Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-234 (Leadership Issues)

TEAMWORK WITHIN THE SMALL CHURCH (Part 1)

by Glenn C. Daman

The pastor and board met together at a specially called board meeting to discuss what how they could enhance the teamwork within the church. For the past year the board had been working at enhancing the ministry of the church by working together with the pastor to oversee the congregation. Having implemented the team philosophy on a board level, they realized they needed greater teamwork within the congregation. The board understood the small church was a lay-run ministry, requiring the whole congregation working together to accomplish the mission of the church. As they looked at the church they felt they had the right environment to implement the team concept but more work was needed to put into practice the principles on a congregational level.

As Pastor John shared with the board his passion for the small church and developing teamwork within the congregation, he raised the question, “How can we be more effective in working together as a church?”

At the start of the discussion, Pastor John made it clear that no idea was too far fetched and that every avenue should be explored before they formulated any conclusions. For the next thirty minutes the board brainstormed all the different ways the church could improve its teamwork. As they talked, Pastor John wrote on the whiteboard the various ideas and thoughts that were shared. Some of the statements were insightful while some were humorous (like Jack’s suggestion that they have an annual football game so people could take out their hostilities). Even though it was made in jest, John still wrote the statement down in order to encourage the creative thinking of the board.

After thirty minutes the board discussed the ideas shared. After several minutes evaluating all the different ideas, they realized there were really two issues that needed to be addressed. The first dealt with the development of team-oriented ministries and the second dealt with the development of team leaders. Because these were both significant issues to cover, they decided to postpone the development of team leaders until another board meeting and spend the rest of the time discussion how to further develop team-oriented ministries. Consequently, Pastor John wrote the heading upon the whiteboard:

Developing a Team with the Congregation

Having written this upon the whiteboard, the board began to discuss how they could better work together within the church so everyone had a part and everyone was working towards the accomplishment of the mission of the church. First they determined there needed to a focus upon ministry teams rather than organizational committees. So under the heading Pastor John wrote:

1.Develop ministries teams rather than committees.

In the past the emphasis was upon the organizational structure and maintaining the organization. This was reflected in the structuring around committees. However, as the elders discussed, they realized that this was not an adequate reflection of the biblical emphasis. In scripture, the focus is upon ministry and service rather than organization.

While organization is crucial, it must always remain subservient to the ministry. After some discussion, in order to implement this focus, the board determined the congregation should establish ministry teams. Jack, who had been involved in a small church of about 40 before coming to Townsville Community Church, suggested that they form two teams to serve under the Elder board to oversee the various ministries. Fred, who had attended a larger church, suggested that they follow the pattern of his former church, which was structured under eight teams.

After some discussion they realized that the number of teams was determined not so much by the number of ministries, but by the number of people attending the church. While a church of 150-200 may need 6-8 teams, a church of 40 would need only 2-4 teams. Since their church averaged 80, they concluded that 4 teams would be sufficient.

The first team, Worship Ministry Team, would oversee the worship services. They would be responsible to work with the pastor in planning the order of service as well as any special worship events the church might have (such as Christmas Eve, Good Friday, etc).

The second team would be the Outreach Ministry Team. This team would be responsible for local outreach by developing evangelistic strategies for reaching the community. They would also be responsible for world outreach by maintaining the missions ministry of the church.

The third team would be the Education Ministry Team. This team would be responsible to develop and oversee the educational ministries of the church.

The last team would be the Resource Ministry Team. This group would evaluate how the church could best use its financial resources and facilities to be effective in ministry. They would be responsible for overseeing the budget and maintaining the church’s buildings.

The second point identified by the board was the need for a clear purpose statement for each ministry. Once the teams were formed, than the board would work with the teams in formulating a clearly defined purpose statement that would serve to govern the direction each team took in accomplishing the mission and the scope of its ministry.

After the teams had been formed they came up with the following purpose statements: 1. Worship Ministry Team: To facilitate corporate and individual worship by conducting Christ honoring services. 2. Outreach Ministry Team: To foster and develop ministries to reach people for Christ in the local community and in the world. 3. Education Ministry Team: To train people of all ages in discipleship and Christian living. 4. Resource Ministry Team: To provide adequate resources through the maintenance of adequate facilities and faith-driven budget.

The third item they discussed in formatting ministry teams was to establish goals for each ministry. As each committee sought to implement its purpose, the team would be responsible to evaluate the various ministries to determine needs and identify ways to increase effectiveness. These would be written in the forms of the goals.

In order not to overload the team, the board would ask each team to identify only the goals most critical. Thus they would be asked to formulate 2-3 goals for the year. Since people in the small church often are reluctant to place things on paper, the pastor would meet with the team leaders and they would discuss what the goals would be and how they would accomplish them.

As they were discussing the formation of ministry teams, Fred brought up how some people were frustrated with their responsibilities. In the past, the church had voted upon each position at its annual meeting with a focus upon who was available to fill needed positions. But, as Fred pointed out, ministry is to be done in the context of spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10).

The question was raised, “How can the church be more effective in involving people according to their spiritual gifts?” Thus they identified a fourth issue under the formation of ministry teams: Teams should be recruited based upon giftedness and interest. The responsibility of the church is to assist people in the exercise of their spiritual gifts, assisting them in the growth and maturation of those gifts.

Along with basing ministry upon gifts, the team must be given ownership. As the board discussed what this meant and how they would encourage the teams to have ownership they identified several ideas. First, each team should be given the authority to formulate their own strategies. While the pastor and board would advise them and give input when needed, the teams need to be given the freedom to expand their ministry. Second, the teams should be encouraged to formulate their own methods for accomplishing the tasks. Third, the teams should be given the authority to make the daily operating decisions.

After discussing how to formulate effective teams, Jack wondered aloud what next needs to be done. A second issue they then identified focused upon communication between teams.

[Continued next week in Part 2]

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From Developing a Ministry Team In the Small Church – Mikros Vol. 6, No. 5 September-October, 2000

Mikros is published bi-monthly by the Institute for Small Church Health. http://www.westernseminary.edu/ichsmall.html

Dr. Glenn C. Daman, Editor. <>

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