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Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

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How and why to leave the office on time, part two, Plus tips on how to avoid church office burnout

9 October, 2010 By grhilligoss@gmail.com 2 Comments

Gayle Hilligoss Picture
Article by Gayle Hilligoss

Ed. Note: The first part of this article is available if you click here. It started out describing the situation many in the church office know well—caring so much about your work you are working to the point of burnout. This second part of the article tells what to do about it.

An early clue to burnout is the tendency to take yourself too seriously.

Losing the ability to laugh, especially at yourself, is a good sign all is not well. Actually, others may see signs of your burnout even before you do. But if they suggest you ease up, you will find it easy to justify your long hours. You may see others as not as dedicated as you and manufacture a whole list of “Yes, but’s:

“Yes, but if I don’t stay I will think about this work all night.”

“Yes, but if I don’t do this, no one else will.”

“Yes, but unless I stay I will be more behind tomorrow.”

Commitment is a good thing, but even good things need to be kept in proper perspective. The Christian professional’s commitment should be to God, not just to her work. God would not have you neglect your home, family, friends and self. In the long run over commitment will not enhance your service but hinder it, perhaps end it.

Often we think turning problems around calls for drastic adjustments. Sometimes remedies look so difficult we do nothing when, as a matter of fact, we could make small changes and achieve big results.

Putting these three practical steps to work will allow you to get out of the office on time—and feel good about it.

First, set realistic goals.

To succeed as a Christian professional you must acknowledge you cannot do everything. Focus on doing the most important things. Some of those “most important things” are outside the office!

A key question to ask yourself is, “What do I want to achieve through my work?”

Dream on paper. What does your perfect work week look like? How do you spend your time during and after work? How do you relate with others? How does your office look? How do you look? Think of someone who has achieved the working style you would like and use her as your role model.

Identifying the kind of assistant you want to be helps keep your life in balance. Pat never would have chosen as a role model someone as enslaved to her work as she was herself. She had no clear picture of what she wanted to achieve and therefore no clear sense of priorities.

Once you know where you want to go, use your favorite planning tool to help you get there. As you schedule each day’s activities keep clearly in mind: the total number of hours available each day, and the amount of time each task will take. Use your priority system to keep you on track. All things are not of equal importance. Remind yourself often: your goal is not to do everything but to do the most important things.

Keep a to-do list as a guide. When asked to take on a task, check your list. Agreeing to a task not only pledges your energy but your time. You must realistically avoid the trap of making more promises than you have time to keep.

Put activities on your list that move you toward your ideal work style. Promise yourself to come to work on time, take a lunch hour and breaks, and leave on time. Always give an honest day’s work so you need never feel guilty, regardless of what remains at the end of the day. Be too sharp to believe you can keep ahead of the workload by putting in extra hours several nights a week.

If you have established a pattern of over commitment, people already take it for granted you will get the work done regardless of the extra hours required, the lack of adequate equipment, the continuing need for more help.

You can break the cycle by initiating your own changes, but it may also help to talk with your supervisor. If that seems a good move, explain your need to create a better balance in your life. Give your pledge of excellence and share your plans for constructive changes in your work style.

The second step to get you out of the office on time is to begin winding down about half an hour before time to leave.

Make this your regular “wrap up and plan for tomorrow time.” Even for the most effective time manager there will always be “just one more thing.”

Set a specific time to tie up loose ends and determine what will be on the agenda for tomorrow. Commit any unfinished tasks to your planner and park them there overnight. Just before you leave the office each afternoon, praise God for what was accomplished. Congratulate yourself on a job well done. As you turn off the office lights visualize turning off all thoughts of the office until tomorrow; turn your thoughts toward home.

And finally, get out of the office on time by having a pleasant experience waiting for you after work.

Shift your thinking so you see the end of the work day not as leaving something but as going to something. Within the framework of what is possible for you, give yourself some freedom in choosing after-work activities.

Sandy likes coming home to a bubble bath and good music. Ann spends her evenings sewing for her grandchildren. Roxanne has teenagers, so she plans many of her evenings around their activities. Nancy belongs to a health spa and goes there directly from work several evenings a week to swim and exercise. Shirley enjoys coming home to her yard and garden.

