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- Tear down walls and build bridges towards transformation
- Measure your impact by transformed lives rather than attendance
- Equipping indigenous residents to serve instead of a cycle of being served
- Becoming a learner as well as a teacher
- Resist duplicating ministries to collaborating with existing ministries
- Moving from fellowship (only) to a functional, thriving, and unified friendship
- Stop condemning the city, blaming the church, and pray with them
- Becoming a marketplace ministry rather than only to a local congregation
- Rejecting speculation about the community and engaging Truth & Vision
- See indigenous residents as assets with gifts and talents needed for transformation of their community
Expressing the Kingdom of God within your context!
What could this mean for your ministry BECOMING?
- Inclusion and diversity of your staff, board, and/or committees
- Cultural competencies for effective direct ministry
- Engaging cross cultural communities with their access and favor
- Personal reflection and biblical reconciliation where needed
Diversity Training is any program designed to facilitate positive group interaction, to address and reduce biases, prejudice, marginalization, discrimination, and generally teach individuals who are different from others how to work together effectively. However, not all such seminars, webinars, workshops, and/or training is the same.
From the broad corporate perspective: Diversity training is defined as raising personal awareness about individual differences in the workplace and how those differences inhibit or enhance the way people work together and get work done. This probably will include the dynamics of inclusion, where everyone is valued, respected, affirmed by having a voice, and feels like they matter. Each of these outcomes should be desired within all workplace and ministry settings.
Values-based diversity and inclusion training programs are designed encourage increased collaboration, enhance interpersonal skills, and empower everyone to become more productive. Studies found that companies and organizations which foster diversity and inclusion are 35% more productive. This certainly is true of a biblical Kingdom Building approach, which propels individuals and organizations towards proper alignment and right relationships with God and individuals.
How will a values-based Kingdom-expressing approach to diversity and inclusion be successful?
- Develops an understanding of biblical diversity and inclusion with an emphasis on expressing the Kingdom of God on earth
- All training sessions are tailored to fit the organization’s mission, objectives, and goals
- There’s an expectation to dig deeper and become open to vulnerability and taking risks to express the Kingdom of God
- Organization’s commitment to extend training and measurable diversity engagement over increments of time
Identifying your diversity, inclusion, or collaborative needs for successful engagement
Open and honest conversations with your team, chapter, and/or organization is essential for addressing and tackling the complex, under-served, or neglected topics of diversity, inclusion, race, gender, etc. Here are a few common subject matters, which might help your organization identify your needs for successfully engaging diversity.
- Affirming true value of people
- Asset-based collaboration
- Challenges and Goals
- Cultural Competence
- Conversations and Discussions
- Changing Spiritual Atmosphere
- Education and Discipleship
- Changing mindsets and attitudes
- Partnerships with sustained action
Next: Kingdom Formation and Expression What could this mean for your ministry?
Child Evangelism Fellowship® of North Carolina in Durham presented its 2020 Ministry Briefing and COVID-Relief Update on Wed. Dec. 16th via Zoom for CEF supporters and friends. The Board members of the CEF Durham Area Chapter and its Director shared an exciting year-end report and update on how over 7,000 children were reached even during the restrictive COVID pandemic since March 2020.
Hear the recorded meeting of testimonies and a Christmas Greeting from the board members. The year-end report was given by me, the director. Here is the LINK for the meeting (use this 7k^c4fx$ to view). To read a more detailed report with graphics and pictures click on NEWSLETTERS and look for 2020 Ministry Report. I’ve posted, below, the graphics for my 2020 ministry report.
We have always followed a simple, but profound threefold purpose: evangelism, discipleship, and connecting local churches to unchurched children and families across our area, which is in concert with the mission statement of Child Evangelism Fellowship for 83 years. For 27 years, Child Evangelism Fellowship staff and volunteers have reached city kids in the surrounding Durham area. Through our Good News Clubs, sports camps, and collaborative events with dozens of ministry partners, we’ve been able to share the gospel with children of all ages. Thousands have accepted Christ as their Savior over those 27 years and many lives, families, and communities have been changed. Biblical discipleship and character development are happening weekly in schools and neighborhoods. Prayer Evangelism integrates everything we do.
So, after a great start with direct ministry with kids, training volunteers, preaching in the jail, and completing character development classes in schools, everything came to a screeching halt. There were new realities and soon to follow a New Normal. Despite the current situation and changing circumstances across the nation and our state, we simply did what we have been doing, but made some dramatic adjustments and became more innovative and creative. To reach 7,000+ in 2020 here are the adjustments we made and ministries we pushed forward with the help of our volunteers and our CEF Education and Creative departments.
