FINDING THE TIME FOR DEVELOPMENT WORK

Whether you’ve been on Cru staff for a while or just a short time, you likely experience the difficulty of juggling all of your various responsibilities with excellence.  As field staff (and especially if you’re a Team Leader), you’re asked to engage in direct ministry, shepherd your staff team, keep up with your personal financial support, and work on the team financial support (in addition to managing the team finances).  And that’s only your official ministry work.  That’s a ton!  It sounds like the work of a whole staff team, and yet somehow you're expected to do it all.

Yet we serve the King and Creator of the universe and Savior of our souls, and He will enable us to do what we’ve been called to, whatever that may be.  And that includes help with practical realities in addition to the spiritual (just read through the book of Nehemiah, who very much relied on the Lord for both).  There are entire books dedicated to time management, so I won't even try to cover all of that here. But I do have some thoughts about time management specifically regarding your Development responsibilities.

Also, know up front the following is not meant to be a perfect, full-proof formula.  There are many times suggestions or ideas look good in theory but can be very difficult to apply in real life.  This article is just meant to help get you started. Here are five tidbits I'd remind any leader of when they're finding a hard time prioritizing fund development:

1 - Be Intentional

Lay out your general schedule at the end of the spring semester (or sometime well before the start of the next planning cycle), and identify where you have carved-out time for Development. It's totally fine if a lot of that time is more 'planning' than 'doing'.  Bring your supervisor and Development staff into the process - they want to see you thrive, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.

2 - Build Layers

Secondly, I'd encourage you to create a multi-faceted, thorough development plan that includes soft touches, in-person meetings, event planning, and more. There's no 'silver bullet' in Development. You need to create a system where you are winning, keeping, and lifting partners in various ways throughout the year.

3 - Be A Creative Steward

Look for opportunities to make small progress throughout the day.  For example, you’re in the midst of your work day and find that you have 10-15 minutes of free time (or possibly a little more) - that's a great time to write a thank-you card, make a phone call, or do something else that would likely fit into that window.  Also, have a running list of development tasks readily available, so that when opportunities do arise, you can tackle one or more of them with greater efficiency.

Have a running list of Development to-dos so that when short opportunities arise you can tackle them efficiently

4 - Share the Load

Don't forget to delegate! This will be good for you, the other staff on your team, and your entire team development enterprise. Not only will it save you some time and stress, but it will train and prepare your team for the times when you're not around and development responsibilities will fall on their shoulders.

Note also though, the best time to figure out the “who” and the “how” is when you’re not in the midst of the busy times.  Refer back to tip #1 - it's important that you plan these things out diligently beforehand rather than delegating on the fly.

5 - Pray

Finally . . . Pray!  Pray!  Pray!  Before, during and after.  Remember 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always; pray continuously; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Each of those elements goes for every part of development, including for the actual work, and for your partners.

It’s important to thoroughly think through this topic.  There must be a time balance between ministry to your target audience, development, family, personal MPD, and other elements of your life.  But have grace for yourself (as well as toward others). 

And remember prayer is certainly necessary here too, for wisdom and discernment, that you would be able to know the best ways to spend your time throughout the week and year, enabling you to bear much fruit, and thrive in all Jesus calls you to, even when things get difficult.  God bless as you move forward in all those endeavors.