 I'm not okay okay good morning welcome everyone welcome back there's our second lecture on BC 310 church and ministry administration where we've been talking about culture the culture of the organization and congregation um and we're talking about how this culture is shaped how we can be intentional in shaping the culture Srikumar you have a question please go ahead thank you master my question is regarding to the stories um I just want to know that if uh if a man of god is having encounters like you know as you shared about one encounters if you repeat oh the same thing um every time but uh I just want to know that if a servant of god is having multiple encounters you know day to day life or something like that which encourages the congregation and which makes the church to believe that no which defy the faith of faith of the congregation on god and which make them to most of the time um like when they hear a message you know they they know that they they feel that yeah that is this this god is somewhere it's working but sometimes they don't feel it is real but um uh when um these stories are shared that multiple encounters happening a my question is is that is that thing it defy the faith of a congregation uh on god and when it's a wind of god having such kind of encounters uh is it okay to share with the congregation thank you sir that's right um I think um see that there's there's nothing wrong of course there's nothing wrong in a minister of god sharing their personal encounters and experiences and absolutely nothing wrong and they definitely encourage they will definitely encourage the people when we talk about personal encounters and so on but I think the question is or the concern is on what are people being established ultimately we want them to be established in god himself you know in the word of god in the power of god and the working of the holy spirit we don't want them to be established on the leader's personal experiences and in fact that is a big problem in the church today that's a big problem when I listen to people you know I'm taking just generally they they know more about what so-and-so the experience that so-and-so minister had as compared to the word of god itself and that is a very dangerous place to be because all of us need to be established in god and the way we are established in god is by being established in his word and in our personal fellowship with the holy spirit but believers are being they know more about you know what it so and so have a dream so and so had the vision so and so had and the you know the person encounters so and so had and okay there's nothing wrong with it that's beautiful this wonderful but are they established in the word of god do they know the word of god can they fight their own battles with the word of god you know I think that's the concern and so as long as we as leaders as pastors as ministers are you know share I bring forth our there's nothing wrong when sharing our personal encounters with the visions of the dreams or whatever god gave to us nothing wrong with that but the end result should be to point people back to the lord and point established people in god and in their fellowship with god if the sharing of the testimony serves that purpose well and good but the sharing of that encounter is only resulting in people drawing being more established in the individual individual story I think that's a bad thing thank you master thank you okay anything else welcome anything else okay let's go forward so we're just looking at different ways and I can move a little quickly now different ways in which you know we can create intentionally create the culture we talked about rituals and practices and then I think Kennedy shared a nice thing they do which is they celebrate the transition you know and I think that's a nice thing so like this you can create you know you can intentionally create certain practices rituals are repeated that affirm certain things things that you want to value um orientation training so this is very intentional you want to repeat and communicate core values you're reminding people and over again because people tend to forget that you're you know these are our core values so that's something you can intentionally do bring it up over and over again that helps shape the culture affirming and rewarding behavior that's aligned to the culture so you know you reward those who you know the who embody the norms the values and so you not only are rewarding results in terms of numbers or output or work done but you're also rewarding and affirming and rewarding behavior because you understand that that behavior is influencing culture and culture is very valuable in the organization so while we're all used to you know rewarding um output in terms of you know what was accomplished we should also affirm and reward behavior that's that expresses and bodies the culture we want to create you know if somebody did a you know a task to serve somebody so you reward that you affirm that hey so and so did like did like this they served like this you know so you're affirming that and that reinforces and strengthens culture so one of the important things i'm changing so we've talked about you know how do we intentionally shape organizational culture we just shared these five simple things there are there could be more ways in which culture is shaped and we can explore them now one of the important things that we we should try to do is to actually write down what are the values the core you know you can use the word core values or what is the the kind of culture we want to have in the organization if you can write it down that will be very very good right so usually that is expressed in the in in this technical term you know core values so when people say you know core values what are they talking about they're saying look this is what we want this is how we want to describe our culture that's the indirect way of saying it right then there's a core element these are the things we want to embody these are this is the culture we want to create that's what they