The modern church has been focusing more on team building. The strategic organizations prepares the youths for the future, eases the ministry work, reduces conflicts, induces increase in church numbers, and leads to incredible spiritual growth if the plans are underlain by a biblical foundation. The move has led to the application of the secular business models to the organization of the ministry teams of the church. There are biblical foundations though; which guide organization and structure of the ministry teams. Ephesians 4: 11 and 1st Peter 4: 10 provide that every church member is gifted to perform particular role which they should do diligently. Romans 12: 3- 8 advise the Christians not to develop higher ego because of the talents they have been graced with. Based on the influence of such Biblical foundations, Christians have devised suitable models that help them serve the church properly. Basically, he models are based on choice of members of the team based on expertise, geographical regions, and the type of mission. These models have proven to be the most suitable for Christian spiritual work since they are underpinned by Christian teaching. The secular business models are only good for commercial and community service as opposed to the Christian ministry. They seem to present greed for power, privileges and positions at the expense of sacrifice, service and true discipleship. As such they are not suitable for structuring church ministry teams.
Introduction
Churches around the world are moving towards highly organized ministry teams in the present day more than before. The teams are focusing more on propagating Christian values and spreading the word of God all over the world. Therefore, the work ahead of the church minister is a not a simple task[1]. As such, the test requires solid prior planning and high-level organizational plans in the teams. These teams have applied multifaceted techniques of building the unity to effectively carry out their functions. Based on the fact of application of such vast techniques of team building, concerns have been raised about the use of the secular business models in the team building. Rahberg and Samuel have argued that such techniques can be applied as long as they do not violate biblical values and practices[2]. Therefore, such methods need to be impeded deep in what the bible directs about the same. On the other hand, scholars argue that secular aspects should not be included in Holly Projects of the church and only the Bible should guide the ministry[3]. Secularizing the ministry by use of secular models of building the teams has a polarizing effect on Christian spiritual growth. While many scholars argue for use of the secular business models in building ministry teams, these models have proven detrimental to the ministry of the church and should not be used. This is a retrospective paper that presents a panoramic discussion about biblical teaching on ministry teams, patterns, and models used in ministry teams today and analysis of such patterns.
Biblical teaching on ministry team building
The church ministers are bound in the body of Christ by faith. Faith is the tool that guides the ministry teams in carrying out the work. As such, forming the ministry teams is not an exercise that isolates ministers into groups that exist in separation from the church but forms a section of the functioning of the church[4]. A team has a leader and members of different abilities that enable it to perform various functions. Therefore, the teams are complete with all these capabilities within it. The biblical teaching about the composition of a team highlights the importance of the diversity. For example in Ephesians 4: 12- 13 diversity is seen as an aiding factor that equips the evangelists with abilities for the ministry and building the body of Christ. Justification of the diverse composition of the ministry teams can be found in 1st
Peter 4: 10 that states that each has received a gift to be used to serve one another as stewards of God's varied grace. The groups require strong leadership that would ensure that there are no conflicting roles amongst the diversified teams for the ministries. Furthermore, the teams are guided by faith as stated in Romans 12: 3- 8 that no one should think of himself as a higher person than everyone. Each of the members serves in the role they can serve the best according to the grace of God[5]. As such, a ministry team is a unified functional unit of the church. Every member has an important role to play that fosters the unit of the group. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12: 25- 27 uses the imagery of the body parts to demonstrate how coordinated role-playing unifies a church hence a ministry team. Paul states that every part of the body is dependent on the other and no part can stand on its own.
Pattern and models used for ministry team building today
There are multiple models that are applied in the process of building the ministry teams today. One of the most appealing categories of models is the one based on the role differentiations to follow what Saint Paul stated about roles in 1st
Corinthians. Many of the ministry teams use the methods of dividing roles for the team through a hybrid or focusing on one method[6]. Firstly, the teams are chosen and roles defined based on the expertise of the individual members. The leaders get individuals who are gifted in their areas of deficit and weakness hence making a team of diversified skills and abilities. The members are selected and given responsibilities based on their knowledge of the content of the ministry, leadership skills and assimilation and logistical skills. Secondly, the choice of the composition of the team is based on geographical coverage of an individual member of the team. This model presents the concept of the ministry's convenience. The minister is able to easily connect and interact with the target people within the assigned region. However, the weakness of this model is the individual is no longer free to work in their areas of strength but are forced to take all the roles in the area they have been assigned to. The process helps the participants have a general idea of how other dockets of the ministry work and the challenges faced in each one of them. Additionally, it helps the team appreciate the roles assigned. Thirdly, a ministry team can also be structured according to the type of the ministry involved. For example, members can be assigned to deal with different groups of people such as males or females and married or the singles among other categories characteristic of a group of people. This model can be a hybrid with the expertise model where an individual is assigned a group that he/she has more knowledge of[7].
