Join a Ministry Team to Volunteer for the Kingdom!

Find at least one other person who has an interest in working with you to start such a team. Begin with a study of the fundamentals of Christianity: faith that’s faithful to God; caring love that involves forgiveness (turning retribution over to God), compassion, unselfishness, generosity, and action; and confident expectation of an eternal life worth living for, worth suffering for, and even worth dying for. Then pick a specific ministry as a team that will be this team’s focus ministry (with members committed to a life of ministry as God opens doors). Arrange to meet regularly (at least weekly if possible) and spend time together as a team (at least 1 or 2 hours) in fellowship (getting to really know each other), ministry planning mainly for your focus ministry, and Bible study utilizing the 21st Century New Testament. Avoid anything in team meetings that can embarrass team members or cause competition between team members. (Audible prayers and cooked foods are two things that can be problems. For prayers, agree that God listens to everything you say and simply thank him for listening and promising to help in one brief sentence.)

If you’re aware of an existing ministry team with a focus ministry you’d like to share, just ask. Either that team will welcome you or they should help you start a new ministry team. If you’re joining an existing group, they should see that you get training in the fundamentals of Christianity. If you start a new group, be sure each member gets training in the fundamentals.

Arrange to meet regularly (at least weekly if possible) and spend time together as a team (at least 1 or 2 hours) in fellowship (getting to really know each other), ministry planning mainly for your focus ministry, and Bible study utilizing the 21st Century New Testament. Avoid anything in team meetings that can embarrass team members or cause competition between team members. (Audible prayers and cooked foods are two things that can be problems, for prayers, agree that God hears everything you say and simply thank him for listening and promising to help.) Meetings can be on any day at any time convenient to the team members.

Generally, once a ministry team is functioning, it will either attract people who want to be part of the team or it won’t. Just ask God to do this job—he’s very good at it.

There are two things to focus on: the team’s growth as Christians, and the focus ministry. The number of possible ministries is unlimited. Needs are everywhere. Some groups may focus on prayer, but make sure the focus is on in-depth understanding of the need, and always, always, always look for the spiritual need more than the physical need.

Ministry teams are far, far more consistent with what Jesus wants than are churches. Assuming the team members don’t support church budgets (which are largely spent on things that are not supposed to be the focus of God’s teams) the team members should contribute to the team’s work. The team should manage these funds well, with reports on income and use of the funds regularly sent to the team members (to avoid taking up team meeting time). Some teams will have more income than expenses, and teams in a similar area should work together to determine how such funds are used. For example, a team focused on prayer may have excess funds while a team focused on another ministry may need resources. In a large city, teams might work together to build small facilities for team meetings and training ministries.

A team should normally be relatively small to have tight fellowship, but there is no specific size limit from the New Testament or any other source. Generally, a good size can be anything from two to a dozen, and smaller may sometimes be better, but larger isn’t forbidden. However, if the team gets so large that some members aren’t participating in team discussions and team activities, that would be too large.

A team coordinator should always ask active members with the ability to do so to start taking turns handling the team coordinator’s responsibilities. This may include making sure the team members know the meeting location and time, as well as verifying the location is ready. It also includes making sure each meeting includes fellowship, ministry planning, and Bible study utilizing the 21st Century New Testament. Additionally, it may include making sure any new members get training in Christian fundamentals. If a team reaches a size where some members aren’t actively participating in the discussions or in the activities, divide the team into smaller teams, having members who’ve shown the ability to coordinate team activities guide new teams. New teams may select a new focus ministry or share the same focus ministry with the original team. If they share a focus ministry, teams should coordinate with each other.

Absolutely. If a city is large enough to support multiple teams, a capable team member may be hired parttime to coordinate team activities, monitor team functioning to assure all teams are functioning as Christ would want, coordinate budgets for larger ministry expenses, and arrange for times when all teams are invited to a shared event focused on strategy (the big picture).