say and of course technically we call it core values all right but what we're doing is we are capturing the essence of the culture we want to create this is who we want to be as a people so that as we go about doing what we are called to do so try to write it down and so what we did a long time ago is we captured it in this little graphic and then we keep showing this or sharing this graphic at different points you know in our documents in our membership document it's there church membership volunteers and you know our staff guidelines different places we keep showing this again and explaining it and we keep reminding people about it saying this is our core these are our core values in other words we're saying this is what we want to embody as an organization and as a congregation and then our actions have to be aligned to this of course it's no point you know putting it on paper and then not doing it no you put it on paper so everybody understands it but then we have a behavior starting from the leadership on and in all our activities and all our work has to embody or exemplify these core values and if there is a violation of this people have to be held responsible they need to be held accountable right so let's just look at it and this is what we are doing you know you can come up with your own for your church or Christian organization whatever works right so at the very center we say our theme is Jesus that means everything we say and do has to be about Jesus it's not about the pastor it's not about our leader no it's about Jesus Christ so when we tell our graphics people when they do their work say hey don't in your graphics in your promotions in the website and things we do don't make the leader stand out no the leader is you know somewhere in fact for a long time I told the graphics team don't use any picture of me or you know other pastor like just really don't put our picture on anything you do because we don't want us to be the attention you know use any of the graphic that's relevant to the sermon title or whatever you're doing but don't put our picture there so the only place where we have given permission for them to use the picture of the pastor is in the daily devotional so you would see they put something there that's the only place okay you know so fine and that was also after a long time but nowhere else so don't use our pictures anyway because our focus is to be on Jesus our team is Jesus so in all our promotions you know we don't use I mean now I know not everybody will agree on that that's okay but this is our core value we want to keep eyes off of the people off of our leaders focus on Jesus right so it's an intentional thing that we do so in the work we do it's all about Jesus we don't brag on the pastor of the leader now in certain places yeah my name is there more as a sense of responsibility that I am if anything goes wrong hold me responsible so in those situations yeah my name will be there for example on all our books my name is there one because I've worked on it but also if anybody has any grievance with it the content of that book you know whom to blame you know you blame this person or you contact this person so it's more from a sense of moral and social responsibility my name is on the books or so wherever there is you know the name you know we use the name but otherwise we want to keep the focus on Jesus our content is the word so again intentionally in all our preaching our teaching we minimize extraneous information emphasize the word because ultimately we want people to be established in the word so even there you know stories are good but stories are secondary uh other information is good but that other information is secondary the main content must be the word of God our method you want to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit so we have to pray where to seek God be open yes we use tools we use technology and I'll share with you you know next semester uh the different things we do yeah yes we use those things but those are just tools our dependence is on the Holy Spirit because only he can change hearts and only he can change lives then our passion is people so our passion is not building buildings our passion is not uh you know building an organization because we realize that ultimately it's people who are going to go into eternity right that they are what matter so put them first what can we do to serve people what can we do to help people and everything else we do is only serving this ultimate thing of touching people's lives that has to be very clear and what are we all working towards Christlikeness so it's not about numbers yeah as we do count people so we can you know you know how we are progressing yes we manage our finances because we want to keep it in order uh yes you know we do a lot of detailed things but that's not our goal our goal is to help people become like Jesus Christlikeness that's our goal is not to have a name not to have fame not to have you know be glamorous not to have whatever all of the other things that you could look at the real thing that we need to be evaluating all that we are doing is are we helping people become more like Jesus right so this is at the very core the you know theme our content our method our passion our goal and then connected with that in how we practice you know and and this is in order of importance and they're all equally important one is be more to give opportunity to as many people as possible so um uh in every area of ministry it's open anybody who is inclined who has those gifts or whatever's needed they can anybody in the congregation you think you're welcome to come and be a part of it so opportunity it's open for all uh we don't um you know there's no partiality or anything it's just the same thing for everybody opportunities available unity we want to keep us together so anything that disturbs unity is treated with severity right so this is very important we can't disturb the unity of the body integrity again is very important whatever we do you know it's got to be honest it's got to be clean integrity