Keys to Building an Effective Ministry Team

1. Vision
   Know and state your vision clearly. Speak vision for your ministry to anyone and everyone who will listen. Surround yourself with people who catch your vision and will enthusiastically help you reach your goals. You want people on your team who can grow and expand your vision.

   Recruit with excitement and be able to clearly communicate the “big picture” for your ministry to people. Look for people who have specialized skills, such as a carpenter in your church who would like to volunteer to help make props or sets. Capitalize on special situations, such as a retired person who would be excited (and find purpose in) volunteering time to prepare and serve food to your children.

2. Relationships
   Start building your team by building relationships. Add value to people’s lives. Don’t look at your staff as a bunch of workers, but rather as quality individuals who are people of worth just because of who they are. Get to know people on a personal level before you ask them to fill a volunteer position for you.

   Don’t take advantage of your volunteers! Your primary emphasis should be on empowering and equipping them for ministry, not on using their talents to make you look good. Think about your own experiences with supervisors you have had. What did they do that you liked, or didn’t like? What treatment did you receive from them that you thought was fair, or unfair? Then adjust your own leadership style accordingly.

   As the leader, it is your job to initiate the lines of communication and keep them open at all times! This will help you know how to pray for and encourage the volunteer, and will help you discover areas in which training is needed. Don’t just call them when you need something – you need to become involved in their lives and befriend them.

3. Training
   Train and equip volunteers for the job you have asked them to do. It is unfair to stick them in a room full of children without direction on how to lead, or to ask them to “fill a spot” and then forget about them and leave them to cope for themselves.

   Provide training resources in the form of classes and seminars that your volunteers can attend, magazine articles or books they can read, internet links they can browse for information and ideas. Use technology to your advantage – send emails with links to articles and websites containing materials that they can use.

   Set your volunteers up to succeed, and not to fail! Give them clear instructions when assigning tasks, be prepared to answer questions when they arise, and always provide the necessary tools and supplies for them to perform their responsibilities.

4. Commitment
   Provide written ministry descriptions for all “jobs” in your ministry stating the number of hours required each week, spiritual qualifications, and also the length of commitment. Don’t be afraid to ask volunteers for a length of service commitment. This lets the person know that you are serious about their ministry and provides an avenue through which you can make your expectations known.

   Short term commitments work for volunteers who are also active in other areas of ministry, who are new to your church, or who are unsure of their calling in children’s ministry. Short term commitments help people from over-committing or becoming overwhelmed. By providing an option where people don’t feel like they have to “sign on for a lifetime”, you can help assimilate new team members into your ministry.

   Don’t be afraid to ask people to help! There are people seated on your church pews just waiting to be activated in ministry. People often do not feel “connected” at a local church until they are “plugged in” to a volunteer position. Many times people want to help, yet they are afraid to approach the leader to ask if there is anything they can do. So, take the initiative and let them know you need them.