6 minute read
How do we grow from here?
HOW DO WE GROW
FROM HERE?
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BY M. JASMYN ALLEN
When we first learn to read as children, there is a hunger to read many books. As we mature, that hunger to expand our vocabulary and broaden our horizons of the world around us often diminishes. The challenge many of us face is how to maintain our momentum and desire to develop. There are several examples we can call upon to illustrate that, once the honeymoon is over, keeping that momentum or spark can quickly deteriorate if we are not careful; continuous growth requires discipline.
First Corinthians 13:11 (KJV) states: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child and I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” If I were to reword this Scripture to read: “When I was a seed, I performed as a seed – I was planted and nurtured, so that I could grow into a healthy tree, but when I became a tree, they expected much fruit from me…” There is a mandate from God that we are to keep growing. Just as an infant develops to an adult and a seed develops into a tree, we are expected to move from level to level. As our stage or season in life changes, so will the expectation also change. You would not look at a seed and wonder where is its fruit, but you would look at a fully grown tree and search with great expectation for fruit to be there - especially during the season when trees are expected to bear fruit. God doesn’t only expect us to keep growing, but there is also an expectation that we will have a structured development plan, and not just simply growing at will.
If you’re feeling that tug to move forward, here are four steps to help you G.R.O.W: GOAL
Set S.M.A.R.T goals. Decide what you want to achieve. This can be an interpersonal, spiritual, professional, educational, health and well-being or financial goal. Set precise goals - include dates, times and amounts - so that you can measure your achievement. If you do this, you’ll know exactly when you have achieved your goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.
Be sure to write your goal down. The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. Express your goals in positive statements, and include your Why (ie. why this is important to you). Use the word “will” instead of “would like to” or “might”. Finally, tell someone about your goals. This increases the likelihood that you will stick to the goal, because you have now made it public and can be held accountable.
REALITY
In order to fully create a plan, you will need to assess where you are NOW. Make an honest assessment of your current situation, so that you can be clear on the necessary steps you will need to take to achieve your goals.
A great mind-mapping tip is to draw a circle in the middle of the page, and write above it, ‘Where do you go from here?’ This will force you to tap into whatever ‘here’ looks like, and what actions you have taken so far to land you to ‘here’, as you look at the possibilities before you.
This step will also help you identify those little achievements. Remember, a baby didn’t morph into an adult overnight; babies grew little by little. OPTIONS
Your goals should be listed in manageable chunks, which will make it clearer to see the prerequisites and set some priorities. This stage will look at the various pathways you can take to achieve your overall goal. In project management, we call this ‘identifying the critical path’. It will also help you to assess what is in your control, and where you might need to solicit some help.
Remember to free up your time to focus on the more important elements. Get rid of unnecessary actions or tasks you can delegate.
WILL
What will you do and when? There is no need to plan and not act. In order to achieve your growth plan, you will need to put the work in. Here’s how to smash your action list by using the Ivy Lee Method:
• At the end of each day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks. • Prioritise those six items in order of their true importance. • When it is time to tackle the list, concentrate only on one task at a time. • At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
Remember to celebrate your successes along the way. Happy growing!
What does France mean to you? A great holiday destination with stunning scenery and warm weather? Chic café culture in historic cities? Delicious food and drink? France is all these things and more… But do you ever think of it as a mission field? Perhaps you think of France as “a Catholic country”… But it’s been a secular republic for well over a century. Islam has eight times more followers than evangelical Christianity in France. And, according to a recent survey, 58% of French people define themselves as having “no religion”! We thank God that the number of evangelicals in France has increased 13-fold since the 1950s, with many new believers coming from BAME communities. Imagine if we’d seen that kind of growth in UK churches! But evangelicals in France still represent less than 1% of the population. So French evangelicals have an ambitious church-planting dream: they want to see a church for every 10,000 people in France – which means planting a further 4,000!
Our French brothers and sisters are working hard: a new evangelical church is planted somewhere in France every 10 days. That’s wonderful – but, at this rate, it will take well over a century to plant 4,000! As Jesus said: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
15324 FM Editorial.indd 1 That’s where France Mission can help. We’ve been supporting evangelical Christians in France for nearly 50 years and have seen the Lord do some amazing things over this period. Our vision is to see increasing numbers of people in France encountering God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and to make it easier for them to find a local evangelical church. With so few churches, believers often travel long distances to worship. France Mission provides regular updates to help you pray for this vital mission field. We enable you to sow into the work financially to be part of building God’s Kingdom in this strategically significant country. And we offer you opportunities to go and provide hands-on help. If you have a heart for France, then we’d love to partner with you in France Mission. Please connect with us online at francemission.org or fill in the response form below and post it back to us. Thank you!
22/10/2020 11:58
Love is the heart of mission…
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