A Very MERRY CHRISTMAS !

2006-12-22T23:23:00.001-08:00

May God's richest blessing be yours in 2007. May the joys of Christmas fill your heart with the reality of Jesus Christ in your life and that of your family throughout the New Year of 2007!

Working Together is God's Idea ... 16 - Effective Key Principles

2006-10-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

"Working together is God's idea. He lives in community, in relationship, outside of time, in eternity. Our indiviudal potential is only realized, our wholeness only experienced, in relationship with others. God created us to trust and to work with others. Believers throughout history have sought to respond to God's call to unity -- with him and with each other. The Bible is full of stories of God's people working in partnership, in some cases, must in twos and threes. In other cases, hundreds joined hands to do what indiviudals could never have done along."

"But Satan's strategy is to destroy God's design. Satan's success, at least at some level, means that darkenss is always present."

"Over the last 200-300 years, the intense individualism of Western societies has made the journey toward wholeness, relationship, and cooperation much harder."

"That individualism has inflected our lives, our theology, our churches, our educational paradigms, and the fruits of the missionary movement." Phil Bulter's new book, Well Connected, identifies some of the key issues and principles as we journey back to what God designed us to be and do. May these discovered and tested principles provide you the tools for strategic evangelism partnerships.

1. Effective partnerships are built on trust, openness and mutual concern. Partnerships are more than coordination, planning, strategies and tactics. The heart of Gospel is restored relationships.

2. Effective partnerships need a facilitator or coordinator -- someone who, by consensus, has been given the role of bringing the partnership to life and keeping the fires burning. This "honest broker," usually loaned or seconded from an agency committed to the task, must be a person of vision who will keep on despite all discouragement. Prophet, servant, and resource person -- this individual has to be trained and nurtured. Serving everyone in a partnership is a lonely task.

3. Effective partnerships have a partnership "champion: inside every partner ministry -- a person who sees how their individual agency can benefit from such practical cooperation: an individual who will sell the vision to their colleagues and keep the partnership focused to realize those benefits.

4. Successful partnerships develop in order to accomplishe a specific vision or task. Partnerships for partnership's sake is a sure recipe for failure. This means lasting partnerships focus primarily on what (objective) rather than how (structure). Form always follows function -- not the other way around. Concensus is usually better than constitution!

5. Effective partnerships have limited, achieveable objectives in the beginning, and become more expansive as the gorup experiences success. Though limited, these objectives must have clear Kingdom significance that captures the imagination and provides motivation for the group as well as relevance to each partner ministry's vision and objective.

6. Effective partnerships start by identifying needs among the people being reached or served.
They do not start by trying to write a common theological statement. From these needs, Kingdom priorities, barriers to spiritual breakthroughs, and the resources available or needed, realistic priorities for action must be distilled and agreed.

7. Partnerships are a process, not an event. The start-up, exploration and formation stages of a partnership often take a long time. Call a formation or even exploratory meeting too early and you will likely kill the possibility of a partnership. Ultimately, personal trust is required. Taking time to establish it privately in one-on-one meetings, the facilitator will find that later, in the group, it will pay rich divdends.

8. Effective partnerships are even more challenging to maintain than to start. Making sure the vision stays alive, the focus-clear, communication good, and outcomes fulfilling takes great concentration and long-term commitment.

9. Effective partnerships are made up of partner ministries with clear identities and vision. They must have their own clear mission statements and live by them. Otherwise, they will never understand how they "fit in," and contribute to the overall picture, or benefit from the joint effort.

10. Effective partnerships acknowledges, even celebrate, the differences in their partner agencies' histories, vision and services. But partnerships must ultimately concentrate on what they have in common, like vision and values, and ministry objectives rather than on their differences.

11. Effective partnerships serve at least four constituencies: the people they are tying to reach; the partner agencies with their own staffws and vision; the partner agencies funding and praying constituencies; and eventually, the partnership itself with it's growing expectations. There are many more players around the table than we often acknowledge or remember. Forget them, and eventually the partnership will fail.

