Paul Benger

A conversation for pastors, leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, cultural architects

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Pastor, Creator, Leader, Author, Entrepreneur, Cultural Architect, Leadership Coach

  • Building Church means Building People

    In my last blog I wrote about the fact that the church is people and not the organisation or the history/tradition or the administration systems and process. Building the church therefore by definition requires the building of people. Jesus called it discipleship. Our purpose as leaders is to build the lives of people, to provide lift so that they are able to achieve greater things. The house of God is a crucible for progress, a place of capacity building and achievement, a company of over-achievers!

    As Jesus builds his church he builds the individual, as he builds the individual he builds his church. Here are a few things that build the individual as we live and grow together as the people of God.

    1. Encouragement.
    People do not thrive in negative environments, they thrive in faith-filled learning environments that allow them to grow. We need to put courage into people, to help them to see what is possible, to guide them towards fulfilling dreams and aspirations, to navigate them through the seas of doubt and insecurity and land them on the plains of Faith, Hope & Love. The book of Hebrews tells us to encourage one another daily…

    2. Joining.
    Jesus doesn’t build individuals in isolation he builds community and communities and within those communities we live, learn, love and grow. It is vital then that we connect people, not just to the system, the program, the history or vision but to one another. Connectivity is vital for growth, we often give a knowing nod to this but sometimes our relational challenges hinder real community. Great leaders long to connect people knowing the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

    3. Recognition & Appreciation.
    As people grow we need to recognise and celebrate their achievements, we need to appreciate their contributions not because we are afraid that failure to do so would scupper our relationship, but because we are in the people-building business. Progress is as varied as the individual and so we need to be watchmen leaders who notice people and notice contributions. When someone has a great attitude and you see it, tell them. When you notice a contribution that helped say thank you, after all you are grateful, you really are!

  • My Greatest Frustration

    Someone once said, ‘Frustration and Vision are exactly the same thing.’ They’re right, but it doesn’t feel like it when you’re frustrated! being a church leader is a frustrating thing, partly because at times you don’t know how, when, where, or with whom you should discuss your frustrations. At home? With Leaders? With Friends? With God?

    That said, the truth is we only have frustration because we have vision. Our frustration is telling us something isn’t right, something could be better, this needs to change.

    My greatest frustration is this…(coughs awkwardly)… When the church doesn’t believe its the church. When the community of God’s people think that the professional clergy, the paid staff, the systems, the administration, the processes will do the work. It’s not right and it’s not biblical.

    Ephesians 4:12 clearly states that it is God’s people who will be equipped for works of service. I think we have a problem and here it is. We’ve heard that so many times we have tricked ourselves into thinking we’ve got it. As God’s people we have to rise and BE the church. Who’s gonna pray? Not the system, not just the staff it has to be us. Who’s going to invite the new people? That would be me, oh yes, and you because the administration can’t grow the church.

    Occasionally people will say something like, ‘I’ve noticed lots of new visitors in church recently. Where are they all?’ The thing is they are asking the wrong person. I should be asking them (I include myself in the them). When I’m asked, people can be saying, ‘What’s the system done with them, did they get lost in administration or follow-up?’ It’s an expectation that systems, processes etc. will do the work of the church. I should be saying, ‘I’ve noticed lots of new visitors in church recently. Where are they all?’ ‘Where were you when…?’ WE are the church and WE just need to recognise it and BE the church.

    Frustrated? I don’t think so, just packed full of vision!

  • What makes a great volunteer

    Yesterday ate CLC we had our Involved! Sunday. This is a day when we celebrate volunteers, have a little expo on positions that are available for volunteers and we teach on the culture of serving.

    Mark Wilkins brought a great message during which he took some time to share something he had come across recently about what makes a great volunteer. Three words are helpful when consider this question, they are; FUTURE, ENGAGE, DELIVER

    Future-Engage-Deliver

    Future…those whose future is aligned to building the church. We have a vision of what we believe the church should look like. People see the vision of the church and want to align their personal future with that vision. Basically, people that say, I’m in.

    Engage…we can agree with the vision…but to be a great volunteer we need to engage with vision, get involved! Carry the vision…not just look at it and nod our heads. Mark used the illustration of a pile of vision on the side of stage, people have to engage with it, pick up a piece of it and say I’ll look after that.

    Deliver…we set our goals alongside the vision, the future of the church. Commitment to seeing it through! A great volunteer desires to deliver. This is the weekly toil of turning up, preparing, serving, connecting, doing whatever it takes to ensure our piece of the vision is done and done well.

  • Atmosphere

    Right now we are looking at Christian Life Church into the theme Devoted. We are taking the first four chapters from Acts and seeing how the first Christians were Responding to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. One way they responded was to Devote themselves to living in the right Atmosphere.

    These people lived in an atmosphere of faith, unity, praise and worship, hope and love that created awesome community.

    Atmospheres are so important, we’ve all found ourselves in stale, negative, hopeless atmospheres and the truth is none of us really wanted to go back there. The atmospheres across our lives and churches have to be fresh, life-giving and faith-filled. Everybody wants to live in that kind of atmosphere but not everyone knows how to get there. Part of the problem is that we have a philosophy within the church world that is waiting for some external event such as a move of God or a miraculous healing to create it. What we need to understand is that atmospheres are BUILT in response to the internal work of the Holy Spirit.

    The first Christians lived in the atmosphere they did because they were people of prayer, worship, obedience to God, resolve, faith, fellowship, truth etc. They built this atmosphere across their lives and within the community of faith, the church. They lived out off the revival going off inside them rather than waiting for a revival to go off around them!

    It’s only in the right atmosphere that things grow. A seed needs soil, water, warmth, resistance, to grow and Christians need faith, hope, love, challenge, commitment, vision etc. etc.

    Living in a kingdom atmosphere is often counter culture and counter intuitive. Consider Isaiah 61:3 Beauty for Ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

    It’s time to live in a bubble, a kingdom bubble! Build that atmosphere around you today, make some declarations about the goodness of God over your life!

  • Upgrade

    I love september it’s like the start of a new year in the life of the church after summer. I’ve been thinking recently about how do we upgrade what we are doing, how can we think differently about stuff? One of the greatest dangers in any creative organisation and for me the Church is the most creative organisation on the planet is that there’s just a load of stuff no one is thinking about.

    What aren’t you thinking about?

    When we think about stuff inevitably we want to upgrade it, improve it, future-proof it, do something, anything… It’s time for an upgrade! Perhaps you lead a church or a ministry within a church, I’m absolutely convinced that there’s stuff that needs an upgrade. The reason I know that is because there are things in my world that without a shadow of doubt need upgrading!

    Upgrades fix bugs! – If you’ve got some bugs/viruses in the system it’s time to fix them. you cannot optimize performance if you don’t get rid of the bugs.

    Upgrades increase security, speed and stability!

    If you don’t upgrade obsolete is your destination. Right now, when it comes to computers,  3rd party developers are designing with the next version of the software in mind. God is designing with the next version of you in mind, he’s planning all the things you will be able to access and enjoy once upgraded. So here are three tips to help you upgrade.

    1. Change your Surroundings: You’ve got to get with some people bigger than you. People who have a different attitude. If you’re prone to be negative get with the positive people and break out of your comfort zone!

    2. Change your System: Don’t keep doing what you’ve always done if nothings changing. Freshen things up, change things around. Let change impact upon everyone.

    3. Change your Culture: Decide what you want and be the change, be it!  Don’t wait for it to happen, be the change, make something happen!

  • Culture – What is Culture?

    Every organisation has it, many have a culture they don’t want, many know the culture they want but don’t know how to get it. But what is it?. Culture is what makes us who we are. It is the accumulation of shared values, beliefs, experiences etc. Culture develops over time, simply stated it is a way of doing and being, better stated it is our way of doing and being. “The way we do things around here.”

    Culture is important because it shapes the Why, What and How of what we do.

    culture check out this pdf diagram…

    Culture starts with our beliefs and assumptions, our values. We act a certain way because we believe a certain thing. Our core values and beliefs drive us forward. These beliefs develop our Norms. The behaviours, the way we do things and these together are reflected in our signs, symbols, ceremonies, celebrations, songs  and rewards.

  • Gathering

    So several church surveys are telling us that a committed church member can now be identified as someone who attends at least once per month. Apparently, as a Pastor, that’s meant to make me feel better. No prizes for guessing it doesn’t.

    I’ve got two choices, as I see it. One, I can philosophize and say well, ‘we are all so much busier than we use to be, ‘ and other emotion settling phrases. Or I can read my Bible, look at early Christians and say, ‘these guys were devoted, and we should be too.’ I choose the latter.

    The gathered church is so important and always has been. Reading the book of acts you find phrases repeated like, ‘they were ALL together in one place,’ ‘they met daily in the temple courts,’ ‘they broke bread from house to house.’ The reality these people met MORE than we do for worship, prayer, instruction in the word and so on.

    Our faith cannot become convenient or else it becomes powerless, there’s a radical, full-on nature to following Jesus and that includes being with and part of his people.

    See you in church.

  • It’s all about the quality of the team

    I really am suspicious of the phrase this is the only thing you need to know so I want to talk about the only thing you need to know. This blog is inspired by a tweet I read today by a Pastor friend who wrote. “I really do have the best team” and a blog I read by another friend about his team and finally by a vook I’m reading on excellence. No that’s not a spelling mistake a vook is a book with video included, I have a few on my ipad.

    The only thing that in the end matters = The quality and character of the team and the unstinting devotion of entrepreneural servant leaders to develop each individual member of that team.

    People who are committed 100%

    Committed, engaged, growing, learning, fearless (encouraged to try new things!), respected, trusted, appreciated, independent-minded, team-focused, obsessed with the growth of others, passionate about mates and people, informed, open (fanatical about sharing helpful things!), caring, committed to excellence.

    Servant Leaders who are committed 100% to their no 1 priority being developing people who are:

    Committed, engaged, growing, learning, fearless (encouraged to try new things!), respected, trusted, appreciated, independent-minded, team-focused, obsessed with the growth of others, passionate about mates and people, informed, open (fanatical about sharing helpful things!), caring, committed to excellence.

  • Capacity

    It’s all about capacity! Today I can do more than I could 20 years ago. It is true that in some areas my capacity may be less than it was 20 years ago. Im not sure I’m as strong, I’m not as fit but overall I would have to say my capacity is far greater than it was. I hear many people who seem to have a vision of their life somehow fizzling out, dying off like a sparkler on bonfire night. That’s not a biblical picture. Our outward man may decay but inwardly, Paul says, we are being renewed day by day. In other words your tank should be enlarging, your capacity increasing.

    Hurts, offences, unforgiveness, disappointment, betrayal all things our biblical heros faced have the potential to reduce our capacity tank size but that is not the will of God. oh no, God sees you larger, stronger, fitter, inwardly renewed. More effective, more relevant, more relational. God had to teach Moses how to increase his personal capacity to lead and fulfill his destiny. Here are some God lessons on increasing your capacity from Exodus 18.

    1. Be Teachable: Ex 18:17-18. Moses has lead the people through the Red Sea but he still took the wisdom of Jethro on board. Don’t think look what I’ve done, think what can I learn.

    2. Listen: Ex 18:19-24. It’s one thing to hear it’s another to listen and heed. People often hear but listeners do so with a commitment to change. Moses changed what he was doing! Don’t live life without reflection. Look back through your notes, what did God say? What did you do?

    3. Pray: Ex 18:19 Nuff said. Ok not enough, talk to God mate…

    4. Read: Ex 18:21-25 Some people read books which is good, but also read people and situations. Find the people that have your best interests a heart and connect, even the lone-ranger had tonto (sorry).

    5. Release people: Ex 18:27. Release the people in your world, empower them to make a huge difference and impact, release them into their destiny.

    My prayer for any leader reading this blog is that we would increase our capacity.

    More!

  • Is nothing better than bad?

    The problem with vision is, vision can become the mother of the bad. Vision leads us to do something as does passion, but often if our response to vision & passion isn’t well thought through and planned we end up not doing things well. I have to say just doing something has sometimes worked for me. As I’ve had a go and attempted things often poorly in the first instance I have been able to then to tweak those things and occasionally make them excellent. Also if I had waited for the resources to be available many times I wouldn’t have done anything, often I’ve found both money and people shortages when I felt God leading me forward.

    That said, principally I think like this. Get an idea (vision) call it what you will, write it down, write down what you will need, what you desire to accomplish the task as you see it being accomplished. Start to pray and look for God to provide the resource you need. Keep praying, believing, preparing. It’s amazing how God fulfils dreams and visions that we thought might be dead when we approach them in the right fashion.

    Habakkuk 2:2-3 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

    One of the things that proper planning, envisioning and prayer does for us is it moves us towards the vision ourselves. Sometimes we see things that we personally are not ready for and God needs to move us in the right direction of growth and momentum, as well as moving the people along too.

    So what are you believing God for? Write it down, write down how you see it fulfilled, pray and let God move you into the arena that you dream of. So is nothing better than bad? It often is, it is better often to not do a thing than do it poorly. However, even if we feel at a place of not being able to have a go due to shortages, we can do something, plan, pray, believe, expect, learn, ask, so that God finds us equipped for the arena we desire.