 Okay. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome everyone. Let's take a moment to pray and then we will get our class started. May I ask maybe Kiran, can you pray with the class so we can start? Okay. Darryl, why don't you pray? Sure, Master. Master, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Loving everybody, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for your hands of protection upon us for the week of Lord Jesus. As we start our class of today's class, I submit others who join us for the Lord Jesus. You just lead us and guide us. Give us wisdom and knowledge and all things that we study about Jesus. We submit the entire class with your mighty hands. In Jesus' name we pray in the Spirit. Amen. Alright, so welcome everyone. Thanks for connecting. So today will be our last class, last lecture in this course. Last week we talked about project planning, execution. Last hour, that's on Wednesday, I just kind of ran through some of the software products that we can use for the administration or the operation of our church or Christian ministry. So we just went through that and today I just want to make some comments with respect to strategic innovation and also some thoughts and comments on continuity, establishing continuity. And after that we'll just quickly review the whole course and we'll be done for today. And so there will be no more lectures from next week. But instead what I will do is I will create three assessments, put it out in Google Classroom and on the e-learning portal for those who are using the e-learning portal. And this is just to review the materials. You just during the month of November you take time to just finish those, do those assessments. So there won't be any lectures in November, but it's just a time for us to do the assessments that I put out. Okay, so what I want to do now is I just want to talk about two things. One is on strategic innovation. So maybe I should just let me put this in the chat and share that with us so you know what I'm talking about. I'm now pursuing strategic innovation, pursuing excellence and strategic innovation. And then I also want to talk about establishing continuity of passing the baton. So in any, and I'm just talking, you know, both these areas of big areas of, when you study in business or management school, strategic innovation is a big area. And establishing continuity, you know, there are books, fruits and all of these things. But I just want to present those thoughts to us so that we can keep that in our mind as we look at the administration of any organization. So in the administration of any Christian of the church or the Christian ministry, there has to be this ongoing pursuit of excellence and innovation. So excellence means whatever we do, we want to do it really well. There's got to be this, there's this. It's not just perfection for the sake of perfection, but it is doing a job very well, it's doing something very well, whatever we do, right, whether we are in the Christian church, of course, it's in the context of preaching the word, ministering the word, whether we host conferences, seminars, workshops, everything that we do in the ministry from a Christian church perspective or a Christian ministry perspective. We want to do it well. Now, obviously, you know, this excellence is not going to be something we achieve right off, you know, it's something we work towards. There's got to be the pursuit of that. That means look, we are constantly looking at areas for improvement. So the moment you see something, you look at the good, but you also look at look, you know, here are so many things we can do to improve this and we're not looking at it in a negative way. But we're looking at it with a positive intent. That means here are the areas where we are falling short and which we can work on to make improvements, right, because we're never going to start out perfect. We're going to start out, you know, at the level where we are at doing what we can. And we understand there are constraints, there may be constraints of people, there may be constraints of the rightly skilled people, there may be constraints of finances, there may be constraints of time. So we just start out with what we have. But the goal should be with whatever we have, let's do the best. Let's do it with excellence, you know, and then as the minister grows, we may be able to get more skilled people. We may be able to invest more money into that area and so we can then, you know, take it up further. But the mindset we should all have in doing what we do the church or the Christmas is let's pursue excellence is to the best we can at the level we are at. Slowly, you know, we're going to keep getting better. We'll be able to add more aspects to the work we do. Right. So pursue excellence intentionally, you know, a look for areas where you can improve. You know, for example, I'm just giving you an example. You know, right from the beginning, early days, you know, in those days, we had, we didn't have LCD projectors and laptops, but we had, you know, what we used to call as overhead projectors, and we had these clear plastic sheets, vinyl sheets, that on which we would have the lyrics of the song written. So you place it on that overhead projector, I mean on the projector and it'll project the lyrics on the screen or the wall. So that's how, you know, during worship time, there should be somebody sitting and they'll be manually moving the vinyl sheets, the clear sheets and project the lyrics on it. So that's how we used to do it in those days. But the point was a simple thing like make sure that the lyrics are without any spelling mistakes. Make sure the lyrics are right, you know, whatever is printed on the vinyl sheet which is projected. Make sure that when it's projected, they're big enough for the audience to see from, you know, how far they were. These are small things, but these are things we should look at. It's not enough to say that I have a projector and projecting something on