About this blog

Administration in the church, The Poor and other matters

The scope of this Blog
I have been in full time ministry for nearly thirty years. In that time I have served Terry Virgo as his Administrator, which has included many administrative responsibilities in the Newfrontiers family of churches. I have also been very involved in ministry with the Poor. I have been urged to put some thoughts and experiences on paper (well, in cyber space) so here goes!

Let me introduce myself. In the summer of 1980, Terry Virgo invited me to join a newly formed team as his administrator. ‘I don’t know what an administrator does but I know I need one!’ he said. ‘I don’t know either, but “yes”’ was my reply. This team represents the beginning of what is now Newfrontiers, although at that stage we were called Coastlands, taken from a verse in Is 41 ‘The coastlands (ends of the earth) wait expectantly for your instruction’. From the start we had a vision to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

For the previous 15 years I had been leading a research team in a specialist paediatric hospital, Chailey Heritage, seen by many as a ‘Centre of Excellence’. I was a Rehabilitation Engineer working with Thalidomide-damaged children who had been born with severe limb-deficiencies, and with others with physical disability.

My wife, Janita, and I first met Terry in 1968. We started a Bible Study group in our home with another newly-married couple living in the same village. They had known Terry from their previous church in Brighton, UK. From that first meeting started a life-long friendship. In due course a church was planted out of this Home Group in the nearby town of Haywards Heath – now the Kings Church - out of which a further three churches were subsequently planted.

My experience in administration for Terry began with some Leaders Days in the mid- and late- 70s and I had also been very involved in helping organise the Downs Bible Week which we launched in 1979 at Plumpton Racecourse in Sussex, UK. Over the 10-year life of the Downs we grew from 2900-8500. After a 2-year gap this was relaunched near Birmingham as the Stoneleigh Bible Week which grew to 28,000 over a further 11 years. I can only assume that Terry saw something in me that made him think I could administrate!

Through these postings I shall attempt to share come of the skills and experiences that God has taught me over the years. I hope that I can also inject vision and understanding into what I share that will inspire you to see that administration is much more than a ‘do it’ activity. I believe that it is a spiritual gift which is greatly needed in the Body of Christ which, when working in harmony with other leadership gifts, will facilitate and enrich the church in fulfilling the commission God has given her in our generation. I shall share something of a Biblical perspective as well as very practical skills (time management, planning etc).

I will also, on occasion, share some of my experiences of working with the poor, particularly as I have travelled into ‘developing’ nations and have worked with Newfrontiers churches in many different ministries.

My hope is that these postings will better equip members of the body of Christ to contribute to the commission we all share to advance the Kingdom of God and to take the gospel to the ends of the earth in our generation.

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