12. Effective partnerships have a high sense of participation and ownership. Facilitators need to give special attention to the widest possible participation in objective setting, planning and the process of meetings, and on-going communications -- increasing the likelihood of wider ownership and commitment to the common vision.

13. Effective partnerships keep focused on their ultimate goals or vision and are not distracted by day-to-day operational demands. It is often easy to focus on the "means" rather than the "end". Only constant diligency will keep this long-term view clear.

14. Effective partnerships see prayer and communion as uniquely powerful elements to bind partners together in Christ. Effective partnerships are refreshed and empowered by frequently praying in small groups where individuals can express concerns for each other's personal needs, and by the group taking communion together.

15. Effective partnerships do not come free. Just participating in the planning and coordination takes times and money. Deeper commitment may take still greater investments. But, the "return on Kingdom investment" through the partnerships should more than offset the contributions a partner agency may make.

16/ Effective partnerships expect problems and plan ahead for them. Make sure a process is built into the partnership for daling with changes, exceptions, disappointments, unfulfilled commitments, and simply the unexpected. A wise man know one thing -- the only predictable thing is the unexpected.

SUMMARY
"build on trust"
"a facilitator"
"a partnership 'champion'"
"accomplish a specific vision"
"have achievable objectives"
"identify needs of those being served"
"it's a process, not an event"
"it's more challenging to maintain"
"it's made up of partner ministries"
"celebrate differences"
"serve four consituencies"
"need high sense of participation and owernship"
"be focused on their ultimate goals"
"maintain prayer and communion"

READ MORE in the Book --
Is this the most strategic book of the last year?

WELL CONNECTED - Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships
Phill Butler (425) 673-5644, pbutler@visionsynergy.net
Authentic Books/World Vision
"it does not come free"
"expect problems and plan ahead"

E-vangelism.com says, "Well Connected" may be Most Strategic book

2006-08-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Is this the most strategic book of the last year?

WELL CONNECTED - Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships
Phill Butler
Authentic Books/World Vision
ISBN 1-932805-54-0

Restored relationships are at the heart of the gospel. There is even relationship within the Godhead. And only through relationships can groups of Christians share the gospel (1 Cor. 12:12-31). Sadly, we are not always good at partnering across organizational or denominational boundaries. Yet there are many strategic outreaches which are only possible at this co-operative level. Read More

Other reviews and comments
http://www.powerofconnecting.net/
http://www.visionsynergy.net/

"R & D" Groups Postponed to October 4th

2006-08-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

The "R & D" groups are Reading and Dialogue groups that will be meeting bi-weekly to dialogue over a book of interest for the coming school year. To start this year Phill Butler's new book entitled: "Well Connected" is a practical guide to inspire and inform those who want to help God's people work together - in their neighborhoods or around the world. Click here to learn more and mark your calendars. There will be a pastor and non-pastor "R & D" group. Read more.

"R & D" Groups will Start Wednesday, September 6th: one group for pastors, led by a pastor. Place TBA, 12:00 noon to 1:30 - drinks only. And another group for non-pastors (Oct. 4), led by a non-pastor. Place TBA, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm - drinks only. These groups will meet every two weeks - only six meeting sessions. (October 4, 18, November 1, 15, 28, Dec 6). ~ Joe Walsh, walshusa@pacbell.net. http://capitolfellowship.org

Welcome to Kingdom-Connections

2006-07-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

This Kingdom-Connections blog welcomes you to new a dialog for community transformation. Kingdom-Connections focuses on "Reading and Dialog" -"R and D" Groups, to learn what it means to be "Well Connected". That's the full title of Phill Butler's new book and decades of ministry that brings people together to learn how to link, connect, network, collaborate and partner together into deep relationships for the Kingdom and the Glory of God and the good of the Church in the community! So a special "Thanks" to Phil Butler for all the faithfulness of his life and dedication of this work which has resulted in a book for us all to benefit from.

Kingdom Connections

A Very MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Working Together is God's Idea ... 16 - Effective Key Principles

E-vangelism.com says, "Well Connected" may be Most Strategic book

"R & D" Groups Postponed to October 4th

Welcome to Kingdom-Connections