- Connections, ideas, and access of communication sources we could leverage for all teachers, kids, and families to use in finishing up the already started ministries before summer began.
- Created, mobilized, and ramped up our prayer networks across the area via prayer walking, PrayDurham and RDU Prays initiatives, engaged in Prayer Walks for Justice & Peace, as well as enrolled in the Ekklesia Excelerator course with other Kingdom-building friends, leaders, and CEF volunteers.
- Conducted summer camps (reading, 5-Day Club, etiquette, life skills, and character development, but no sports) via Zoom with close to 80% attendance daily for six weeks.
- Weekly visits in communities, where we minister regularly, with breakfast, care packages, Wonder Why? booklets distributed, singing, and prayer with city kids and their families (per current COVID guidelines)
- Bike distributions, with a helmet, vest, and bike light for all city kids attending Good News Club in one downtown community (see picture below)
- COVID-Relief supplies, food, and devotional books were distributed for all city kids and families in another public housing community where we have weekly outreach and clubs. This was accomplished by the community’s CEF ministry team, a financial grant from the Duke-Durham Fund, local churches, food banks, and residents collaboratively meeting the expressed needs of this community throughout the summer and fall. (see picture below)
- Continued to engage conversations and study with others locally about Race and Justice issues via Christianity Deconstructs Racism and Together We Stand.
- Team leaders connected Good News Club TV and other learning resources to their students.
- Drive-thru Back-to-School and Christmas events with our ministry partners as we distributed Christian books, Bibles, and Gospel-centered literature (seen in the video below and see picture below).
Graphics and pictures of ministry adjustments in 2020 and ministry outreach history of the CEF Durham Area Chapter
“The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t put words to paper. The problem was I couldn’t get those words to make sense. That’s because I wasn’t clear on my objective. I was trying to say too much and, as result, I was saying nothing.” writes Brenda Barbosa The One Sentence That Will make You a More Effective Speaker Wow! I can so identify with her statements. I will share a few more of her comments as well as mine to my friends who have so much passion for their mission and truly have something to say.
If your audience is often confused and lost:
Here’s a few tips for becoming more effective when you communicate as you speak and write
- Distill your thoughts into one succinct takeaway for the audience/reader — it’s your big idea
- Choose a topic out of your big idea and focus on it
- Without a big idea to light the way, you’ll wander aimlessly through draft after draft of your speech… you’ll become so tired of going in circles you’ll simply want to give up or, worse, you’ll decide to “wing it.” …jotting down some notes, throw together a few slides, slap on a title, and call it a presentation.
- Determine what inspires you about the topic
- This is usually your area of expertise or passion
- Articulate your inspiration (idea) with one sentence
- Think of the single sentence as a lighthouse guiding you through fog. If you become overwhelmed with an abundance of data or competing themes, the single sentence will help you stay on track.
- Note: Any piece of data, story, or anecdote that doesn’t jive with your single sentence should be trashed (probably can be used later with another talk and newsletter)
“Anyone who has an idea worth sharing is capable of giving a powerful talk,” Anderson writes in his book, TED Talks: The Official Guide to Public Speaking. “The only thing that truly matters in public speaking is not confidence, stage presence, or smooth talking. It’s having something worth saying.”
Summer training via CEF Ministries of North Carolina Durham Area Chapter and Camps for City Kids are underway (virtually for now) #Zoom #GoogleMeet #teens #interns #dns_readingcamp #citykids #cityreach cyiatraining #summermissions
Reading and academic sessions, Bible (CEF 5-Day Clubs), etiquette classes, life skills, character development (Power & Light), and some health & wellness mixed in weekly provides a full schedule of relevant and helpful opportunities for students who will be starting a new school year in grades 4-8th in August. These camps run for 6-weeks June 15th-July 23rd.
Sponsorships are still needed for kids to attend our summer and fall camps. Tax-deductible donations are received at Camps for City Kids.
Since all clubs, schools, and camps are cancelled addressing care and prevention of COVID-19, CEF Durham, as many other organizations and agencies, is praying, brainstorming, and planning in many venues and modes of communication. Thus, we are innovating and adjusting how we minister to children and families. Some brief and direct contact with families has occurred to bring supplies, helps, breakfast, and the “Do You Wonder Why?” booklets to each home and child enrolled in CEF clubs.
Though we cannot be directly with the children in our clubs and camps, we are continuing to teach and love the kids in our weekly outreach and discipleship meetings via Zoom calls, web-based teaching, and prayer. Here are other FREE Resources CEF is providing for children, families, and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not fear and be encouraged.
