useful in parts: 10

Showing posts with label 10. Show all posts

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

10 things for UK politicians to do

Friday, 3 May 2024

2min 25sec clip - Does it really take 10,000 steps to stay healthy?

Wednesday, 2 November 2022

1 min 22sec clip - if the ISS orbited at 10,000 feet what would a flyby look like

found via boingboing

Wednesday, 27 July 2022

2min clip - Ten Illegal Things To Do In London

Thursday, 11 November 2021

10min clip - The 10 tactics of fascism | Jason Stanley | Big Think

found via a boingboing email

Friday, 6 November 2020

8min 27sec clip - #Top10 #BugsBunny Moments In Looney Tunes

found via boingboing

Friday, 23 October 2020

10 things to remember when dealing with other people - a list without irony

1) Unorganised people are simply creative and open to the spirit of the moment

2) Whilst organised people are bureaucratic dictators stifling innovation

3) My phone always goes to voicemail but you need to always answer your phone

4) People who think the market always delivers the best solution aren't very observant

5) In a meeting most attendees won't have read the papers

6) Most people's planning horizon is four weeks ahead - apart from their holidays

7) I may not always reply to your messages but you need to reply to all of mine immediately

8) When people say the regulations require X they can rarely cite the clause that says that

9) And the regulations mostly call for reasonable endeavors rather than specific actions

10) When you are talking to others they're mostly thinking about what they want to say next

Monday, 15 January 2018

#ruralpresence - #Entrepreneurs in #rural #church leadership - 10 tips & headlines from a lecture by @michael_volland

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

This video of Michael Volland's 2016 Germinate lecture on entrepreneurs in rural church leadership is well worth a look. Here's a summary of his top 10 tips and then a quick tour through the video if you don't have time to watch all 50 minutes.

Top 10 Tips for Rural Church Entrepreneurs

1. Think of all the positive associations with the following words - artist, explorer, minister, collaborator, entrepreneur, curator, investor - at its best that is what an entrepreneur in the church can contribute - by recognising opportunities from the Holy Spirit.

2. Clergy don't need to be entrepreneurs and neither do all of us - but with fewer paid staff clergy do need to spot and permission/create the space for lay people with entrepreneurial gifts to flourish. "You may need to lead people through the gate not just open it". Pray and encourage others to pray about how you help people experience and share God's love.

3. Small congregations of 8 or so - "Hey look, unless God does something here we are stuffed aren't we". A good place to be is on our knees - "Lord have mercy on us - we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you". Start where you are with what you have. Be excited about small. Small is good and precious.

Fruitful Church Entrepreneurs
4. Can help articulate the vision of a group and can communicate well.

5. Bring energy and enthusiasm - which is infectious and helps generate hope and joy.

6. Are around and present and engaged. They work with people and see things through.
They are passionate, engaged and informed about the community.. All of this builds trust and relationships.

7. Are comfortable with making decisions and dealing with change - but maybe more importantly - help others transition through and navigate change well.
8. Build with others something of recognised value.

9. Are creative and innovative - spotting gaps or opportunities for connections or helping others to.

10. Learn from their mistakes and admit them - and allow others to do the same.

A summary of the clip with time references if you want to watch that bit yourself

40sec - By way of introducing himself Michael explains how he is helping Ridley and others think about pre and post ordination training. This links to the national theme of context based training which is something to do with getting more engaged and more joined up training. He then goes on to talk about:

2min 20sec - His research on parish priests who were acting entrepreneurially.

3min 5sec - All the baggage that comes with the entrepreneur word

3min 45sec - recommendations from his research - rethink our misconceptions about the entrepreneur word - and how people with entrepreneur characteristics are a gift of God to the church for this time.

4min 55sec - people with entrepreneur characteristics should be welcomed so they can do their thing - this is a culture change for our mainstream denominations.

5min 25sec - the image on the screen - of his children in the woods - is a playful image. They're exploring and are free to see possibilities. The church needs to be playful. To explore and try out new things. To fail sometimes.

6min - When you think of the following words what associated words pop into your head? Artist, explorer, minister, collaborator, entrepreneur, curator, investor.

7min 15sec - All of the positive associations with those words are caught up in the entrepreneur word.