the screen. Are the words right? Are there spelling mistakes? Is it big enough for people to see and worship, you know. Right from those days, you know, we should remind people, hey, let's get that right. You know, and then of course, you know, by the time we move to these laptops and, you know, these LED projectors, but then the same point. Make sure, you know, what is projected is right. There's no spelling mistake. Make sure it's big enough for people to see from a distance kind of thing, you know, it's an ongoing pursuit of excellence. And that's the mind. I'm just giving one example, but that's how we should view everything we are doing. All the areas of industry, look at it like, are we doing a good job? Are we doing it well? What are the areas we can improve? Even small things, you know, and I'm saying spellings because sometimes bad spelling, wrong spellings, it leaves a very bad impression on people. Spelling mistakes, typos, those kinds of things. You know, so you have to keep looking out for all those details. And basically our goal is whatever we do, we want to do it well, the best we can for our Lord. Ultimately, it's we're doing it for Jesus. So pursue excellence. The second thing that we must pursue as a church ministry or as a Christian ministry and the work we do is strategic innovation. Now we say strategic means it's got to be relevant for the times in which we live. And it's got to be something that's going to make a difference in the lives of people. Innovate means you're doing something new. You're doing something that has not been done before. So you're strategically innovating, strategically doing something new. So you're not doing new something new for the sake of doing something new or something different. But you're being very strategic. That means you've thought through it and you know that it's going to make a difference in this area. So that's another thing we had to think about strategic innovation. Can we innovate? Can we do something different, something new that is very strategic that's really going to make a difference maybe in an area that nobody else is doing something. Nobody else is, you know, maybe attempted to do something from it. I'm talking about the church or the Christian ministry. So we need to keep thinking along those lines, strategic innovation. How can I do something new that will make a difference. And this is something we have to motivate our team members to do. For example, this morning I sent an email to our, to some of our pastors who are working with children and teens that age group. And I sent them a list of links. And this is research that is put out by the United Nations and other global bodies that are looking at how children, teenagers, how their world is changing. And so they actually do surveys every, I think every four years, they run surveys on teens and youth. And they're saying, this is what their world is like, and this is what they're doing. So I sent the links to them saying, hey, go through this, do a survey, understand what's happening. And how can we change what we are doing for children and for the youth, for the teens and the youth, so that the world in which they are living is changing. So some of the content that we've developed was done, you know, over five years ago, some even close to 10 years ago. Now the truth doesn't change. The word of God doesn't change. But how we deliver it to people, to our intended audience is changing. The world is changing. So we need to innovate. We need to, you know, think of different ways in which we minister to those age groups, those categories, right? So a strategic innovation, thinking creatively and thinking of ways by which we can connect to people doing things that will make a difference in their lives. So I want to encourage you, innovate strategically. Do something new, but with a well thought out plan and knowing how it's going to make a difference. So that's strategic innovation. The last one is on establishing continuity. That means in any organization, especially when talking about a church or a Christian ministry, it is very likely that we want this to continue. It's very rare that you start an organization and say, okay, this organization is intended to live only for four years. There are some things that may happen like that. But usually a church or a Christian organization, the intent is for the work to continue for succeeding generations to come. You don't start a church and say, okay, this church will exist only when I'm here and I'm gone, the church goes. No, we don't do that. Usually we don't start a Christian ministry and say, okay, this ministry will happen only when I'm here. When I'm gone, everything goes. No. The intent is this work must continue even after I am gone. Now, that means we have to start thinking in terms of how do we establish continuity? How do you pass the baton so that other people can continue the work, whether it's a church or any Christian ministry that's set up? How can they continue the work even after the current leaders leave? Very important is to raise up the younger generation, raise up the next set of leaders. And sometimes I see pastors, I see churches, and the pastor now is elderly, well into his later years, but there's nobody to continue. And we are wondering like, okay, what happened all these years? Where is the next generation of leadership and the organization that can continue the work? And sadly, in many cases, you don't find that in the church, in the things that I've observed or in the Christian ministry. And so what happens? It just dies out, you know, because there's no, there was not a plan to continue the work. So in whatever ministry we do, whether it's a church or some other Christian ministry, try and think along those lines that, hey, I need to intentionally raise up leaders, train them so that they will start from where we left. And they will take it forward, you know, and their generation may have different challenges and different opportunities, but they should