Innovative Ministry
Turn The Team You’re Stuck With Into The Team You Want (10 Steps For Church Leaders)
No one starts with the team they want. Teams aren’t born, they’re built.

In December of 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld got into hot water when he responded to reporters’ questions about whether-or-not US troops were ready for war by saying “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”

Despite his awkward phrasing (and other issues, depending on your political take) Rumsfeld was right.

It’s the same in the church.

You go into spiritual battle with the church members you have, not the members you wish you had.

This is especially true – and especially challenging – in the smaller church.

The Team You Have

It’s increasingly popular for church leadership experts to tell us that we need to get a good team together to give us the best chance at building a healthy ministry.

But in a lot of churches there’s very little if any choice about who we have to work with. As I wrote about in a recent article, Why "Get The Right People On The Bus" Doesn't Always Work For A Small Church Staff.

So, what do you do when the church leadership team you have feels more like something you’re stuck with rather than something you want?

Here are 10 starter steps:

1. Be grateful for the team you have

There are a lot of pastors without any leadership team at all. So when we have one, we need to be grateful for them.

Gratefulness is a powerful blessing. To the one who’s grateful, and to those we’re grateful for.

Gratefulness is a powerful blessing. To the one who’s grateful, and to those we’re grateful for.

I’ve seen the power of gratefulness on many occasions.

In one church, the pastor has a good team, but is constantly harping on what they’re doing wrong. In another church, the pastor has a so-so team, but is constantly encouraging them, celebrating victories with them, and expressing gratefulness for their commitment.

I don’t need to tell you which team gets better and succeeds, or which one gets worse and fails, do I?

2. Assess their gifts

Being grateful doesn’t mean being naïve.

Every team has strengths and weaknesses. The key is to discover the strengths and create ways to compensate for the weaknesses.

3. Utilize their strengths

Too often, we ask a church leadership team to do a pre-assigned task, based on our conceptions of what healthy ministry looks like.

But in many cases – especially in smaller churches – it’s better to assess the team first, then assign tasks based on those strengths.

In other words…

4. Make your work fit the team, not vice versa

If you have a great hockey team, you don’t ask them to play football.

If you have a church leadership team that’s strong on relationships, but weak on administration, don’t lock them in committee meetings about the church budget. Turn them loose in fellowship and evangelism!

5. Build relationships

There’s no faster track to appreciating the people you work with than getting to know and like one another.

Plus, once we get to know each other, we strengthen team morale, discover how our gifts fit together, and find solutions we could never have seen on our own.

6. Learn together

Everyone on your team is a work in progress. Including you, the leader.

If the team doesn’t know how to do something, it may be that they just don’t know it yet.

Never underestimate the power of a united team learning new skills together.

Never underestimate the power of a united team learning new skills together.

7. Distribute the workload based on cohorts

Jesus never sent anyone into ministry alone. Two-by-two was the smallest ministry unit.

This is also known as a cohort – a group of people who work together, support each other, catch each other’s mistakes and celebrate victories as a team.

8. Listen to their feedback

If the team thinks everything is headed in the wrong direction, they’re probably right.

When the people closest to a project, an event or a policy see an issue you can’t see, they need to know that their feedback in encouraged. If not, they won’t give it, and everyone will be poorer for it.

9. Regularly assess and adapt

Every project needs markers along the way. Whether they’re based on time-stamps, intermediate steps or something else, it’s always good to build assessment and adaptation into the process.

Too many times, big failures could have been prevented if the leader of the group had checked on people’s progress along the way instead of waiting until the end, when it’s usually too late.

But be careful. These assessments must always be done in the spirit of helpfulness and support. Otherwise, they don’t feel like an opportunity for encouragement, but a reason for criticism.

10. Celebrate small victories

One of the greatest ways to encourage a team is to throw a party when things go well.

Take small moments along the way to celebrate small victories.

And don’t wait until the end to do it. Take small moments along the way to celebrate small victories.

Something as simple as a box of donuts or a Thank You card can give people the boost they need.

The Team You Want

No one starts with the team they want. Teams aren’t born, they’re built.

Piece by piece, day by day, relationship by relationship, task by task, celebration by celebration.

Even Jesus did this. And the Apostle Paul. They took untested, messy, confused people and worked with them until they turned the world upside down.

And the same Spirit who did that then can do it today.

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July 01, 2019 at 2:00 AM

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