At my church, I don’t have hands-on control of the nursery, preschool, Wednesday night ministry, or Sunday school. I have team members that are gifted in those areas of ministry that help accomplish the vision God has given me for our ministry. The only area that I currently have my hands directly on is Sunday morning elementary children’s church. But I have been investing and equipping a team of people, and one couple in particular, to take this ministry and make it their own. So, what is my job then? I am the head coach. I call the plays based on the vision God has given me. I invest and equip each of my team members to do their job to their greatest potential. My ministry is to my leaders so that they can help me reach and touch the lives of our kids. Team leaders recruit their own team. That ministry team then makes the decisions about what is going to best help the team accomplish its goals. All discussion, disagreements, and planning is handled by the team. Because I invest in my ministry team leaders, they know how I would handle situations, and if they are unsure, they know they can ask.
To adopt a team ministry philosophy is not as easy as walking into church next Sunday and doing it. You have to begin by realizing that you are not the superhero in your church. You have to allow yourself the freedom to allow others that are better than you, or have the potential to be better than you, to work with you directly. Changes have to begin with you. Then your relationship with people has to change. Remember Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000 (which was actually closer to 15,000 because of the women and children)? Jesus helped organize the people into groups as small as 50 people. Then He gathered the bread and the fish, and broke it amongst the disciples, then sent them out to feed the groups. They had so much that they had leftovers. Jesus, the only superhero, could have gone to each of those groups and fed the people. Instead, He sent His team out to do the work. The disciples were the ones that took the food to the people. Jesus stood by and watched His team carry out the plan. That is team ministry.
Originally posted in the Children’s Ministry Inspiration Vault. Used by permission.