do it right excellence do it well do it to the best that's possible possibly can be done with what we have be excellent in in the work pioneering that means be willing to step out and try new things it's okay if it's not been done before it's okay to experiment it's okay to try it out so you know try something new come up new ideas creative ideas and then relationship that means we value uh relationship amongst ourselves people and so on um so these are our core values right so in our decision making in our planning in our evaluating things we look at things from this perspective if any of these core values are violated in some way we will have to realign ourselves we'll have to correct ourselves and bring us back and say hey that was not right put it here because this is our core value and we need to be doing it like this so this is something we affirm every day on an ongoing basis that means it's not just there you know on paper or some graphic and we forget about it no on a day-to-day basis everybody is being motivated along this and and the fact is it has to be top down that means the leader and the leadership has to be driving this if the leadership doesn't drive it if the leadership doesn't hold people to these core values it will it'll just dissipate it'll water down it'll no longer be there it'll just be on paper so as leaders we need to drive it you know so for example this may seem a little ridiculous but you know excellence so if there's something not done well i give feedback you know i'll tell people you know example if there were typing mistakes in in in in the media that was projected now we give feedback say hey that spelling was wrong or what else what was wrong you know we send it so and we're not doing it because we are we want to in any way make people feel bad or we're not doing this to put people down no we're doing it because excellence is one of our core values or whatever we do let's do it best of course we will make mistakes mistakes will happen but we need to correct it so when you see it that there's a mistake you point it out and it's nothing wrong in pointing it out just do it lovingly and there's nothing wrong in receiving correction because we're all working towards excellence so it just creates that then you know at a different way in different levels for example worship team they have a review every immediately after the worship service what did we do what did we do right what did we do you know what could we have done better the the different teams are given feedback because we are not perfect we can always make improvements but we need to keep checking ourselves somebody else is always good to have somebody else tell us that we need to improve or where we can improve and then you know we have to make those changes so I'm just giving an example where the point is these core values are not just things on paper but it has to be part of our thinking on a day-to-day basis it has to be part of what we do right we give people opportunities to try out new things somebody comes up with an idea it's okay go ahead do it of course you know you need to give some guidance it's okay you know watch out for this and think about this and okay go ahead and try they try it works great if it doesn't work doesn't matter you know at least we tried exploring a new idea or a new new method and it didn't work fine no problem and these ideas can come from anybody you know it can come we just open so you know we welcome those ideas and then we try to do it and see what happens you know and and we're not against well if the idea comes from somebody in the congregation and so on just in the last couple of months we had quite a few ideas that came from people in the church you know just different ones came up shared things so then we tried it out you know some of it involved money like somebody came up with the idea of you know we had recently done a sermon series on leadership and then somebody in the congregation came up with the idea saying why don't we you know create like a desk display a stand and give it to people in the church whoever you know has gone back to the office and they can put it on their office and it could be a conversation starter what have we tried out so sure you know it's it's something new we didn't do that before but uh so we had the graphic maybe at the desk display made about 250 pieces and we're just trying it out and we said people you know take it to your office put on a desk and see you know if it starts conversation and we got feedback you know people have started having conversations saying you know this is what we learned in church you can go to the church website for more information and then now we're making another 50 more pieces to make it available to the congregation so on so it was an idea that just came from somebody in the congregation so like that trying out new things there's no no harm in doing that and and so on okay so let me pause here so I kind of explain this already right and Contra we will talk about next so the point is if for your church or for your organization you can think about um what do you really want to see as part of the culture in your organization or in your church or in your congregation and then you try to forge that you try to create that so and if you can document it and say this is what we want to see happen these are the things that describe or would be descriptors of the culture we want to see created and then you see how you know if you write it down and then you see how you can communicate of course you need to communicate that with the team and then see how to implement that on an ongoing basis you know it takes time to shape these things but it's good if you can write it down share it with your team and then bring it out into practice right so if you get together with your leaders and say hey what is the culture we want to see here in the congregation or in our Christian organization what kind of a culture what would be the descriptors for this you know so you write it down and discuss it think about it and then try to bring it in