Doing Ministry Together
		Volume 4, Issue 11, November 1, 2007 Publisher—Dennis Bickers
							I was recently privileged to hear Dr. David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance, at a recent chapel service at Campbellsville University.  In that message, and later that day at a luncheon address, he spoke of the various ministries that the BWA are leading throughout the world.  It was a powerful reminder that when the church works together it can achieve much more than when we each try to do our own thing.   The New Testament clearly teaches that a house divided cannot stand.  Too often we allow minor differences of doctrine or church government divide us instead of uniting around the work God has given us to do.  Such division weakens the gospel we proclaim and makes it easier for an unbelieving world to reject that message.  It also reduces the effectiveness of our ministries because no one church has all the gifts to serve its community much less the world.   Some of the most effective ministry I have witnessed has been done when churches have cooperated with one another.  An association of churches, mostly bivocational, have worked together to minister to an economically depressed area.  As they have combined their resources and gifts they have been able to make a difference in the lives of the people they are serving.  Individually, they could have done little of significance.  In one community several churches of different denominations join together to hold a Vacation Bible School that reaches about 200 children each year.  While these churches have some minor differences in doctrine and church government, they are united in the belief that God is very interested in the children of their community.  Their combined VBS creates a much better program than if each church acted alone.   Are there other churches in your community you could work with to offer a ministry to that community that you could not provide alone?  Most bivocational churches (and fully-funded churches) often find limits in the ministries they can offer due to a lack of resources, but if they could work with other churches they may find they have fewer limits.  Why don’t you begin to pray about the potential ministry needs in your community that your church could address if they partnered with other churches?  Share that burden with your church leaders and seek out partner churches in the community and ask them to pray with you about working with your church in meeting these needs.  You may find some new, exciting ministries for 2008.
Now Available! The Work of the Bivocational Minister is now available for purchase.  This just released book has a suggested retail price of $12.00, but you can order it through my website for $10.50.     “This compact volume meets a critical need in the emergent church as it offers creative and practical insight into a time-tested, if not always honored, paradigm for ministry in the twenty-first century.” (Back cover)
								A Prayer Need   I would like to invite you to be in prayer for my wife and me.  2007 has been a difficult year for us for a number of reasons, and we have felt pressures we have not felt in years.  At times, the stress has been almost more than we could stand, but God has been faithful.  Although a number of people are praying for us, I would like to encourage my bivocational family to pray for us as well.   On a positive note, my wife and I celebrated our 41st anniversary in October.  Because we were rather young when we married many people said it would never last, but I think we have proven them wrong!  I can honestly say that our relationship is stronger than ever, and my love for her continues to grow each day.  God richly blessed me when he brought Faye into my life, and I thank Him for her each day.
	The Healthy Small Church continues to enjoy very healthy sales.  This book looks at church health issues from a small church perspective. The effectiveness and growth potential of our churches are directly related to how healthy they are.  The final chapter pro-vides you and your leadership some diagnostic questions you can use to evaluate the health of your church in each area of church life.  Order your copy today at a discounted price.
							Sermon Planning   In many ways time is like money.  You can spend time or you can invest time.  Pastors spend a lot of time preparing sermons.  Preaching is one of the primary tasks of the pastor, and we should devote sufficient time in our sermon preparation.  People come to church expecting to hear a word from God, and they can tell when we are winging it.  Believe me, as a pastor there were times when I was winging it.  Despite my best intentions, some weeks there just was not enough time to do everything that needed to be done and prepare a good message.  I certainly didn’t make a habit of it, but I did preach a few “Saturday night specials” during my pastoral ministry.   One of the things I learned was that a good investment of my time was in planning sermons.  During the fall months I would take some time and list each Sunday of the upcoming year on sheets of paper.  If a Sunday was associated with a holiday or special event I would indicate that in the left margin of the paper.  Like many ministers, I made sure my sermons would tie in with those special occasions.  A wise pastor makes sure he or she does not miss Mother’s Day!  In fact, on the Sundays between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day I would preach a series of sermons on various aspects of family life from a biblical perspective.  I could go ahead and fill in those Sundays with a possible sermon title and text.  It could be changed later, but at least I had a place to begin my sermon preparation.  If I wanted to preach an extended series of sermons I would look for several weeks that did not include a special Sunday and put that series in that calendar slot.    Investing some time in planning eliminated the problem on Saturday night of still not knowing what I was going to preach.  I could spend my time in actual sermon preparation.  More on this subject next month.
	What does successful bivocational ministry look like?  The Bivocational Pastor shares several things every bivocational minister can do to enjoy a more successful ministry. Save money off the list price by purchasing the book at www.bivocationalministries.com
								Book Review Gary L. McIntosh, Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church (Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 2006).     What bivocational pastor has not been frustrated when guests to the church never seem to return?  As I pastor I often complained that we could get people to visit the church once, but we struggled getting them to return.  In some cases, our guests did not find what they were looking for in a church, and in those cases it really doesn’t matter too much what the church tries to do.  But, in other cases, the church could have done some things differently than would make it more likely that guests would return and, perhaps, become a part of the church family.   This very practical and easy to read book provides churches of every size with suggestions about how to treat their first-time guests that might lead them to return.  McIntosh is professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology and the author of 13 books on church growth and leadership.  As a church consultant he has seen the best and worst efforts of churches as they try to welcome guests, and he writes about what he has learned in this book.   He encourages churches to begin their focus on three core ministries that are very important to church visitors: the facility, child care, and the worship service.  The facility must be clean and attractive and well maintained.  Young parents have much higher expectations for the care their children will receive when they are at church, and if those expectations are not met they will not return.  The worship service must be celebrative with a message that is practical and centered around biblical teaching.  One of the good things we are learning about unchurched people who attend our services is that they are looking for a church that believes something and is not afraid to teach their beliefs.  The book provides good questions to help evaluate each of these, and other, areas of your church life and offers practical suggestions about how to make needed improvements.   Don’t let the idea of making improvements scare you.  If changes are needed it is not necessary to make them all at once.  Small improvements made each year can have a major impact on the church over time.   This is a very good book that I read in two sittings.  It would be an excellent resource for many of our bivocational pastors to share with the lay leaders of their churches and to use as a resource to evaluate the effectiveness of your church in inviting your first-time guests to return for a second visit.
			Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. If you found it helpful, please forward it to others interested in bivocational ministry and encourage them to have their names added to the mailing list.  Also, be sure to check out our website, www.bivocationalministries.com, for some more resources for bivocational ministers.     I would be very interested in hearing your comments and suggestions for future issues of the newsletter.  I would also appreciate your input into other resources you would like to have that would improve your ministry.  Please feel free to contact me with your suggestions.  Until next time, may God continue to bless your ministry and your family.
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