Ministry Team
Develop guidelines and qualifications for ministry team involvement. Define and list various areas of responsibility and possible team involvement. Pray 1 Chronicles 28:21, “…every willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work for all kinds of service” (NASB).
Begin to pray for and identify spiritual sons and daughters that God wants to add to your ministry(Matthew 4:18-22; 2 Peter 1:3-11).
- Increase the equipping process of your spiritual sons and daughters, focusing more upon impartation than information (John 5:19, 20; John 17:4-8).
- Focus is required for impact. Everything you do is a function of time (planning), energy (people), and money. The most effective use of your time is to focus your time on the people who will reproduce your heart and ministry. The more people involved in meeting the needs of others, the more others will donate money to meet your operational needs.
The greatest evidence of true spiritual fathers is the sending forth of spiritual sons to the nations.
- Jesus did the work and others watched
- Jesus did the work and others helped
- Others did the work and Jesus watched
- Others did the work and Jesus left1
Forbes Magazine says that success is 10% ability, 30% credibility, and 60% visibility. Ability + credibility = visibility. Help a person develop their ability to meet the needs of others. When people begin to experience healing through another person, this makes that person’s ministry credible. They will then begin to influence others to get involved in your ministry. Then visibility will be a natural by-product, and ministry will be released to the nations.
Make a list of twelve books that would help your spiritual sons mature and take on your spirit. List them in the order that you desire for them to be read and convey why each book should be read. Have a book of the month for all team members to be reading at the same time.
Be sure to have personal contact each month with each person of the team. This may be through sharing meals, prayer time, accountability time, play time, or phone calls. If your team is too large for this, then raise up team leaders or a team chaplain (who has your heart) to keep the personal touch in the ministry. Teaching – touching – transforming!
Develop clear and concise guidelines, policies, boundaries, and goals for your ministry team (Romans 13; Ephesians 4:22-32).
People want to know what is expected of them. Eighty percent of the development of future leaders is in giving people obtainable goals, opportunities for responsibility, problems to work on, and the resources to succeed.
Give team members opportunity to serve in many different areas of responsibility. Find out which areas of ministry bring them the most joy and which bring them the least. “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure!” – Chariots of Fire –Ninety-five percent of their time should be spent on doing what they love to do and nurturing that gift within them.
As the team grows, develop team leaders, team managers, a team chaplain, and teachers (Numbers 11:16, 17).
Team Leaders are influencers of people. They know what to do next and why it needs to be done. They see the needs of others and want to find answers for those needs. They are usually visionaries and people want to follow them.
Catching the Vision
Team Managers take pleasure in catching the vision of the leader, knowing the resources at hand, and getting the job done. People often will not follow them without the influence of a spiritual father, because managers tend to manage people and not to lead them unless their management skills are seasoned with grace. They are best at listening to the vision of the leader and then implementing the necessary firepower to bring appropriate resources to bear the need.
The team chaplain influences the spiritual environment of the whole team. He is the one with whom people will most likely be open and discuss their problems. He is responsible to see that each team member walks in the core values of the ministry. He is able to bring admonition and correction with affirmation, respect, and honour to all involved.
Teachers are those who have a gift to communicate the deeper things of God and bring them forth in a simple, childlike way so that every person is able to understand. They are not dispensers of information, but midwives to help birth revelation through impartation in others. They do so through transparent witnessing of the grace of God in operation in their own lives.
NOTES:
1. The Father Heart of God, by Floyd McClung, Published by Kingsway Publications; UK, 2007
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture references marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