The models are very useful when one wants to achieve convenience and embrace ability in specific groups of people. All the models present unique conditions that form a good laboratory for learning and building leadership. The geographical model, for examples, may displace one from his/her area of specialization into a different area giving them a chance to experience the problems associated with every docket of the ministry. As such, the individual learns more about other roles and learns to appreciate the people who give such tasks to the group. Therefore, the geographical model is useful when the leader wants to build teamwork in a typical Christian Ministry team. The expertise model is the best since it gives an individual the chance to explore their area of interest and perfect in performing the role. After several starter exercises, the team becomes an expert ministry team with individual strengthening the group's performance through doing their best in their areas of specialization.
Importance of the ministry team building
Preparation of the young ministers for future ministry undertaking
Ministry teams equip the young Christians with the skills to undertake the service as full members of the church in the future. Team leaders should include the youths to provide them with chances of growing spiritually and learning their role as gifted by the grace of God. Additionally, it defines roles amongst ministers. As Ephesians 4: 11 states, each member of the church is gifted with a role. By forming the ministry teams that are composed of differently gifted ministers, roles are clearly defined. The members get a chance to learn their role and do it in the best ways possible.
Eases the ministry work and Reduces conflicts
The ministry work is made easier through better-coordinated ministry teams with well-defined roles. The book of Romans 12: 3- 8 inspires members to cooperate in the ministry to give their best to God. The teams are inspired by the biblical teaching such as those in Romans 12: 3- 8. The bible is against ego in the ministry of the church that tends to elevate an individual above others9. All members of a team are thought equal and differently gifted. The team’s members are encouraged to respect this diversity.
Nourishes growth of the church as one body
Ministry teams provide chances for the ministers to explore their spiritual talent and grow spiritually. Moreover, it advocates for guidance and organization that is based on the scriptures aid individual to develop a strong faith and zeal to serve Christ at all times hence spiritual growth. The teams promote appreciation of others' gifts and provide a chance for the use of ones' spiritual talents[8]. This makes a church complete and unified as one body having all people coordinated through the performance of roles they are best at.
Workability of the secular models
Secular models have been seen as controversial methods in the process of ministry team building. A good number of scholars have suggested Christianizing these ideas while others have argued against their use in the approach of Christian leadership in ministry teams. The secular business model has been known to modernize the process of undertaking Christian Ministries. They have been known for more organization in carrying out the missionary work. However, these models are viewed to be fueling new challenges in these teams which are supposed to carry out a spiritual task. Some congregations have lost their way immersing deeper in secular models that breed unwanted results. Firstly, the models are designed to have an organization topple all the challenges for a financial gain. As a matter of fact, financial gain is not the aim of the ministry teams. Secondly, they work towards ensuring organizations compete with others creating spirits of rivalry rather the spirit of collaboration. As such, the team building strategy from the Christian perspective does not go hand in hand with that presented by the secular business models. Lastly, the secular models have propagated manipulation and hunger for power in the churches. The challenge has bred unending conflicts in the churches. The Christian team building practice should be best on the sacrifice, service, and true discipleships at the expense of privileges, power, and position presented by the secular leadership models[9]. Therefore, the Bible presents the best guidelines for team building while the secular business models present a rich source of secularizing factors to the leadership of the Christian ministry.
Consequences of lack of team strategy
Growth in numbers
The flawed team strategy in the ministries has seen many churches stagnant due to the lack of members joining the church. Effective ministry teams win the hearts of the non-believers to the church through use of wits based on biblical teachings. Lack of better strategy is also the reason for churches losing the members[10]. One of the evidence of lack of solid strategy in ministry teams is conflicts in churches due to conflicting roles, application of secular techniques that attract fights for power in the church, and commercialization of church ministries which has led to a reduction in numbers of churches.
