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Big things can come in small packages. Big ministries can come from small churches. Len Sweet reminds us, in AquaChurch 2.0, that small companies are changing and re-creating the global economy and many of those companies have less than 24 employees (page 121). This fact should make the small-membership church reconsider its futures.

These small churches matter and can make a difference in God’s Kingdom, though they sometimes need encouragement and support from larger churches. When the majority of a denomination consists of churches with 100 members or less, shouldn’t we hear from those church leaders instead of the mega-church leaders who pastor 15,000 people?

Those small church leaders aren’t going to stand out in the crowd because of their low numbers. Our denominational leaders need to get out there and find them, talk to them, support them, encourage them, help them. There are so many small churches; our leaders don’t have to go far to find one, probably just around the corner from their mega-church building. They can send a small group of committed Christ-followers to that small church to help with ministry projects. Yes, we help churches with ministry projects on mission trips but those trips are usually to another state. Why can’t we help fellow churches and Christ-followers in our own communities where we live?

Let’s stop competing with one another and start reaching out to those who need Jesus.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I love the metaphor Len Sweet uses on page 88 of AquaChurch 2.0. We must be anchored in the Bible, yet continuously moving forward. We must cast our anchor ahead of the boat and pull ourselves forward with the rope. What an image!

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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If you’re doing church the same way you were a year ago, or even last week, you’re falling behind and failing.

Len Sweet, page 20.

Tags: AquaChurch 2.0, Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Fall. Back to school. Cooler temperatures. College football. It’s that season of the year, college football season. Saturday is the season opener when the Florida Gators play Hawaii at Florida Field, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Coach Urban Meyer asks all fans to “white out cancer” by wearing white Gator shirts. Go Gators!

Tags: Personal by Brenna Phillips
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The creator of VeggieTales and now the new Jelly Telly, Phil Vischer, has been posting articles on his blog recently about Christian businesses and asking where they are or where the Christians are in businesses. Well, David has a blog just for this kind of ministry. Check it out and join in the business ministry.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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If you’re having trouble making a decision on which presidential candidate to choose, try this race …

Tags: Personal by Brenna Phillips
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Here’s another wonderful point from What the Best College Teachers Do. A Harvard Law professor, Derrick Bell, was the first African American to be granted tenure at the school. He was noted for being one of the most effective teachers in ways in which he treated his students. He treated his students with courtesy and dignity. Class time was for the students, but he would take a few minutes at the beginning of class to talk with them about their lives and share personal moments of his own with them (page 148). One of his students reported that he and his wife were walking in the Village near NYU one morning and pointed out that Derrick Bell teaches there. The man’s wife suggested that he apply to the program so he did, was accepted, and studied with Bell. He treated his students with decency, respect, and concern (page 149).

How many people in the towns where we live, in our workplaces, or in our schools want to attend our churches because of how we treat others? Are we treating people with decency, respect, and concern? Do we treat them in ways showing we care and want to talk with them?

Or are we busy with our own lives? Do we have separate lives … a work life, a neighborhood life, a school life … and we do our own thing on church days?

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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In continuing my read through What the Best College Teachers Do, I have come to one of the important principles of effective teachers: focus on the student rather than the discipline (page 110). Teaching should be student-centered, not discipline-centered or teacher-centered. Teachers must focus on the interests of the students, what they care about, what they know, what they think they know instead of simply giving them an outline of information. In a sense, the students are the teachers. When involved in the lessons and encouraged to participate in the discussions, then they will listen, think, and respond and reach conclusions on their own understanding and reason.

This technique is often easier to accomplish in a small group Bible study rather than in a large worship service. In this Bible study group, students (or participants) should be comfortably allowed to think and talk about the topic, even if their ideas aren’t the most correct answers. Teachers can use warm language, which is actually story telling, to effectively explain ideas and concepts (page 122).

The most effective teachers guide students into discussing ideas that may help them in solving their problems. Overall, the teacher and the students are learning together from each other.

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I often recall a lesson from one of my favorite school teachers. During vocabulary lessons of looking up the definitions of words, she reminded her students not to use the word or a form of the word in the definition. We were expected to research completely different phrases in the definitions.

This teaching technique was brought to memory when I read one of the aspects of a natural critical learning environment in What the Best College Teachers Do. This environment helps students answer the question when the teacher gets the students to answer the question for themselves (page 103). Students are challenged to develop explanations and arrive at their own conclusions, rather than simply being told the answer.

As an elementary student looking up definitions in a dictionary, I could have simply copied the definitions even though some words may have been defined in the dictionary by a form of the same root word. My teacher encouraged me to seek the definitions of words without using any forms of the root word.

Effective teachers do not give students answers; they encourage them to find their own answers and research all parts of that answer.

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I’m currently teaching early childhood students …in my paid position …and I love it. It’s a special way of doing children’s ministry without the minister title. Many more relationships to foster without that minister wall to climb over, go around, or look through.

I’m continuing to read What the Best College Teachers Do and it’s more than what college teachers do; these ideas can be applied to any teacher of any age group.

On page 88, the author states, “Highly effective teachers must choose questions and issues carefully and select common readings even more cautiously…easier reading first, more difficult later.”

He explains that some professors don’t want to hear students talk about their subject because they don’t know enough, but he reminds us of piano teachers who don’t expect their students to play the piano like Mozart. They don’t push them off the piano bench for a few bad notes early in their lessons. They give them practice and guidance, and they have faith in their students.

Early childhood students start from the beginning in most every subject and aspect of education and life. They must be taught the basics of life and survival as well as academic knowledge. As teachers, we don’t expect them to know how to do double digit addition problems from the first day of school. We begin with basic number recognition and one concept builds on another.

The same is true for college students in any subject area. Teachers don’t expect students to know all about their subject on the first day of classes. They give them simple readings that build on more difficult ones. I like what this author says about those reading assignments: (page 88-89) “They don’t discuss readings with students; they get them involved in thinking about issues, taking positions, and drawing from their readings to make arguments and solve problems.”

Early childhood teachers do the same thing. They are the facilitators who get students involved in the learning process by asking those same involvement questions.

Even though teachers work with different age groups and on different levels, the concept is similar and many of the same aspects can be applied.

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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