July 9, 2025

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Leadership

What happens in a coaching session?
Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash
Leadership, Coaching, Learning Attitude

What happens in a coaching session?

Do I need a coach? This month, I will be thinking hard about my ministry and learning goals for 2021. My mission organization asks me to put together an annual ministry plan (AMP) and a personal growth plan (IGP) for the new year. As part of that planning process, I am going to consider whether I will need a coach to help me with my ministry and learning goals. Setting up a few coaching calls might very well make the difference between reaching our 2021 goals and not doing so. But what does a coach actually do? I have written about coaching in this blog. See “What is coaching?” and “The value of coaching” as two examples. But our blog posts have never really explained what a coach actually does. About 10 years ago, I addressed this question in a series of newsletters to our mission membership, entitled “Comments about… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Unhappy with leadership?
Photo by Alex Radelich on Unsplash
Hardship, Leadership, Prayer

Unhappy with leadership?

Grumbling and complaining should not be the theme of our conversations at this time of year with Thanksgiving just behind us and Christmas before us. But we are living in difficult times. Most of us know friends who have been sick with COVID-19 and many know friends who have died from the virus. Frustrated with leadership decisions But the grumbling we hear is probably not primarily about the virus. The preventive measures others are imposing upon us have caused much frustration. All around the world, governments are making decisions to restrict the further spread of the coronavirus. Despite their good intentions, these decisions are nevertheless causing additional hardships. We are limited in how much we can interact with friends and family. Most of our churches both back in our home countries and in our places of ministry are facing restrictions in how they hold worship services. Many people, particularly in… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Follow-up: Understanding Authentic Christian Ministry
Photo by Marc Scaturro on Unsplash
Leadership, Church, Follow-up, Gospel

Follow-up: Understanding Authentic Christian Ministry

This entry is part 7 of 13 in the series "Follow-up".As we saw in an earlier post, the Corinthians needed to learn to keep culture in perspective. This was especially true in their understanding of leadership and Christian ministry. The leadership values of the culture were exploited by Paul’s opponents, causing some in Corinth to question Paul’s credentials. George Guthrie observes, In short, in the apostle’s seeming humility (even humiliation 12:21), his taking on the role of a servant, his rejection of patronage and the concomitant rejection of financial gain, and his refusal to advance his status by use of rhetorical skills, he stood in violation of key leadership values and principles embedded in the Corinthian culture. The apostle, on the other hand, presents to the Corinthians an alternative; a theocentric and biblical vision of authentic leadership. While not all cultural leadership values will conflict with authentic Christian ministry, they… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley2 mins read
Both invitation and challenge needed
Disciple-making, Mission Leadership, Teaming

Both invitation and challenge needed

A disciple-making culture? In the past few years, we have talked a lot about changing our organizational culture. Back when SEND U (our training department) was being launched, we wanted to establish a coaching culture in our organization, meaning coaching will become a pervasive method of supervision, leadership development, and membership development. I think we have made a lot of progress in establishing that culture. In more recent years, we have talked about creating a culture of collaboration, intentionality, and accountability. Many missionaries long to break away from a highly individualistic orientation and work on stronger teams. But we are an organization that describes itself as a global movement of Jesus followers making disciples among the unreached.. If this is to be true, then we need to have a disciple-making culture within the organization. What does it take to create a disciple-making culture?… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Disciple-making, Mission Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Training, Book Reviews

Book Review: Discipling in a Multicultural World

Ajith Fernando is the kind of person I want to listen to concerning Discipling in a Multicultural World. He is a thoughtful practitioner. The back cover describes the book: Rooted in over four decades of multicultural discipleship experience, Ajith Fernando offers biblical principles for discipling and presents examples showing how they apply to daily life and ministry. He addresses key cultural challenges, such as the value of honor and shame, honoring family commitments, and dealing with persecution, and helps us think realistically about the cost and commitment required for productive cross-cultural ministry. This practical guide to discipleship will help us help others grow into mature and godly followers of Christ.… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
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