Spiritual health
The basic measure of the development of the church is the spiritual devotion of its members. Spiritual health is a goal achieved through spiritual leadership accompanied by proper planning of the ministry teams to stir up spiritual growth. As such, team strategies and devotions play a vital role in building strong spiritual foundations of individuals. Spiritual role-modeling in the groups helps members to attain the required spiritual growth10. The models are planners of the group providing direction into the future. Therefore, luck of such strategies may not encourage the spiritual growth of the members.
Good servants of God who are ready to sacrifice for the Ministry need a training that is well planned. The youths need to grow to learn their graceful gift and explore them in the full service of God. Luck of strategized means of achieving this may reduce the rate at which the church produces devoted servants of God.
Conclusion
The church needs to shift to highly strategized means through which the ministry teams are organized. The bible is a rich book containing guidelines which can be helpful in nurturing people spiritually. The book of Ephesians 4: 11 provide that each person is blessed with a spiritual gift that he/she should serve in. Furthermore, the Bible guides the ministers on their contact with the teams urging them to respect and appreciate others' roles. Therefore, the members of a team need to embrace unity in Christ and let the faith bind them as a part of the church. On the other hand, secular models have also been used to organize ministry teams. As much as they have a greater effect on infusing practical skills, they are not workable in terms of growing the church's spirituality. They tend to secularize the spiritual work of the church through fueling the greed for power and privileges at the expense of serving in true discipleship. Therefore, methods that are underpinned by biblical ideology are the most effective in building the ministry teams and growing the general spirituality of the church. The role differentiation models apply biblical concepts defining the role of each member of a congregation hence prong reliable to be used in building ministry teams. Therefore, there are biblical guidelines for building ministry teams which are more suitable for the church than secular business models.
Works cited
DeVries, Mark, and Nate Stratman. Building Your Volunteer Team: A 30-day Change Project for Youth Ministry. InterVarsity Press, 2015.
Galloway, Dale E. Building teams in ministry. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2000.
Gangel, Kenneth O. Team leadership in Christian ministry: Using multiple gifts to build a unified vision. Moody Publishers, 1997.
Hartwig, Ryan T., and Warren Bird. Teams that thrive: Five disciplines of collaborative church leadership. InterVarsity Press, 2015.
Kirkland, James. Elders and Deacons and Saints, Oh My!: Defining Biblical Roles, Structure, and Organization for a Team Ministry that Achieves the Fivefold Purpose of the Church. WestBow Press, 2015.
MacArthur, John F. Pastoral ministry: How to shepherd biblically. Thomas Nelson, 2017.
Malphurs, Aubrey. Developing a vision for ministry. Baker Books, 2015.
McIntosh, Gary L. Staff your church for growth: Building team ministry in the 21st century. Baker Books, 2000.
Morrison, Zoe Jane, E. Parry, V. Connelly, D. Robinson, and C. Taylor. "Integration of the Whole Force: Understanding Barriers and Enablers to Task and Team Performance." (2016).
Rahberg, Samuel D. Enduring Ministry: Toward a Lifetime of Christian Leadership. Liturgical Press, 2017.
[1] Kirkland, James. Elders and Deacons and Saints, Oh My!: Defining Biblical Roles, Structure, and Organization for a Team Ministry that Achieves the Fivefold Purpose of the Church. WestBow Press, 2015.
[2] Rahberg, Samuel D. Enduring Ministry: Toward a Lifetime of Christian Leadership. Liturgical Press, 2017.
[3] Morrison, Zoe Jane, E. Parry, V. Connelly, D. Robinson, and C. Taylor. "Integration of the Whole Force: Understanding Barriers and Enablers to Task and Team Performance." (2016).
[4] MacArthur, John F. Pastoral ministry: How to shepherd biblically. Thomas Nelson, 2017.
[5] Malphurs, Aubrey. Developing a vision for ministry. Baker Books, 2015.
[6] DeVries, Mark, and Nate Stratman. Building Your Volunteer Team: A 30-day Change Project for Youth Ministry. InterVarsity Press, 2015.
[7]
Gangel, Kenneth O. Team leadership in Christian ministry: Using multiple gifts to build a unified vision. Moody Publishers, 1997.
[8] McIntosh, Gary L. Staff your church for growth: Building team ministry in the 21st century. Baker Books, 2000.
[9] Galloway, Dale E. Building teams in ministry. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2000.
[10] Hartwig, Ryan T., and Warren Bird. Teams that thrive: Five disciplines of collaborative church leadership. InterVarsity Press, 2015.
