Month: December 2008

3. Strengthen Your Team.

All of us do life, work, and ministry with other people. We are all part of some sort of team, maybe even as a leader of a team.

Spend some extra time with these important people before Christmas.

• Encourage them and express appreciation to them for who they are and how they have benefited your life. Remember, encouragement is like oxygen to the soul – we all need lots of it.
• Give them feedback on what they have done well.
• If you are a leader, coach people on your team a little by sharing some ways they can grow or improve.
• Talk about the future. What is the vision that you are passionate about seeing become a reality?

December is a busy time. Don't get caught up in only the things that YOU need to do. Be aware of the people around you. Connect and relate to them even more intentionally during this time. Finish the year well together.

2. Evaluate Your Own Personal Effectiveness.

What are your priorities? Are you using your time to accomplish them?

How is the balance of your life? Consider areas such as your spiritual life, your family and friendships, your energy level, as well as your social and recreation life.

How is your joy? Your enthusiasm? Your love for people? Your vision?

How much are you growing personally? What new things would you like to learn? What training could you consider for next year? 

Take some time to think about your life and plan any necessary changes or adjustments for the coming year.

We are into December now and it's only a few weeks before Christmas. I'm sure you've got a lot to do this month and the last thing you think you probably need is another list! But I thought I'd share with you seven things that would be good to do before Christmas comes – which I shared with some of our church staff recently.

1.    Evaluate Your Ministry or Career.

Take some time to think about how the various areas of life that you are involved in are going.

What's going well? What's not? Where are you heading?

Think about next year – 2009.

What needs to change? What do you need to do differently?  What do you need to do more of … or less of?