Congregational Ministry Teams
Part of LifeandLeadership.com resources for church leaders on Church Staff, Team Ministry
The term “Team Ministry” is used broadly to refer to virtually all aspects of cooperative work in congregations. LifeandLeadership.com separates team resources into four categories, including General Team Concepts, Ministry Staff and Leadership Teams, Minister and Staff Evaluation, and this guide on Congregational Ministry Teams.
Congregational Ministry Teams, sometimes called Lay-Ministry Teams, looks at the broader category of church involvement through the team framework.
**See also my other site on using the DISC Personality Profile for Ministry Team-Building
First Reads
- Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini, Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church — A great book for a staff to read together for their own development, or for ministers of involvement, discipleship, or lay ministries to consult on how to equip deacons or lay leaders. Shows how to train leaders step-by-step in four phases.
- Sue Mallory, The Equipping Church: Serving Together to Transform Lives — A comprehensive approach to mobilize church members into effective gift-based teams, based on extensive research from Leadership Network.
- E. Stanley Ott, Transform Your Church With Ministry Teams – One of the most well-researched, well-written and powerful books on lay-ministry development.
- Brian Kelley Bauknight and Herb Miller, Body Building: Creating a Ministry Team Through Spiritual Gifts — Strong on how to recruit, train, and equip team leaders and members on the basis of spiritual gifts, securing a happier “fit” for all involved.
- Ellen Van Velsor, Cynthia D. McCauley, Marian D. Ruderman, The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, Third Edition – This is the recognized standard for leadership training. Though not church-related, it is the most complete description available on the most effective theories and practices of leadership development. For churches, a good supplement is Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders.
Other Good Works on Congregational Ministry Teams
- George Barna, The Power of Team Leadership: Achieving Success Through Shared Responsibility – Presents helpful insights and tools to move members from being consumers of ministry to doers of ministry through lay-leadership teams.
- Wayne Cordeiro, Doing Church as a Team: The Miracle of Teamwork and How it Transforms Churches – Shares most of the basic principles of team building, but provides the unique value of Cordeiro’s own experience and voice
- Dale Galloway, Building Teams in Ministry — A collection of articles from experienced church leaders on how to empower staff and volunteers.
- Stephen Chapin Garner and Jerry Thornell, Scattering Seeds: Cultivating Congregational Vitality – An honest, realistic, and inspiring narrative of how an “average” mainline denominational church experienced renewal, primarily through the deployment of congregational ministry teams that empowered people for mission.
- Craig Johnson, Lead Vertically: Inspire People to Volunteer, Build Great Teams that Last — A highly motivational book on how to motivate people to develop as persons through team participation.
- Jim Putnam, Church is a Team Sport: A Championship Strategy for Doing Ministry Together — An inspirational journal of a leader and his church in team ministry expressed through the athletic analogy.
Resources on Role / Job Descriptions for Ministry Teams
- Larry Gilbert and Cindy Spear, The Big Book of Job Descriptions for Ministry: Identifying Opportunities and Clarifying Expectations for Ministry – Provides several templates for role descriptions of virtually all functions in the church, both paid and volunteer, along with a CD that allows readers to tailor the information to their own needs.
- W. Byrne Herbert, Job Descriptions and Duties for Church Members and Workers — Like the work by Gilbert and Spear above, provides several boiler plates for role descriptions for virtually all functions in the church.
Related Ministry Resources
See Other Ministry Resources on Ministry Staff, Teams:
- Ministry Staff, Ministry Teams – Intro
- Ministry Teams – General Resources
- Ministry Teams -Staff and Leadership Teams
- Ministry Teams – Congregational Ministry Teams
- Personnel, Ministerial Evaluation
- See also the extensive section on using the DISC Personality Profile for Ministry Team-Building
- Church Administration
- Managing Volunteers
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Christian Ministry: