardest part was definitely not being able to verbally communicate. We adjusted to it after a while, but there were still a lot of challenges, like not being able to have a decent conversation with our parents, not being able to communicate the little things in life and not being able to share my opinion.’

For Brittany ‘the most frustrating thing was being silent at places other than school, because the community did not know about the reason behind the mask, and I couldn’t tell them exactly either!’

In case there is any doubt, these are three remarkable young ladies. Reflecting on the week and what they learnt about themselves Lani says ‘It’s funny how in a week of being silent I learnt more about myself than I have my whole life. I am so ridiculously blessed with the life I have. My family and friends love me and are all so supportive, even when we couldn’t talk they kept filling my heart with positive and encouraging comments that made me keep going.’

So often, young people don’t see their potential to make a difference due to their youth or lack of financial resources. But anyone can say “here I am God, use me” and then respond in obedience when he takes you up on the offer. Well done girls for proving this point!