okay so let me pause here and see if there are any questions or thoughts or anything people want to share please do so any thoughts any questions now just share this one thought and we'll close after that there was a time we had to work through some challenges in church and this happened many years ago so you know when in the early days especially when we had started you know the name of our church is all people's church which means we want to welcome everybody and in those days I noticed a problem we had people who had grown up in among the young people we had people who had grown up in the city urban youth so they were very you know exposed to western ideas and mannerisms and behavior was very urban and then we also had youth young people who were coming into the city from smaller towns some even from kind of villages were moving into the city they'd come for studies they come for jobs mainly they come in come for study and then they come for the education then they start working and so we had both these kinds of youth coming to church so for the people for the young people who had moved into the city from smaller towns and other areas they were still you know they would dress a certain way they would behave a certain way whereas those who had grown up in the city they were very different you know the way they relate would you know very already already very western because they grew up in the city and I began to observe that these young people who had come from smaller towns it was almost like we had two youth groups in the city in our church the urban youth and you know the youth who had just come into the city it was almost like they were you know they would hang out separately they would they didn't you know really feel as one because their behavior the mannerisms think that's so different and so you know as a pastor there's a lot of observing this so you know what can we do to you know help them merge help them be together you know it was it was something that had to be intentionally addressed and so then I had to talk you know I had to talk with the youth especially those grown up in the city and let's explain to them hey this is something I'm observing this is a challenge we want them we want you to welcome be welcoming to them and there are certain changes you need to make to welcome them because they're being put off or they're being turned away because of this certain behavior which they're not accustomed to you know and so we had to you know at that time I'm going back almost so we talk about two thousand six seven something those that range so that's yeah almost 16 years ago 15 16 years ago so I had to intentionally address that and say you know and and speak to this group of young people and say hey you see this this is a difference you can see there are a lot of young people coming in you need to you know be open you need to welcome them you need to be you know you need to modify your behavior a little bit in certain areas in order to be able to welcome them and make them feel comfortable so this is an example where you know you are watching over the culture of what's happening the dynamic of what's happening in the congregation and then you're addressing it you know and now it took a little while and and then you know slowly things change and today even recently when I was discussing with our new youth pastor you know we've transitioned and another young person has taken over being as youth pastor so I spoke to him I said you know you intensely select so and so and so and so as leaders make them part of your your leadership team because of this reason that person comes from that kind of a background so he will be able to relate to people who are coming into the city from smaller towns and so even now you know we're very intense you know pick that person as a leader because he can be a bridge you know two people like that so the point is you are being mindful about the culture that's being shaped in the congregation or in the organization and you're intentionally trying to you know create that unity that sense of belonging and oneness that though we are people we are all people from different parts of the country we come from different backgrounds but when we are part of the church the congregation the community the family of god we should feel you know we belong and and and we need to intensely create that unity that fellowship that sense of belonging right so just wanted to share that okay any questions any thoughts Christopher go ahead please I guess no just to sort of you know listen to what you just now mentioned there is also you know just broadly speaking you know in people who come to churches also have there is a there is a certain difference between you know the the people who are who are financially rich and and the ones who are you know are going to the difficult times and who are possibly you know to define them as poor you know and I was also personally speaking you know given that you know I have come from a denominational church before where they have been I mean I I mean I've actually seen this you know where there are a lot of poor people kind of converged you know to do to that today are the denominational church where they actually seek our arms and you know the arms as indeed they want they want money you know from from people from parishioners in the church I also feel that you know sometimes that the that there is a difference in in the way you are people who are you know well off financially the the way the the the pray and you know the the you know the the difference in you know how how they pray and you know the people who are who are poor who you know sometimes you know they are they are more desperate prayers because you know there are they they need you know some some basic sort of you know basic things in life basically you know basically just getting food on the tables for example so I just wanted to try to get you know I try to understand you know from a from an old people's church perspective from how you know that that is taken care of or how you know sort of works across