What should we think about the 4th term?
1. Mission: Dust your mission calendar off. For summer it can be a big mission season, for others it is the slow season. For those who are prepping for that big mission, now is the time to get things going. Really important to have a next step for what will happen for people coming to Christmas
NB Your mission calendar is where you mission funnel drives your diary.
2. Leadership: this is all about a season of transition. Onboarding new leaders or training leaders. Talking with leaders and honouring those who are stepping off or those who have done a great job. Celebrating the team, give thanks to God for the things that he has done.
3. Christmas: This is a great place for people to create connections with people in the community but make sure you know what the next step is but you need to think about what is best for you.
4. Summer: On one hand you will get visitors but things will slow down and you will need to keep some momentum. You need to acknowledge with people this is a different season.
5. Rest: Gospel workers should try and be refreshed as you come into the Christmas/ summer season.
TOOLBOX:
- Example mission calendar
- Mission funnel
- Reach Australia National Conference: 19-22 May Mission
CREDITS:
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TRANSCRIPT:
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Good day.I’m Scott Sanders.I’m Derek Annum.Welcome to The One Thing, a podcast designer give you one solid practical tip of Gospel Centre ministry every week.The One Thing is brought to you by Reach Australia.We want to see thousands of healthy, evangelistic, multiplying churches reach out if you are thinking about a new congregation, plant, a new site or sending out a team of people to start a new church in your region.
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We want to see hundreds of new churches launched and reaching out to the lost that are all over Australia.So reach out to Reach australia.com dot AU.You’ll be able to find a whole bunch of resources on church planning there.Now, the year is flying by and the fourth term is kind of just around the corner.
Today we are thinking about what we need to get ready for now.Now, Derek, you’re getting ready for long service leave.So can I ask what’s what’s gonna be the what’s gonna be the big gold dream Hope out of out of long service leave other than not having to talk to me for three months?
Oh, maybe I might.Just call you up just to check in.What a dream.What a dream.That’ll be three months.What?It’s only two months.In the end, I think my dream is to this sounds incredibly boring and it’s it’s not me.If you know anything about me, this is not me.
Actually, one of my primary projects is to build a garden in the backyard, like a, a, a vegetable garden, a raised vegetable patch in the backyard.I’m going to do it.Not paying someone else to do it, not getting my kids to do it or they, they might help.So that’s my, I think.I think that’ll take me two months and that’s all I’ll achieve in that two months.
Two months mate, that’s just a weekend project.Yeah, not for me couple.Of couple of logs, couple of tips to Bunnings bit of dirt.But when you go to Bunnings Sounds.Like a great project.I don’t go to Bunnings once.I go to Bunnings five times because I bought the wrong thing four times.That’s how I do Bunnings.
So you know, that’ll be my.Keep part keep Part of that project is going to be is going to be doing all your planning, getting your getting your drawings up and running so that you get the right amount of timber and you get the right amount of dirt.It’s a simple project here.This is the kind of reason people are tuning into the one thing isn’t.
It But for now, you press play another episode of the one thing making the most of fourth term.Today’s podcast is brought to you by Kids Wise Academy.The Kids Wise Academy is an online platform that seeks to equip people and discipline kids.
The Academy Is a flexible platform that offers courses for both parents and volunteers.Why not explore the growing number of courses in Kids Wise Academy today?Head to the website kidswise.com dot AU.And now back to the podcast.So let me just do a a quick recap.
So far through the year, we’ve talked about in first term getting things going well.It’s all about starting ministry, starting the year well, leading with vision, helping your people see where it is you’re going and how it’s aligned with your big picture goals.Second term, it’s about maintaining focus, looking after people who are interested post Easter, so moving them into your conversion engine, into your integration engine, then checking in on to your ministry teams for Wellness, making sure they’re all thriving and going well.
And then finally doing that long term work of getting people to start thinking into their apprenticeships for the following year.So it kind of starts needed to start in second term, but it’s not too late.It’s not too late.You can still tap people on the shoulder, but it’s probably is too late now.That’s fourth term.
Now in terms of third term, it’s actually starting to think about next year.So all about planning, getting all your planning rhythms in cycle so you can prepare for next year.So fourth term, what should fourth term be all about?
We’ve got four or five things that we want to talk about, Derek, we want to kick off with, I guess, just diving back into the mission calendar.So what should you be doing?Yeah, it does depend on your context, doesn’t it?Because there’s some people, summer is a massive mission time and others it’s a time when everyone leaves.
And so obviously it’s going to be contextual.But I, I would say if, if summer is, if you’re in a place where summer is a huge mission dog, obviously this is the gearing up, This is the vision setting.This is the helping people understand what role they’re going to play in this.And for some churches, well, in that space as well, it’s calling people maybe to to curb the, the holidays or the time that they might spend out of that area in order to invest in mission, which is a big sacrifice.
But actually, if you’re on a missionary and this is a key moment for you where you’re running some mission and off the back of that will throw a, a preaching series and Christian explorer to life, then this is the term for doing that.If you’re in an area where everyone leaves, so in Brisbane everyone goes outside, it’s not what people come over.
Some of they go to the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, they they head out of it.This fourth term in terms of mission, I would argue is actually building up to what’s going to happen when people land new doorstep in the January, February period.So when you’re going to run life courses, what’s going to happen with these those kind of things?
But yeah, it will differ.But what’s your experience?Well, I guess some listeners might be hearing this going mission calendar.What?What is a mission calendar?What are you talking about?I’ve got a calendar, but I didn’t know I had to have a mission calendar.Yeah, OK.Well, you should explain that to them then, because this is this is the thing.
I feel like this is one of the OK.Mate, this is a crisp.We are, we are just on fire today.Yes, well, a mission calendar, very simply it’s it’s overlying the the mission funnel into your into your ordinary calendar.
It’s helping you actually think through how do how do you get your calendar actually drive mission.And so as Derek said, January, February, December, January could be a, a slow down, but I, I still want to countenance that by, by saying that December could be a time where you build a whole bunch of contacts through your carols and through your Christmas Eve and Christmas services.
But it might be February that actually you’re going to do a lot of the follow up work and the next step work for people.If, if December, January is a time where people kind of leave.So pull out your mission calendar again, look at the events that you’re thinking about for December in order to build mission height and and build, you know, connection events and contact events to get people into your mission funnel.
See what you need to add, see what you need to stop doing.But again, dust it off, pull it out, reflect on on what’s there.Make sure that those teams that are responsible for those specific projects through Christmas and post Christmas are on board.
And importantly, make sure that you have those next steps in place coming out in in February, March.The mistake that most people make is they just don’t have a next step over this December period.And for those where summer is a is a real, you know, big boom for, for building that mission funnel.
You know, you’ll probably have those next steps in place in January.For those that it’s not, it’ll probably be the end of January and also leading into into that February, you know, that February, March period.Yeah, it’s good.OK, Second thing, Dusty Miss first thing Dusty mission calendar off.
Make sure that people know what they’re responsible for.Make sure you’ve got the right amount of events in in order to build heat and and for for for the new year leadership training.Derek, what should we be doing with new leaders in fourth term?
Yeah.So at this point you, you are thinking about onboarding, hopefully you’ve you’ve begun to think through what your 2025 will be next year, but you’ll begin to onboard purple for for next year.Now this might particularly be new leaders that you’ve identified.This might be leaders in training you people have been training for the year.
But turn 4:00 will be the point at which you’re actually trying to help them understand what it will look like to lead in that new context and equipping them for that.So onboarding them for the next year, they see the other aspect of this as well as as you’re thinking through people who have served and who have led.
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