What is T.H.R.I.V.E

Some folks have been asking me what T.H.R.I.V.E.  stands for.  A couple years ago I felt the need to become more effective in my ministry position. I started developing a framework of self-improvement that I could use in my context and came up with what I call the T.H.R.I.V.E model.

T = trust, establishing trust within the congregation.
H = heart, keeping a joyful, nourished heart.
R = responsibilities, working to become effective at the tasks I am given.
I = insight, learning from people 'ahead' of me on this path.
V = values, defining my own and uncovering the church's.
E = encouragement, recognizing my need for it, and getting it in the correct places.

I quickly realized that the local parish is a wonderfully difficult place to live in and work. I read (and still do) leadership and church growth books and realized that I needed to work hard at translating what I was reading into the context of a local, smaller church setting. My situation is so different than any other parish in the world, even the one that is  just down the street.  Missionaries call this contextualizing their ministry. In every job I have every had, there is a common denominator to any problem I every experienced, ME!  So I identified these six areas and decided if I was going to make it for the long-run in ministry, I needed to develop in them...I needed to change the only person I could, ME!  It is interesting because I found that if I made a conscious effort to work on these areas, many other areas I was not focusing on were helped a great deal, and my work at church became richer and more meaningful.  I started having people come up and say, 'I felt what you were talking about today,' or 'you reached my heart today.'  I even had more and more people start calling me 'pastor' which is a home run in my field.

Thriving in a ministry setting has much more do with who we are or our 'ethos' than what we know.  I would love to help you through this process, and you can see how under the coaching tab of this blog.  If you are interested in working thorough this THRIVE model, please email me at chriscobb.us@gmail.com and we can get the ball rolling.

What ways have you learned to move from coping to thriving in your ministry setting?  What are some of your 'tricks of the trade?'