Two years ago my family and I picked up and moved to a new city and a new church. It’s been a crazy good couple of years for us, and we’ve loved every second of it! However, the transition didn’t come without it’s challenges.
Over the past couple of years, I have discovered three must haves for any healthy and growing ministry team. Whether you’re a part of a multisite team or a small church with a growing volunteer team, these are three must haves for your team to grow in a healthy and sustainable way!
3 Must Haves for a Growing Youth Ministry Team
1) Clear Values
The more your team grows, the more you will need clear values. Your values are what drive your ministry. They are the guiding force when everything else gets fuzzy. Essentially, your team’s values are the things you believe to be most important. So if your values are unclear, your direction will be as well.
Without a clear sense of direction and values to guide you, your team and volunteers will all seem to pull in different directions. On the other hand, a team with clear values has everyone pushing together in the same direction at one time. This kind of alignment will move your ministry forward further and faster. Healthy ministry teams will always have clear values.
2) Clear Communication
After a decade in youth ministry, I’m convinced that the quality of your ministry is determined by the quality of your communication. The larger a team grows, the more difficult communication becomes. It’s easy to leave people out or under communicate. Not only that, but it also takes much longer to communicate than it used to because the size of your team has grown!
If you don’t communicate clearly and consistently, someone on your team will always get lost. When the people on your team get lost, so does your vision! Clarity is kindness, and one of the most loving things you can do for your volunteers is communicate clearly. According to John Maxwell, a leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. You can’t lead well without showing your people the way to go, and the best way to show them the way is to communicate clearly!
3) Clear Goals
The final must have for a growing ministry team is clear goals. Clear goals provide synergy to a team and get everyone pulling in the same direction.
The ministry teams with the clearest goals make the most progress. Your team’s goal will drive you to success or into a ditch. Their clarity and quality will determine which destination you end up at. If your team lacks clarity in its goals, the odds are team members will end up inadvertently pulling in different directions!
Your goals are where you want your ministry to go and how you plan to get there. Does your team know the goals for the ministry?
Clear values, communication, and goals are vital for the health of a growing ministry team. Where does your team stand with these must haves? In which area can your team take a step to make progress this year?