know how to move, how to navigate and to go into those new opportunities and overcome those new challenges, which they may face in their generation in, you know, in the years to come. But then we can groom them, we can train them, we can pass on our learning to them so that they can take things forward. So what I want to say is we need to be intentional about it. Start thinking about it. Bring in intentionally younger people. Start passing on knowledge, learning, guidance, information as much as we can transfer it so that when it's time for, you know, the older people, the one level of one generation step out and new leaders to take over, they will be able to do it. They should be able to do a better work than what was done. It's like if you can if you only imagine it. The ceiling, our ceiling should be their starting point. So they start from where we left, if we are able to hand things off in a proper way, they can build further and take things forward. Okay. Now, in the next few minutes, I will just do a quick review of what we have covered in this course so far. Just to refresh our minds, and then we will dismiss. Right. So in this course on church and ministry administration, I put out these notes in bits and pieces. So we wanted to look at the table of contents here. So this is what we went through. We wanted to understand administration and everything that goes into the administration of a church or a Christian ministry. So the idea was to give us a good overview of here are all the different aspects you need to think about in the context of church, a church administration or ministry administration. So, talked about the importance of good administration from a biblical perspective, why this is important. We also looked at the practical side, why we need to have good administration and how do you overcome some of the excuses people make. I'm talking about in the Christian context to excuse themselves for poor organization. And then we looked at what are the objectives of good administration. What are we trying to achieve? We said that there is, of course, in the introduction part, we talked about the difference between leadership, management and administration, and we need all three for the organizations to do well. So we want to, in good administration, when we develop people in established systems and finding processes, allocative resources, we want to ensure there's alignment, there's efficiency, there's productivity. So that the goal and the overall vision of the church or organization can be achieved. So we're looking at alignment, efficiency and productivity. And then we said, okay, what goes into this, there's need for people skills, there's need for organizational skills, and there's also need for execution skills of how you execute things for good organization. So then we started with the very basics. The very basic is you have to first form a trust or a governance. That is, you have to legally set up this organization. And we gave some guidance on church governance. How do you form a legal entity, you register a trust or a religious organization, and how do you select members for your trust, the articles, and setting up an advisory board. We gave some examples and how we have done that here at APC. Next, you need to think of an organizational structure. How is this going to look like? What is the different areas that you are going to address in the organizational structure? And we talked about what are the tests of a good organizational design, avoid steps that are of no value. And here's what we shared about our organizational structure at APC, where this is how we set up the organizational structure of the church. And some of these things we are filling and growing these positions. So each one of these roles here are further divided into additional roles. This is how various departments are set up. Just shared some of that. And we talked about a model where that can have volunteers involved. We refer to the hub and spoke model. So it passes the ministry leaders and church staff and volunteers. You create these teams, people are involved. And you can assemble and dismantle these teams as required. So once you have a structure, we need to think about the policies, guidelines and standards so that everything runs well. And we talked about several of these policies that you need to have in place, operational guidelines and the standards you need to put in place. And we gave you a link where you can download what APC is using and you can use it. We talked about operations, which is setting up systems and processes within each ministry area. There will be several systems and processes, how these interact. But all of them working together will make the organization function very well. So we talked about various things. For example, the accounting department, all the things that need to be done there. You have systems and processes for various tasks, pieces of work that need to be accomplished. The human body is a good example of that. We talked about good system design. How can you do it better, faster, cheaper and differently? So you'll be asked those questions to keep improving our system design. And here's a process design. One example for distribution of books, we covered that. And you need to have a process, a very clear cut process for people to understand. This is how it happens. They should be clear about the process then people will do their work very efficiently. So we gave some examples. Let me talk about church staff management or people management or human resource management. How do we take care of people? We have staff, we have consultants, we have lots of volunteers. And I'll talk about the hiring process. You need to do a good job in the interview process when you're hiring people. And some of the things that you need to do when you're bringing people on board. We just outlined that. How do you determine people's salaries? What are some of the things you keep in mind? What are the benefits that they have? And then