that you know that sort of you know the the dynamics between you know the rich and the poor and and how you know how that is sort of you know taken care of because um yeah I mean in my is this something that yeah yeah storage I mean I thought of you know when you were talking about the the you know the western culture and the the ones who got from from more locals sort of in Iraq yeah yeah definitely this is another you know cultural divide sort of speak so there are you know as a as a church I think in any part of the world um culture they can be the culture between you know this like you're saying the financial social standing another big culture divide that we had to work on was the age you know the older and the younger the youth and the elders that's again another cultural divide that we have to be very mindful of but just to answer your question on the financial part that is true that you know there are people who come you know who are very rich doing well and then there are those who are not so rich or who just barely you know keeping their life together so um what we've tried to do you know one is to treat everybody equally so and here's some thoughts now just try to be very brief on this one is we try as a pastoral team we try to treat everybody equally and one of the ways we do that is no pastor knows who is giving how much money no pastor knows it so the pastors don't know you know so and so is giving so much and so is giving so much they have no idea on the financial contribution now I know for some extent because I have to work directly with our accountant on many many things to my stomach but in my mind I block out any preferential treatment of any person now I don't know what everybody's giving I don't know that that that information even I don't know but in certain cases I'm things when things are you know escalated and come brought to my attention then I might know but in general none of our pastors know who is giving how much so that means when they minister to people whether people come to prayer ministry there is no bias you know oh this person is giving more versus this no but of course you know by looking at people economically you will know okay this person is doing better and this person but from our pastoral perspective our hearts are to serve everybody equally whether they're you know regardless of where they are in the financial spectrum we serve everyone equally the same way and we treat everybody equally it means when people come the everybody sits on the same chairs everybody and there's no special place for anybody who's rich or everybody comes you find your own place nobody's going to escort the rich person to the front row nobody's going to escort you know we've had this was we've had these times you know when the chief minister you know of a particular state their family was attending church we don't bother you come you're coming because you're coming they come with bodyguards etc but we don't treat them any different they come they sit they listen they go so we don't treat them any different and you know so whether they're politicians whoever they are we all everybody's given the same kind of chair to sit you sit where you want nobody's going to escort you to any place nothing you know so from a pastoral team side from the beginning till today we treat everybody equally now we need to know how to meet the needs of people so what we have set up and we set this up some years ago we set up a generosity fund that means people in the church who have extra money can contribute to the generosity fund and people who have a need can request for money but then we have a process because if you don't have a process to check and verify then it could be abused so we have a form that people have to fill up and we give only for certain things like for buying immediate immediate needs like food groceries you know if somebody's lost a job or something we give towards that we give towards rent housing rents so people have places to stay and we give a lot towards education so a lot a lot of money goes for the education of children and fourthly is medical expenses but people have to fill up a form and they're descendant and every year that happens and it happens very quietly so we don't announce saying oh we gave so much money to this family and so much money to that family we don't announce it people know there's a generosity fund of if people reach out to any other pastors we say hey you then financial help okay you have to fill up this form send it in it'll be reviewed and we give money but we also help them out in terms of getting some financial training so that they can you know manage their money and so on so that's kind of the way we've tried to address it it's not a complete solution but at least in part it addresses the needs of people is it okay all right so we will close for now I just Abraham I see your question there about the age divide and I tell you that was a problem we also faced here at ABC and I just share some things that we did in trying to address that but we'll pick it up in the next class next week is that okay I just had a close for today I just wanted to close about 10 minutes early so I can head out yeah so I'm sorry for rushing away I just want somebody to please pray with us and then we'll close the class for today okay really appreciate all your discussions with questions sharing of ideas it's really good could somebody please pray with us and dismiss us please thank you go ahead thank you so much for your loving kindness Laura I pray right now Lord that as we learn about culture that we need understand it and help it to apply in our lives God thank you so much for everything as Pastor Ashley she's going for a safe journey Lord and you need me to clear that Sam's 91 over his life but he he's protected and shielded with your love God thank you for everything that you're doing you need me to pray thank you everybody thank you so much catch up next week God bless and enjoy the rest of your day and thank you thank you everyone God bless thank you Pastor God thank you thank you