C. Administration
•1. Interview
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•2. Know resources
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•3. Add data
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•4. Delegate
•5. Protect members
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•6. Prepare
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•7. Refer
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•8. Think systems
The ministry of mercy needs good administration.   Set up a means to analyze what someone needs.  This usually means some kind of interview.   It needs to be fairly quick, as non-threatening as you can make, yet give you the information you need.  Let people know you want to let them know quickly whether or not you can help them.  We don’t want to simply be an impersonal, bureaucratic agency.
    Someone on your mercy team needs to know what resources are available, both in the church and in the community.   There are many agencies and ministries that can be a great asset to you in your attempt to help someone.   Much of this assistance is free.   Collect all the manuals and book you can on resources in your community.
    Add data from situations so you can track people.  This allows you to build a history so you can see where people have been, and where they seem to be going in their struggle against need.
    Delegate different tasks to others so a team is built around a “case.”   This protects the members from burn out.  Don’t always go back to the same church members for each situation.