7min 50 sec - People are uncomfortable with the entrepreneur word because of the business baggage that comes with it yet it's important we do use the word entrepreneur because it captures ideas other words don't.

8min 40sec - Most entrepreneurs know they need to bring people with them and aren't just in it for the money (so not like the 1980's stereotype of an entrepreneur).

12min 15sec - "We don't all need to be entrepreneurs"

14min 15sec - The church needs to welcome entrepreneurs and not just point them towards pioneer ministry.

14min 45sec - Quotes Bill Bolton - "one of the go to people on entrepreneurship" with several books on the subject - and also a lay reader in Chelmsford Diocese.

15min 57sec - Entrepreneurs in church are not just concerned about things that interest themselves. They are also good at recognising opportunities from the Holy Spirit.

17min 10sec - his definition of entrepreneur - key concepts - a person or a group, habitual in doing one thing, then another, then another. Successful/fruitful entrepreneurs work with people and see those things through. Steer away from "10 ideas before breakfast" type of entrepreneurship: this approach can hurt people or leave them hanging when the entrepreneur moves on.

18min 21sec - Fruitful entrepreneurs build something of recognised value.

18min 55sec - Creative and innovative - spotting gaps or opportunities for connections.

19min 15sec - In his research things he saw in people behaving entrepreneurially the following - they have a vision or can articulate the vision of a group, there is creativity at play, they have the ability to communicate and collaborate, they are trusted, they make decisions (of course wisdom and judgement is required) rather than procrastinate, they learn from mistakes and admit them openly, they bring energy and enthusiasm (which is infectious), they have commitment and create value. Adds from interaction with the audience were tenacity (not pigheaded) and ability to bear pain.

23min 50sec - Clergy need to encourage lay entrepreneurship by creating the space and environment for lay people to do so, where they can emerge to be entrepreneurs and try things out. Permission giving. So ministers don't need to be entrepreneurs but they do need to spot and release them. And we need to be wary of a top down CEO mentality where the senior people set the vision - that approach takes away from the people of God and creates pacified lay people.

25min - So is entrepreneurship relevant to rural church leadership? Well what do we mean by rural - rural can be a diverse set of contexts (market town, remote or a dormitory village near a larger town). And when we say leadership we mean lay and clergy - but maybe need to put lay first.

28min - The moment of opportunity that is arising for lay people as the "do everything clergy" are becoming rarer and have mostly all gone and as clergy cover 5 or 10 parishes, and the moment of opportunity from when you're at rock bottom and there is nowhere else to go . So when you stand up to do your sermon to 8 people you can say "Hey look, unless God does something here, we are stuffed aren't we". A good place to be is on our knees - "Lord have mercy on us - we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you"

28min 40sec - the main aim has something to do with the fact that we are a sent people - mission lecture no. 1 - God is a God of sending love. Rural church ministry has something to do with that - helping people to be part of God's mission.

38min 30sec - Using a picture of an open gate Michael explained that - on permission giving - sometimes people won't go through the gate on their own - but they may well follow you if you go through the gate. "You may need to lead people through the gate not just open it"

39min 50sec - Things to do to help latent entrepreneurs emerge: pray and encourage others to pray, be around/be present as often as possible - because it builds trust and relationships. Find people who are passionate, engaged and informed about the community. The engagedness allows an informed creativity. Bring energy. Generate hope and joy. Have and share a vision - emerging from pray and with others. Draw people together around shared concerns. See projects through to completion. Be comfortable with change - but maybe more importantly - help others transition through and navigate change well. Start where you are with what you have. Be excited about small. Small is good and precious.

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

8th July #cofe #synod debates - a bit of a mega summary and 10 things that struck me

Having listened to all 5 hours and 50 minutes worth of the #synod sessions held in the morning and afternoon of last Saturday (and watched a few bits as well) below are 10 things that struck me from the various debates.

Human Sexuality and development of a teaching Document

1) Sharpest Quote of the session - the chair to somebody in the Q&A session "Stop making a speech - what is your question?"