It is easy to get so wrapped up in making a living that you neglect to make a life, so busy doing good things that you pass by the better things. Building a rewarding life beyond the office is one of the best things you can do for yourself and for those you serve.

No one should presume to tell you how many hours to work or how to demonstrate your commitment. You decide those things. My point is that “hours worked” are not the best measure of one’s dedication. To a far greater extent than most of use care to admit, we make the choices determining our quality of life. You know the consequences of over extending yourself. You can make choices to bring your life more into balance.

The rewards of leaving the office on time are impressive—for you and your work:

You will feel and be more in control. Once you have a realistic sense of what you want to achieve, you can give up trying to be a cross between Wonder Woman and Dear Abby. Instead of being pulled in a hundred directions you can set firm goals and work toward them. You can accept your own limitations and relax. Make up your mind once, instead of deciding every afternoon, you will leave the office on time. Having that question settled is absolutely liberating!

You will accomplish more in less time. Of all our resources, we tend to misuse time more than any other. Once you determine you will only be in the office a set number of hours, you become much more aware of how valuable your time is. You spend your minutes more wisely.

Your weekly plans keep priorities in view and help you say no to tasks that would keep you from your goals. “Discipline,” wrote Bill Vaughn, “is like broccoli. We may not care for it ourselves, but feel sure it would be good for everybody else.” Ordering your day will take some discipline, but you can do it.

The real reason for not doing so many things is not too little time, but too many excuses. Once we give up the excuses, there is room in our lives for all the things that really matter: family, friends, church, community, and self. Balanced living not only can add more years to your life, but more life to your years.

Each day do these four things:

• Spend time in prayer and in the Word.
• Move yourself closer to one of your goals.
• Perform a random act of kindness.
• Do something nice for yourself.

An added advantage to leaving the office on time—it gives you greater longevity in your work. Food for thought: How would you treat your car if you knew it was the only one you would ever have? How do you treat yourself knowing you are the only “you” you will ever have? Pace yourself, take time to refuel your body and spirit, do proper maintenance.

You can avoid a major overhaul and be around long enough to become a beautiful classic!

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Filed Under: Columnist Gayle Hilligoss Tagged With: church burnout, church office skills, Columnist Gayle Hilligoss, free church communications, time management

FREE Text for Halloween Outreach for invitations, postcards, congregational motivation

9 October, 2010 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Halloween Cards to Consider Jesus
This article contains the text-only files for all these communications, free for anyone to copy and use.

Following are the text only files from the Halloween materials. These text files are for anyone who wants to use them to create Halloween outreach materials

If you are an ECC Member you have access to them in finished files, click here to go to the overview page that shows how they are used in church communications and for the download. If you'd like more information on how to become a Member of Effective Church Communications and save yourself the time and work of creating these communications yourself, CLICK HERE.

For everyone, for all the materials that follow, PLEASE simply copy, download and use in any way you want to help your congregation reach people for Jesus this Halloween season.

Motivational text to get your congregation to invite  [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Evangelism & Outreach, Fall Festival and Halloween Tagged With: Alternative Halloween, Churches and Halloween, Evangelism how-to, Fall Festival, Halloween invitations, Halloween outreach, Text for church invitations, yvon prehn

Staying afloat in a sea of requests

29 September, 2010 By grhilligoss@gmail.com 2 Comments

Gayle Hilligoss PictureEditor's note: Sometimes I think that even though she lives half a country away, Gayle Hilligoss is looking over my shoulder—her wonderfully helpful articles always seem to speak directly to something I am either struggling with or working on—I imagine quite a few of you will share that feeling when you are finished reading this.....

Many words could be used to describe the workday of ministry assistants. Simple is not one of them.

The dilemma is you truly like to help others, to share your gifts and skills, to be involved in getting things done. And the church office, as well as your out-of-the-office life, provides many—maybe too many—opportunities. You can easily find yourself drowning in a sea of requests.

Usually it is not the valid responsibilities of the job that create waves, not your supervisor’s  assignments or requests, but optional projects—nonessentials that compete with your mandatory tasks. The lifesaver for staying afloat can be found in one tiny word. That little, but powerful, word is no.

