Training through Teams
Traditional approaches to training have often been individualistic–training individuals to work alone in the church–and have failed to recognize the great emphasis the New Testament places on ministry within community. We have emphasized the formal training opportunity that takes place in a conference or class and have ignored the learning value of working with others in an actual ministry setting. Approaches to training people for Christian service have often been hypothetical and theoretical–telling them why and how–devoid of opportunity to actually try.
Christian education conferences and training texts have great value but they usually do not train in the most precise sense of the term. They do not make a person proficient or develop practical skills. We mistakenly have assumed that people will be able to do a particular task if we tell them how. That simply is not true.
In A Theology of Personal Ministry, Larry Richards states that all training for ministry discussed in the New Testament was done within the context of ministry teams. The apostles learned how to do the work of the Kingdom by doing ministry with Jesus. He sent out His disciples as ministry teams. The apostles formed ministry teams that developed and formed young men like Timothy and John Mark. People learned how to do ministry by participating in ministry teams. Training people for ministry through ministry teams has the following values:
- Ministry teams provide a context of security and safety that helps the volunteer overcome natural reticence and fear. Struggles and mistakes do not become disastrous for them but are treated redemptively in the team setting.
- Ministry teams for training provide an atmosphere where a volunteer's gifts, abilities, and inclinations can be discovered and most naturally developed.
- Ministry teams allow new volunteers opportunity to find themselves in ministry. They can try several things to discover what best fits them individually.
- Ministry teams provide a more accurate approximation of what ministry within the body of Christ is all about. We work together to fulfill God's mandate and will.
- In ministry teams for training workers, volunteers come to understand ministry as something that takes place within an interpersonal context.
- Ministry teams encourage new volunteers to try ministry because they do not have to go it alone.
- Effective ministry is best learned within the natural contexts of planning, preparation, observation, participation, and evaluation that take place on a week-to-week basis in a ministry team.
- The spiritual dynamics of ministry are integrated into the ministry team experience. The new recruit learns the value of prayer, dependence on God, faith, and the importance of the Holy Spirit's anointing by participation in a ministry team in a Pentecostal church.
How can the ministry team approach for training workers operate within the local church? First, ministry teams need to become the accepted way churches carry on ministry.
Second, all kinds of ministry teams should be created–teaching teams for children, leadership teams for teen and adult classes, visitation teams, hospitality teams, worship teams, decorating teams, drama teams, and many more. Teams should be formed for the purpose of ministry, but they should be viewed as places to prepare people for the work of ministry.
Third, training objectives and goals should be identified for these teams. What do you want the workers to be able to do? Think about the specific ministry experiences they will need to have. Consider the order and sequence of those experiences: What experiences are fundamental and primary? What experiences need to come next? Which ones are more advanced and need to come later? Discuss how you are going to build those specific ministry opportunities into the team ministry experience of those you are training.
Fourth, it is critical that ministry team leaders be carefully trained and prepared to train others. Here are some of the things an effective ministry team leader must be able to do:
- Lead the team in planning and evaluating ministry.
- Develop instructive assignments for team members in training.
- Include novices and trainees in every facet of team ministry.
- Evaluate the abilities and progress of volunteers and gauge their readiness to accept increased responsibilities and involvement.
- Assign responsibilities and ministry tasks to team trainees as they are ready for them.
- Be ready to suggest better ways of doing things when it is appropriate.
- Know when to affirm and advise, when to listen compassionately, and when to give clear direction.
- Know how to involve every member of the team meaningfully in ministry.
- Know when to lead out and when to step in, when to control a situation, and when to turn something over to a team trainee.
- Know how to be in, about, and among team members as a helping presence without dominating.
Finally, church leadership should do everything possible to incorporate new converts and members into ministry teams as quickly as possible. Satisfaction and fulfillment come in using their gifts for the glory of God. Growth and maturity develop through becoming a functioning part of the body of Christ.
Ministry teams are an ideal way to do the work of God, incorporate new people, and train workers for the kingdom of God.
