Team Building for Beginners Team ministry has been written about a lot. Whether in the business community, medical community, start-up companies, large corporations, military or education, Teams are the way to go. But it has not always been so in the church. Today, more and more churches see the value of forming ministry teams who work together toward a common outcome. You can find practical help for doing ministry as a team or working with teams in the church through a variety of sources. Since many of you have been raised in an educational system that thrives on learning groups or work groups you might have experienced a close relative of teams. Work groups are similar, but not the same as teams. You most likely have been part of a small group that studies together. Again, it is similar but not the same. Most of what is in the marketplace about team ministry is utilitarian in nature. It is as if the whole purpose of team ministry is to get some job done in the best, most efficient way. The Bible makes it clear that teams did not originate with a business guru, but first in the Trinity. God himself exists and functions as a team (Gen. 1:26). He is The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. God is love because God is a Trinity (team). The Triune God worked together in Creation and it is the Triune God (team) that worked in bringing salvation and renewal. God is generous, creative, serving, and saving because He is a Trinity. We were created to exist and function as a team (Gen. 1:27, 28). We also discover that teams are the basic building blocks for the church (Mk. 3:14; Acts 1:15,26). Teams bring together a diversity of gifts and are the best place for disciple-making. In the local church, team members should be committed to one another s relational, personal, missional, and spiritual growth and health. They must see themselves as mutually responsible and accountable for one another. Teams have the potential to be one of the most powerful drivers of planting and growing a healthy reproducing church. However, teams simply don t just happen. They take time to mature. They require proper leadership. Let s consider the following 3 keys for developing teamwork in your new church
Prayer: Foundation for Teams in Church What we are trying to avoid is starting churches and ministries (teams) that run the typical path of maintenance. Such a mission or ministry begins with a clear focus and most of its initial efforts on mission and outreach. With time, the ministry can grow to expend less and less effort on mission due to an increased focus on growth and maintaining its existence. Time can lead to a mere survival faith. What can stem the tide of maintenance? Prayer an ongoing focus and priority on missional prayer --John Smed, Prayer Bootcamp for Urban Mission (www.prayercurrent.com) Prayer is foundational to keeping the team centered on the spiritual nature of Gospel ministry and Gospel mission. Praying together builds trust and creates humility and boldness. Prayers of worship for God s glory and fame; for God s Kingdom to come; of personal repentance; and making our bold requests actually help build a sense of community. Through prayer, we show our dependence on God as provider, innovator, power, and creator. We simply cannot do ministry without the work of the Spirit and the Spirit, mysteriously, works in concert with our prayers. Prayer is a Second Cause, and God works through Second Causes. God uses prayer, our actions, our speech or lack thereof; He uses everything as secondary causes. God ordains the means and the ends. Secondary causes become causes only because of God s primary cause. The effectiveness of secondary causes is not cancelled by the primary cause, but requires God s primary cause. The Westminster Confession of Faith wisely says that God s decree does not cancel the reality and efficacy of secondary causes, but establishes them. It is ALL worked into God s express purpose and will ALWAYS bring about His express decreed will (Richard Pratt, Third Mill.org). Your personal prayer life for the members of your team is important. Make praying for team unity, conflict resolution, faithfulness perseverance, patience, and faith for the members of your team a priority. Your team, not your individual contribution is one of the keys to not simply your survivability, but your health in living out Gospel community and mission
Gospel Mission & Gospel Community Kingdom interdependence dictates that corporate collaboration becomes normal God s plan for His Kingdom is not individualistic autonomy. Isolation is inspired from a far darker realm. It is the genius of the Body working interdependently that propels unstoppably the great purposes of the Kingdom --Jeff Christopherson, Kingdom Matrix Dr. Tim Keller reminds us, The goals of the kingdom are more complex than the goals of a business or even a non-profit corporations. God s goals are to reach people outside of the church, and so we cannot simply run the church as a tribe for the people inside. Yet God s goals are also the growth of the people and the building of community. While in specific cases a Christian leader will often have to choose between task and relationship, in the overall goals and direction of the church there should not be a strong prejudice one way or the other. We are called both to reach new people and witness to the world and maintain community. Christian community is central to Gospel mission. As people form teams for ministry, it is essential that community remains a high value. Jesus made it very clear that we (you is third person plural) are the light of the world. In Matthew 5:16,17, Jesus said, A city set on a hill; the word set means placed for a purpose. The church is a city within the city. There is a purpose or reason the church is planted in the city. It demonstrates what a transformed city (City of God) looks like, relationally and functionally. In teams, we show how people who would normally be enemies, live, love, work, play, disagree, forgive, listen, and speak together.
Process Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare --Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team One of the distinctives of teams is their determination to evaluate their own efforts and enable one another to live up to specific standards both team standards and individual standards Great teams are comprised of people who have developed sufficient trust, rapport, and vulnerability to keep one another honest, focused, productive, humble, and inspired (George Barna, The Power of Team Leadership). 5 behaviors of healthy teams: 1. Relational Trust 2. Key Missional Objectives 3. Identified Roles 4. Conflict Management 5. Accountability for Results or Outcomes It is necessary to invite the right people to join a team. Don t assume people will get on board once they get on the team. Selecting is a process. Jesus spent a whole night in prayer and fasting before choosing his team. He took great care in his selection and so should you and other team leaders. You build on relational trust by having the right people on the team.
In Closing Founders, paired with Communicators, formulate the vision and spread it to everyone. Vision Movers work with Vision Formers to create strategies, make them workable, drive them forward and keep them on track. Action Movers with Action Formers formulate actions plans, execute, delegate and follow up. Explorers and Watchdogs pair together for supplying what the team needs and trying to fulfill their wants. Conductors and Curators pair well to tackle problem issues, fix what s wrong, and bank the solutions for another problem. For long-range projects requiring extensive documentation, Vision Movers and Action Formers pair well. For projects requiring quick and concrete results, pair Vision Formers with Action Movers (Dr. Janice Presser, The Gabriel Institute). This ebook simply scratches the surface of what s needed to help you create a strong sense of Team at your church. If you would like to read more about the Types of Teams, the Advantages of Teams, Critical Factors in Developing Teams, and the C.R.O.S.S. Conversation for Team Meetings (which will give you detailed instruction for how to lead a Team for various types of ministry) please read the full chapter Team Building for Beginners in the book Church Planter Field Manual: Fishing. Order the entire book on Amazon or the individual chapter at www.cmmnet.org.