Disruptions are defined as a disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process. Thus, it’s fair to say, disruptions happen regularly, randomly, and even repetitively.
“Disruption is hard, Carey Nieuwhof writes in his blog, because disruption is inconvenient. It’s far easier to keep doing what you’re doing hoping for better results. But just know this: being disrupted is far more painful than deciding to disrupt yourself.” Listening and being prepared as well as being prudent are absolutes in our world of change, trends, flux, aka disruption, whether in ministry, business, or in any type of leadership position.
With that in mind, here are several predicted and active disruptive trends in ministry and leadership that will rule 2020, says Nieuwhof, which are worth knowing and using to evaluate your ministry and/or leadership.
- Content-based ministry will decline — Missions and movements will grow: Emphasizing moments and movements and mission are more critical than ever. People don’t just want to know what’s true, they want to know what’s real. And what’s real is deeper than just an idea—it’s an experience.
- Growing churches and ministries tend to be led by younger leaders. As a result, the older you get, the less likely you are to innovate, meaning methods. Innovation drives growth and connections with emerging generations. When the methods atrophy, the mission dies.
- If you’re looking to deepen the impact of your ministry in 2020, think better prepared/delivered messages, not more messages or ministry events. Quality beats quantity. Everyone will be better.
- The middle is disappearing from our culture. This middle is where average lives. The middle is trying to reach everybody. People are gravitating to and seeking smaller, high-quality, and interpersonal gatherings where they can grow spiritually in an interactive faith community. Many restless Christians are moving towards the other extreme of Christian community in mega churches. The extreme ends or the high and the low of churches, business, marketplace, and ministries are thriving. Increase the quality and accessibility of what people need and want.
- Insight and access are now more valuable than information. When information is free, it’s no longer valuable because scarcity drives value. And now there’s so much of it no one knows how to process it. Content is everywhere but insight and access are not, there’s a value inversion that’s happening right now in live events.
So, what does all this mean or just suggest? “Leading people to Jesus in a world that’s moving away from Jesus is an increasingly difficult challenge…and increasingly larger opportunity.”
Carey Nieuwhof
Reflect on this content and the full articles by Carey Nieuwhof. Gain insight via access of meeting and discussing these matters with your staff, business teams, and ministry leaders. Factor and apply any adjustments or action points gained for your organization.
Ministry Vision for City Kids: CEF Durham Area Chapter in North Carolina
The vision for City Kids is simple – to visit under resourced and marginalized communities and deliver a comprehensive gospel impact. We are faced with many questions in our calling, but it is in our search for the answer that we strive to spread the Gospel to all. Is God powerful enough to keep kids away from gangs? Does the Word of God still accomplish what it says in the current day & age? What if The Church at Durham took seriously its responsibility for taking the Gospel to city kids and youth? What if for 10 years a collaboration of churches and ministries comprehensively served the 10 most physically and spiritually needy communities of Durham?
For the past 10 years (2008-2018) CEF Durham, along with a select group of collaborating agencies, ministries, and churches, have addressed the spiritual, physical, and social needs of 10 Durham communities. During these 10 years, the number of communities actually increased to 12, sometimes 14, of which were being served. There were many stories of individual lives transformed by the Gospel and tireless volunteers consistently caring for these children and their families.
A few collaborators and volunteers burned-out along the way, while most labored weekly, yearly, to see the spiritual atmosphere change from darkness to Light in many homes and throughout the communities where they served. Most of the children born and raised in these communities never knew life without their Good News Club.
Today, we continue to engage some of the same communities and others where crime and evil still dominate life, even if intermediately. There is still spiritual darkness, an orphan/poverty mindset within these communities where kids are not expected to succeed. These are the communities where the words: at-risk, under-resourced, and marginalized are still experienced everyday by its residents. These are the communities where God has been rejected, yet screams out to be glorified! This is where the Lord desires that the residents welcome Him back — into their homes and into their communities.
CEF Durham along with partnering ministries and local Christians have developed an Urban Missions Network for listening to each other, developing new strategies and strengthening best efforts, which will focus on each identified community for the next 10 years (2019-2029). A simple strategy of biblical, holistic discipleship will be used. Our vision is to see city kids and families transformed by the Gospel. Indigenous residents will be enabled to lead their own communities in biblical transformation and Christian community development. This would include, but not limited to, evangelism, discipleship, academic tutoring, creative arts, sports/recreation, medical services, life skills, and economic/job training.
Questions / Comments / Help?
Contact CEF Durham / John Blake
919.630.9434 c / 919.399.1979 o
City Kids should and can reach their own families, schools, and communities for Christ. Don’t neglect mission-centered discipleship.