If you are one who still finds no hard to say, it is simply time to accept the truth that no one can do everything; choices must be made. For each elective demand on your time ask, “Is this the best use of my time right now?” Honest answers allow you to throw nonessentials overboard without hesitation or guilt. More than saying no to the request, you are saying yes to a higher priority.

Not all opportunities represent necessary, appropriate, or even worthwhile endeavors. Some create conflicts with previous plans or reflect others’ priorities, not yours. Some just don’t feel right for you; it is good to acknowledge when your plate is full enough.

All these, and more, are sound reasons to say no. Exercise your right to decide, “I have all I can handle now,” or “This isn’t something I choose to do.”

Calendar cramming can get to be a habit. Being asked to do lots of things often leads us to believe we are indispensable; we are not. Sometimes ego prevents our stepping back. Other times, being immersed in small busywork provides a good excuse for not giving attention to more meaningful things.

The freedom to say no doesn’t belong only to the super busy, of course. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

When you do decide to turn down a request, do it gracefully. Briefly explain your reasons; express thanks for being asked. Don’t be ambivalent; say no, not maybe. Stringing people along is not fair to them and is a drain on your own time and energy.

In some cases, you may be able to suggest an alternative. People may ask you to perform tasks someone else could, and possibly should, do. Knowing you are not obligated to comply with every request gives you confidence to pursue the course clear to you.

The guideline that helped me most in overcoming my personal tendency to overcommit is, “Have a bigger yes burning inside.” That principle not only puts things in perspective, it is realistic.

If we are to achieve the best we can’t allow ourselves to be diverted—even by good things.

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Filed Under: Church Office Skills, Columnist Gayle Hilligoss Tagged With: church office advice, Columnist Gayle Hilligoss, say no, time management, wise use of time

Having fun and not sinning is not the point of the Christian life or of Christian communications

26 September, 2010 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Is having fun what defines a Christian? Is FUN what makes a church even worthwhile? Is fun why we do what we do (whatever it is) in the Christian life?

When you look at many current church communications, you'd assume the answer was "yes." A recent scanning of material on the web as I was researching alternative Halloween events overwhelmingly advertised events or promoted activities where the FUN promised is promoted as the primary reason people should attend. Though the focus of this blog is on the combination of Halloween communications and the emphasis of FUN (intentional shouting with the all capital letters), the same concerns and cautions apply to our communication of many church outreach events.

How fun becomes the primary motivation for Halloween alternative events

Much of the thinking process behind many of these "Christian" alternatives to Halloween on the web seems to go something like this:

  1. Halloween is evil.
  2. To take part in a traditional secular celebration of Halloween is evil and sinful.
  3. Christians shouldn't do evil and sin.
  4. Instead Christians should have good, clean fun.
  5. Therefore our church will do a fun event for Halloween.
  6. People will see we are Christians by our fun.

I don't have a problem with the list up to #3—much of traditional Halloween celebrations are evil. Maybe not as evil as some timid folks fear, but probably not activities that would fall into the class of edifying Christian activities. Dressing up as demons and witches and glorifying magic is not what Christians ought to be doing. Sending your kids out alone to beg for candy in most areas today isn't safe.  But the alternative to fighting evil or working to fulfill the Great Commission is not to simply have safe fun. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: alternative Halloween events, Halloween outreach, ministry motivation, Yvon Prehn blog

Connect with invisible visitors: an overview of Church Connection Cards Resources

20 September, 2010 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Church Connection Cards
Here links to a video, articles, books on how to make the most of Connection Cards.

The people who visit our churches are often lost souls for whom Jesus died--we cannot let them pass through our church as invisible visitors without making a connection with them, if we are to be disciples who are working to obey the Great Commission.

It doesn't take big gestures and huge budgets to make those connections. As the song says in this and every other situation of relationship building "little things mean a lot."

One of those very important little things in building a relationship with visitors  are Connection Cards. I have experienced many times in personal ministry and have seen at many churches, I've worked with how Connection Cards can grow a church, make people feel cared for, and do more for a church growth than anything else tried at the church. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Church Connection Cards Tagged With: communication cards, connection cards, how to church connection cards, visitor cards, yvon prehn

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