2) In some opening remarks Justin Welby reminded synod of the practical anglican approach of approaching controversial subjects through scripture, tradition and reason with scripture being our final authority

3) He also set out 3 key assumptions: a) We are all made in the image of God and Jesus lived, died, rose and ascended for us all - and - people are to be treasured , loved and valued; b) All involved in this debate in the CofE want to be faithful to the love, truth, justice and mercy of God; c) we all want to seek to act in a way to reduce fear of each other and the future

4) We have a tradition of listening - this does not assume reconciliation - but it does assume we get clarity on what we agree and disagree on

5) The teaching document will probably come to synod in 2020

6) We seek the mind of Christ and his call to us, true unity in christian truth in service of mission to the world

7) In the session for questions and answers the following types of Q&A occured (mega summary!)

Q) is the teaching document a back door way of changing doctine?
A) In the CofE doctrine is the responsibility of the Bishops

Q) Will the groups working on this be representative?
A) They will be as far as we can make them - but members will need to have the skills needed to contribute. Groups will seek views from beyond their membership and learn from other Anglican provinces and other churches

Q) Do you understand the need for urgency on this matter?
A) Yes but it is very complex - 2020 is the likely timescale for the document to come to Synod (via another Q it became clear the synergy between this date and discussions with the Methodists was not intentional)

Q) Will it be a learning and teaching document?
A) The process is learning and teaching

Q) Will moral philosophy and theology be considered by the groups?
A) Yes

Presence & Engagement
8) Best quote in the debate on the church response to the Grenfell tower fire "We did what the CoE always does in a crisis - we put the urn on".

PS the debate was interrupted by various timed legislative matters simplifying how legislation can be changed or getting rid of various redundent legislation

National Support for local churches
9) In the debate I learnt about the Archbishops' Council objectives - 2017 to 2020 - some are on evangelism - and from those I am struck in particular by the following:

"2020 aim:

to have halted the fall in numbers of Church of England worshippers in

dioceses representing half the population of England,

and to see growth in numbers in a quarter of dioceses"

10) Workshops in the afternoon were on: a) Thy Kingdom Come; b) Life Events; c) Digital Evangelism; d) National events as opportunities for community witness; e) Inclusion and Outreach to the marginalised; f) Crossing the Generations. The final debate drew together views on these. Amongst the contributions was one from the Bishop of Chelmsford - some quotes from it are below

"We need to discover the way of doing evangelism

that flows from our own spiritual traditions"

"It is my hearts desire to make Christ known"

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is good and its beautiful and its true"

and quoting Pope Paul the 6th from the 1960s -

"None of us is ever fully evangelised.

Every day I need the gospel to transform my life"

- now thats a dynamic to live out of

And of course the final debate was on conversion therapy - that its practice has no place in the modern world, is unethical, harmful and not supported by evidence - which was passed

Friday, 16 December 2016

1min 14sec @wef clip - These are the 10 #countries facing the greatest #skills #shortages

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

7min 25sec animated clip from@alexsandalis - 10 learnings from 10 years of #MariaPopova 's @brainpickings

1) Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind
- "its infinitely more rewarding to understand than to be right - even if that means changing your mind about a topic, an ideology, or above all, yourself."

2) Do nothing for prestige or status or money or approval alone
- "extrinsic motivators ultimately don't make it thrilling to get up in the morning and gratifying to go to sleep at night ... and can often distract and detract from things that can offer those deeper rewards"

3) Be generous - with time, resources, credit and especially your words
- "To understand and be understood, those are among life's greatest gifts, and every interaction is an opportunity to exchange them"

4) Build pockets of stillness into your life
- "Meditate, go for walks, ride your bike going nowhere in particular - there is a creative purpose to daydreaming and even boredom ... most important sleep"

5) When people try to tell you who you are, don't believe them. When people tell you who they are, believe them.

6) Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity
- "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives"

7) Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time
- "As a culture we are uninterested in the tedium of blossoming but that's where all the magic unfolds in the making of ones character and destiny"

8) Seek out what magnifies your spirit
- "What are the people, ideas and books that magnify your spirit - find them, hold onto them and visit them often"

9) Don't be afraid to be an idealist.

10) Don't just resist cynicism - fight it actively
- "Its inherently un-creative, un-constructive and spiritually corrosive"