Unifying Your Ministry Team
Add these ingredients to your team to bond ministry teams
together.
- Determine the personality types that exist on your
ministry team. I've been blessed to work with people who
are very different from me, and recognizing those differences has
helped me immensely. To recognize personality types, read The
Treasure Tree by John Trent at a ministry team meeting. Think of
who each of you would be in the story. If animals aren't your
thing, explore Florence and Marita Littauer's Personality Puzzle.
Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of different ministry team
members helps everyone know who to turn to in various
situations.
- Ask thought-provoking questions. Start each
meeting with a question that reveals quite a bit about the people
on your team. Use these questions: If you wrote your autobiography,
what would the title be? Which historical person would you most
like to meet if you could? What would you do with a whole day to
yourself?
- Have your meetings in fun and creative places.
Get away from the same old environment. Bring snacks to the park or
to someone's backyard. I've found a new meeting environment can
often spark our creativity. l Plan for spiritual nurture. Ministry
team meetings also need to be a time of spiritual growth for your
team members. Some churches reserve every other meeting for
renewing their team members. Do a meeting about friendship
evangelism, or make prayer journals. Establish prayer partners or
secret angels.
- Pray for each other. There are many ways to
help ministry team members pray for one another. One idea I've
enjoyed is the Prayer Mug. Have each ministry team member bring a
new coffee mug to your meeting. Write each person's name on a slip
of paper and put it in his or her mug. Sit in a circle, and pass
the mugs to the left, playing music as you pass the mugs. When the
music stops, have each person look at the slip of paper in her new
mug. In the weeks ahead, each time team members use their new mugs,
they'll be reminded to pause and pray for their mug's original
owner.
- Have fun! Get together for fun and not just
for meetings. Work together to create ministry team T-shirts to
wear at your next event. Many ministry teams plan retreats, which
can be as elaborate as a weekend away or as simple as a one-day
event. Arrange a family picnic. Knowing each other's families helps
us nurture each other more effectively.
- Take risks together. Whenever I've worked on a
difficult or ridiculous project with someone, I've walked away
feeling much closer to that person. Working together should be fun
and uplifting, not drudgery. Show the families in your church how
much you enjoy serving them. One church's children's ministry team
had a wacky fashion show. They spent hours laughing as they
developed and created "original" fashions. It's my prayer that your
children's ministry team and the families in your church will
discover peace, harmony, and joy in serving our Lord and that God
will use you to spread that joy to others.
Barbara Vogelgesang Kempton, Pennsylvania
Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and
prices are subject to change. Originally published in
November-December, 2002 in Children's Ministry Magazine.
