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Last week I was able to hang out with some of our friends in ministry here in Colorado. We are working on some new ideas, and brought together some people to give us their feedback. This is one of the best things about working at Group…the opportunity to talk with you personally, and hear your challenges as well as the excitement and joy you get from serving!
As we chatted, one topic kept resurfacing: the need for friendliness in our ministries, our teams, and in our churches as a whole. This is a core value that needs to be a priority. But, believe it or not, some people think friendliness (and FUN) are overrated as spiritual values.
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7 Responses to “Frivolous or fruitful?”
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I think that having fun and friendliness are critically important, as you said, for ministries, teams and the church as a whole. My particular denomination – like many others – has gone through a lot of stress over the last few years as we struggle with theological differences among the members of our congregation. Fun and friendship has been a very important glue to keep both our liberal and conservative members working together.
Thanks for sharing Debra. Fun is a great antidote to stress, but often the last thing we feel like doing! Sue
FRUITFULL!!!!!!!!!,
Honestly we have had our struggles with a few people on our team who were so very serious about what they are doing that they come off as rude or inconsiderate. As a result we had a day that we spent together where our team discussed openly with each other how different attitudes affected us and our KIDS ministry. After much discussion and soul searching we decided as a team to start a culture of joy and honor towards each other. We developed a social contract which every team member had a part in developing and clearly defining each part. We use this now as an accountability tool for each other to encourage a friendly and productive environment with a special added clause that clearly defines handling conflict in a biblical way. I know this may sound extreme to some of you however we take the friendly and fun environment very seriously. We identified some areas that we felt were working opposite of that then developed a plan to turn it around. Our staff here also did the same thing which is where we got our idea from. We have a culture of warm, inviting & friendly atmosphere here.
absolutely critical – people need to know that people enjoy being together. The joy of the Lord truly is our strength. Who wants to join a bunch of sour pusses to do anything. Our joy, especially in difficult time, is a large part of our testimony.
I have found that those who are working in their spiritual ‘giftedness’ are having a lot of FUN and becoming friends is inevitable.
I think friendliness is crucial to getting people to come back for the second visit or volunteer for ministry. We are a large church in our area and it’s the only way for us to immediately connect with someone. If our ministry leaders are not friendly, people will stop volunteering. Who wants to work with someone who is a grouch and bossy? Especially if that “work” is volunteering? As far as fun goes, I think it’s so important to show the congregation that it’s okay to have fun in church and while we’re serving, especially since we’re a “traditional” church. This has to start at the pastor level and trickle down to the staff and finally, the congregation. It can break the tension, relieve stuffiness, and create a more real, human atmosphere. Doing church can be serious business but serious and unfriendly are very different. So why shouldn’t the church be the one friendly face someone sees today? Smiles, everyone! Smiles!
SO often we get tin the trenches of ministry and forget to have fun. When we find ourselves there ministry gets to be hard and less that fulfilling…if we don’t have fun we can find ourselves in the pit Ministry must have fun as a core value. If what we do isn’t fun why would others want to join us or even follow Jesus?