Tim King Leadership

  Be of Good Cheer, The last two Christmases have been difficult but be of good cheer. It is that time of year again when many Christian Leaders and Pastors start to get stressed and rushed off their feet. Christmas Programmes are being launched. The nativity set has been repainted but is not fully dry, the donkey has gone lame, and you have a rooster instead of a lamb. The church roof has sprung a leak and the Kids church leader has informed you that Joseph and Mary have come down with the chicken pox. Your wife has phoned to remind you to not miss your youngest child's recital at the local school, to be honest you had forgotten. To top it all you haven't finished your Christmas morning sermon and are tempted to rehash a sermon from 5 years ago, hoping that it will get great reviews and that Mrs Jones who is 87 and never missed a service in fifty years, will not notice, -she will. A hundred other things need to be done and time is running out. The new Covid variant is play...

  Revelation, Reaction and Relationship. As we move towards the festive season I was thinking again about change. How people process change in their lives and how they ensure that change sticks, rather than revert to the same old, same old, after a few weeks. As a Christian leader I believe that change is seasonal. That God takes us through different seasons of our  lives and ministry cannot be in doubt. It is a time of frustration but also a time of blessing as we learn to hear and experience  what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. A new season always begins with a revelation. For Moses it was the burning bush, yet for his ancestor Joseph it was dreams that resulted at first in being thrown into a pit before being sold into slavery. In the New Testament for Saul it was the road to Damascus where Jesus made his presence known and set Paul on the road to great things. With revelation comes reaction, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes it is physical at others...

  My ramblings for the week!   Earlier this week I was asked by a non-Christian what I thought the purpose of the church was in today’s age and what my own position was regarding the church? He admitted to me that his own experience was limited to a few bad personal encounters with what I would describe as overzealous believers more interested in getting a convert than building a relationship, and more concerned in declaring that we live in the end times and that hell, brimstone and eternal damnation will come to those who do not repent. He also told me that in his endeavour to research Christianity, he had visited a great many different churches. It became obvious to me that this person was a seeker and that he had embarked on a journey. I explained to him that the church was many things; a hospital and place of healing for the sick, a counselling centre for those who had sociological issues. A place of refuge and a place where the hungry can find sustenance. A school...

  Bursting the Bubble. Last night I was scrolling through one of my social media sites, as you do, just before you sit down to dinner. I came across a friend's page and saw an advert, suitably captioned, that she had posted from her local church. As I continued to scroll through my site, I saw the same picture with the same caption posted a dozen times by a number of people who went to that church. The Ad in question was a photo of their pastor, on the platform, saying how great a preacher he was and how they couldn't wait for Sunday. Here is what I see and what I think is the problem with a great many church cultures: ·          The social media post I have mentioned was only circulated among the Christians of that particular church. ·            The post wasn't targeted at 100's of non Christians in the community. ·          The caption praised th...

  Christian leaders: It's about calling not celebrity. Let me state clearly. Church is about two things; Jesus and people. Church is not about music, image or agenda. Church leadership is about two things; calling, and character (fruit of the Spirit).  It is not about having a degree or going to one of the so called enthused 'hip' bible colleges If you have a true calling from God you will be concerned about the church and people, not image or how you appear on TV. However in recent times we have had high profile pastors, of large congregations, have extra marital affairs, indulge in sexual abuse, sexually exposing themselves and others living a lavish lifestyle far beyond that of any of their parishioners and doing so as though it were their right. Now I have met the leader of the denomination that has had to fire and remove from ministry the people guilty of the above transgressions. I don't know him personally, I have only had the privilege of interviewing hi...

  Learning to look for a new perspective. I was talking to a leader who had called me for some advice and help a few months ago. After assessing the situation and listening to his ideas, I made some suggestions on how he could turn the situation around and make some really important and pertinent changes in his church. I believed that those changes were vital not only to his survival personally, but also to the relevance of his church in his community. In the course of the conversation he said to me "I can't do that because God hasn't told me to do that" I find it very difficult to then continue the conversation when I hear statements such as this. Who am I to argue with the Almighty.   It got me thinking about when God speaks to us and how God speaks to us as leaders. I sometimes- in my more bored moments, watch God TV. I see the TV evangelists selling their wears and telling us they had this great conversation with God. God told them this and God told them that ...

 I wrote this in 2014 I think it is even more relevant now. Over the last few months I have been looking at the concept that everyone has an agenda. One of the things I have said is that even churches have an agenda. Some are cults and want to indoctrinate you into a particular set of beliefs. Others just want your money, if you give you will get mentality. The other day I was challenged as a Christian leader to explain what my ministry agenda was. There are many different churches with many different ministry emphasis, here are a few of my favorites: The End Times emphasis; There are many small churches that have a consistent stream of ministries coming through their churches preaching that the end is near and that Jesus is coming back soon. Or at least by this time next week. They close the doors and let their ears be tickled by the expert analysis given by the expert preacher on the events unfolding right on their doorstep. The money we use is valueless, credit cards are of the ...

  Jesus: The mega church leader with a servant heart. A few months ago I uploaded a blog referring to Jesus as the first mega church leader. This was a little tongue in cheek dig at modern day mega church leaders and their attitudes. I would like to take up this theme again. I do this as a protest against those mega church leaders and those who think like mega church leaders. I am not here to bash anyone, but the more I hear of events at the Hillsong church in New York, the angrier I get with leaders who forget where they have come from, who they represent and who they serve. Mega Church leaders walk around wearing the latest designer fashion, they do this partly to never grow old and always be relevant to the youth they appeal too, and also to make them trendier when appealing to the celebrities that attend their churches. They drive around in the newest SUV to make sure the status symbol is seen. They make sure the house they live in is in an upmarket suburb and that they hav...

 I was listening this week to an old friend talk on spiritual leadership. In light of what has happened in a number of mega churches and in other Christian organisations, these last few months. I felt it would be great to once again listen to some common sense. Instead of leading by lust we should learn to lead by love. As we raise up other leaders we should do so through love. Laying down our ego, ambitions and personal success and turn again to Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation. Just click on the link and enjoy the video and notes. https://alexanderventer.com/raising-up-new-leaders/

  Jesus the first Mega church leader. I have been to a number of very famous Mega churches scattered around the world and I have been in many churches aspiring to become mega churches. Some I have loved and enjoyed immensely, others left me cold and uncomfortable. The feeling of discomfort and unease always revolved around the leader, it always left me with the question, why? As with all things our starting point and standard has to be Jesus. After all he was the churches first mega church leader. Once he had to feed his congregation there were 5000 men plus  women and children, another time it he had to feed 7000, now that is great church growth. Once, the crowd was so large, near a coastal town that he couldn’t get to his beach side pulpit so he had to stand in a boat to deliver his sermon. For today’s mega and aspiring mega churches it’s all about numbers. How many people came through the doors on Sunday? I know of one church that had ushers at the door checking off a...