Recently Dennis Bullock (great guy, read his blog) posted an article in which he listed the nine rules of the 9rules community. Here they are, for your edification:
- Love what you do.
- Never stop learning.
- Form works with function.
- Simple is beautiful.
- Work hard, play hard.
- You get what you pay for.
- When you talk, we listen.
- Must constantly improve.
- Respect your inspiration.
Dennis goes on to explain what the 9rules community is:
9rules is a blogging community that is made up of a whole gaggle of sites on all kinds of different topics. They have one on Religion, Technology, Apple, Design, Entertainment; the list goes on and on and never seems to stop … 9rules functions as a community where the basic purpose is for its members to basically feed off of each other to provide the best service to each sites readers and the community as a whole. 9rules doesn?t own the blogs that are part of the community; but instead the blogger does, as they should, and I think that is really what makes them different. … You don?t have to be some problogger to join in either; they have people from every facet of blogging.
Well said. 9rules really is a great community. I’d even love to be part of it at some point. But that’s not what I’m here to write about today. Looking over those nine rules got me thinking, isn’t this a fairly good summation of how my ministry should look? I think so, let me explain by going through the rules one at a time and applying each to ministry.
1. Love what you do. This almost goes without saying, but if you don’t love ministry then you probably better not be doing it. There are some jobs you can do, even do well, without loving them. Ministry isn’t like that. You’ve gotta love it otherwise you’ll burn out.
2. Never stop learning. In ministry we always need to be reading and learning. If you’re looking for some good reviews on Christian books here’s the latest from Tim Challies. He’s got tons of great reviews on Christian books, and he’s smart to boot. Read a lot.? If you can go back to school and work towards a higher degree than the one you have now that’s even better.
3. Form works with Function. In blogging the form is largely the design of the blog. The function is the message you communicate. Both need to work well together to have a blog that effectively conveys your message. The same holds true for ministry. In ministry the form is the programs you have, the events, the music, the games. The function is sharing the love of Christ. If you don’t have a form that people like you won’t get any students into the building which is kind of necessary to share the Love of Christ with them.
4. Simple is beautiful. K.I.S.S. applies as much to ministry as anything else. A well organized, clean ministry in inherently going to function better than one that is unorganized and messy.
5. Work hard, play hard. Oh, how applicable this rule is to ministry. The harder you work before your event the more fun it is to play at the event. Also, both work and play are essential in ministry. In my opinion, the best ministers are the ones who are as good at having fun as they are at Bible study.
6. You get what you pay for. This isn’t a rule just about blogging, this one is about LIFE. In one sense you get what you pay for in ministry by ordering a $2.00 t-shirt and the screen printing wearing completely off after the first wash. In another sense, you reap what you sow. If you sow a quality program you’ll reap tangible rewards.
7. When you talk, we listen. Ministers need to be good at accepting feedback. Critique is part of ministry and as a minister you’re sure to get a lot of it. The key is listening to it all, and then gleaning what’s valuable and throwing out the rest.
8. You must constantly improve. I’ve heard it said that a ministry is either growing or dying; there is no stagnation because a stagnant ministry is dead. We as ministers must never be satisfied with where we are at spiritually, physically or mentally.
9. Respect your inspiration. Who inspires you as a minister? Do you let them know it? Moreover, when you photocopy that biblical timeline or use information from another source do you give them credit for it?
The nine rules, applicable to blogging, ministry and life.