managing employees. You need to keep them motivated. Different ways you can keep them motivated, reduce the motivators. And then several phase we can take care of employees by having these surveys and so on. We've given samples for those things. And then we additionally have to develop our employees. Make sure that getting better. We're giving input to help them grow and develop. And there are other things that we do like performance appraisals. Addressing difficult situations and so on. And we considered some questions along those lines. Then we talked about managing volunteers. So because most churches and Christian organizations also have volunteers involved. We need to think in terms of volunteers. How we can engage with volunteers but understand the limitations. How volunteer teams are established. And we talked about the different volunteer teams at APC. People are serving in all of these teams. We revisited the hub and spoke model. We also said very important is, you know, you recruit the volunteers. Letting them know how to sign on. Try to have, you know, a good demographics, a good mix of volunteers. Orient them well and train them well. And also it's very important about, you know, making them engaged. Being part of what we're doing. And making sure they have good relationships with the church staff or the ministry staff. All of these things are going to volunteer management. And, you know, nowadays we can even do remote volunteering. People can work for us from different parts of the world. Then we talked about communications within the organization. How we need to have good communications within the organization. We talked about organizational culture. How that really affects the experience of people within the organization. We shared with you some of the core values that we have here at APC and how that defines our culture. We contrast on healthy culture and toxic culture and avoid some of these problems that really disrupt culture. Then, you know, just evaluate, assess what's happening within the culture. So this is a questionnaire again. Then we talked about finance accounting budgeting. We went through, you know, how you manage the money that comes into your organization. It's a very important aspect of money. We talked about the department and various policies, procedures. We shared how we do budgeting, auditing, what reports we have, and so on. The legal matters. Finally, you know, make sure that you get the help of proper people to take care of legal matters. We also talked about projects, planning, execution coordination, understanding the project lifecycle. How you initiate the work, plan the work, execute the work, monitor the work and wrap things up. So we covered those. And then leveraging technology, which is what we did earlier this week. We have a different software that you can use to leverage technology. And the last two points that I just mentioned was on strategic innovation and establishing continuity. All right. So I hope that, you know, this course has kind of just given you an overview of, you know, what really goes into the organizational side of a church or a Christian ministry. Now, many people don't think in those terms we think like, okay, church means I just preach and I just, you know, pray for people. That is, and that's part of what we do. But there's a lot of things that happen in the background, which is really needed to for effective ministry to serve people well. And so having a very strong, well run organization is important to do good ministry. Right. Any questions, any thoughts before we close today. All right. So not easy to leave the church. That's true. There's a lot that goes into the church. But thank God, we don't have to do it alone. You know, if we can have good people build good teams, then together we can do it. We can make it happen. But it's not easy. Like, like you said, right. All right. So I'm going to ask somebody to close in prayer. And then we will dismiss and just look out for the assessments. Hopefully I'll be able to work on it next week. And then we will, you know, use just stick the month of November to do the assessments. And with that, the course will be over. There will be no more lectures. So this, there will be no need to connect to the classroom. But just do the do the assessment. Right. Okay. So who'd like to do the closing prayer? Anybody? Maybe Sidharth is your phone. Okay. You could pray for us and close out. Then I will pray. Okay. Coran, please pray. Thank you for the God for the day. And thank you for the God, the subject for the foot. There is so much for the God. We learn the subject for the God. Thank you for the God for all the knowledge and wisdom for the God for the God. Give your wisdom and knowledge more for the God that we can apply to your kingdom. Work for the God for the God. The church and the you work for the God that is not easy for the God for the God. Help us to move forward for the God. Help us to take a step for the God. Help to every side for the God to, to leading to, to move to your kingdom. Help the God bless to everyone for the God. Give more passion and desire to your work for the God. Help every side for the God. And for the God give more revelation for the God. And for the God help every side for the God. How to maintain the church every side, the volunteer and the past ring and faculty. Every side for the God help us to understand and maintain the upcoming day for the God. And we, when we will start our own churches and the work your kingdom work for the God. Help us to nicely we can, we can do for the God to your kingdom for the God. The all places for the God. For the God lead, lead upcoming time for the God. So meeting to your hand the whole week and the weekend and the day for the God. Thank you for every side, every moment. Thank you for the God. Why did you just name me? Amen. Amen. All right. Thank you everyone. Take some time to think on these things work. God bless you all. Thank you for being part of the course. God bless you.