Thousands of people are dying every day without knowing Jesus as their Savior. How will they be reached? Romans 10:14-15 reminds us that in order for people to hear about Jesus, someone must be sent. That’s why God calls missionaries to go! The children of today, which includes city kids, should be missionaries now and the rest of their lives. Therefore, it is essential that you and I understand our role in challenging saved children regarding the need for missionaries in their schools and communities.
Teachers should expect to intentionally incorporate a mission’s emphasis as an integral part of Good News Clubs, church-based youth classes, or even when hanging out, using practical ideas to share a missionary vision.
What are the reasons, aspects, and impact of teaching youth about missions?
Missions originates in the heart of God (John 3:16)
- Teach children about missions to help them develop a heart for missions like God
- Cultivate a heart of compassion for lost people globally and in their own city and neighborhood
- Challenge children to reach their own generation/peers for Christ
- Equip children with the foundational tools for sharing and living the Good News, the Gospel message
Missions is the responsibility of every believer (Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:18-20) – City kids can be involved in missions by:
- Knowing: Give them information about missionaries, different types of missions, countries, and cultures, etc.
- Praying: Specifically for the needs of select missionaries, their country, the salvation of its people, etc.
- Giving: Challenge children to give money, time, and encouragement to missionaries so that others can hear about the Lord Jesus.
- Going: Challenge saved children to participate in planned missions outreach events, mission trips, or efforts regularly.
Statistics show that exposure to missions is one way God calls people into full time Christian service as a personal lifestyle or with an organization or church
- 21% were called to missions as a result of a missions education provided in their local church
- 20% felt God calling them after listening to missionary speakers
- 19% were called because of their own family’s missions vision, experiences, and conversations
- 10% heard God’s call through reading books, watching movies, and listening to stories about missionaries and missions work
The impact of teaching missions to children is that each generation will be informed and inspired (Psalm 78:7, 8). If we are intentional and take serious our responsibility, young lives will be dedicated to the Lord for missionary service, fulfilling the Great Commission. If more reasons are needed than this, of course, there are other impacts on children taught about missions, which by the way, will impact their world.
- Children will have a vision and burden for those who are lost in sin and who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ
- Children will begin now to share the message of salvation with others
- Children will grow spiritually through involvement in missions
- Children will desire to engage local missions efforts regularly
Reality Checks: Before you make adjustments in your missions teaching
#1 – People are hungering for an experience of God, not just more information about God.
There is no doubt that teaching children about missions is vitally important because thousands of people are dying every day without Christ. How will the saved children you teach get a burden for missions and desire to be involved if you don’t make time for missions in your class or when hanging out? But how is this truth being applied to lives of children (anyone)? Thus, have children learn by doing missions work as well as hearing.
#2 – Presenting content about missions alone is a teaching short-fall and no longer the greatest need in an age where content fills the internet.
So what does this mean? Content used to fill a church auditorium or classroom because content was scarce and pastors/teachers were the authority or experts on the biblical content we needed to understand. You had to attend to hear a message or a Bible study or even children’s Christian education. However podcasts, YouTube and multiple social media platforms have changed that dramatically and permanently from what I am able to understand. As a result, you no longer have to be in the room to listen.
#3 – So many leaders talk about reaching the next generation but never include the next generation.
It’s going to take the leadership of the next generation to reach the next generation. Perhaps you, as the teacher, will have to make some changes and adjust your classroom or the time you spend with the city kids, to empower your students to reach their generation. Leading people to Jesus in a world that’s moving away from Jesus is an increasingly difficult challenge… and increasingly, it’s a larger opportunity. Who will I send… and who will go?
We have been fortunate, while ministering in Durham for nearly 30 years, to learn and experience what ministry collaboration looks like and definitely enjoy the unique expressions of the Kingdom of God. These continue to be lived out in communities, the marketplace, schools, and other sectors of our city today. As a result of learning and leaning into a collaborative mindset of ministry, some of the most sustainable and fruitful programs have been developed.
These programs or ministries were birthed out of a shared vision. They were initiated and sustained by a collaborative group, which offered their own unique gifts and resources for ministry success. Here are a few examples flowing out of the Durham Area chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship and its collaborators:
I’d like to give a huge “shout-out” to Reynolds Chapman, Executive Director of DurhamCares, and his board for developing and implementing a recent collaborative initiative which brought local churches together. Watch this video to learn more. Contact DurhamCares, CEF Durham, ReCity, to mention a few here, where you, your organization, or church can join us for the sake and welfare of our city.
John Blake shares his "Heart for City Kids" 