Does it seem like preparation for a weekly ministry program always runs down to the wire? Is it hard to delegate prep work to volunteers so it ends up back on your plate on day of your program? Do you somehow believe that ministry is improved through chaos? Do you believe that God somehow rewards you for pulling it together in the eleventh hour?
I ran across this verse a few months ago, and it has become one of my new favorites. It talks about wisdom as applied to how we do work.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 NET
10 If an iron axhead is blunt and a workman does not sharpen its edge, he must exert a great deal of effort;
so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.
In Solomon’s day, the axe was a universal tool, used for many tasks that involved cutting and building. If I wanted to apply this verse to how we work in ministry, the axe would be the ministry team. So this series is mostly about things that we can do to “sharpen” our ministry to enable our team’s effectiveness.
One thing that dulls our ministry team’s effectiveness is being “unorganized”; continually in scramble mode. To get out of scramble mode, you have to stop being self-serving. That’s right, the starting point of getting organized is putting others before your self; humility. You are not getting organized to make yourself feel better (although it probably will), you are doing it for your team and for the people you minister to.
Now, are you finally ready to get out of scramble mode, for good?
Before I go on, I want to talk about the idea of a ministry program or a program ministry. What I am talking about is a ministry with a regular cadence of events (e.g. a weekly youth ministry program). Specifically, ministry producing events with a target audience or consistent group of people who attend. We could think of the weekly worship service as a program ministry, but it’s target audience is everyone, and it is usually the primary focus of the lead pastor and the boards. To be candid, though, some of this advice can be applied to normal weekly worship service.
There are three things you need to do to get out of scramble mode:
- Planning
- Communicating
- Team building
Planning is one of those things that people think they don’t need until it’s too late. Planning is nothing more than managing the clock and the calendar. It is spending your time and your team’s time intentionally. It is setting expectations and living up to commitments. Having a good plan means that you know how long things take, and you allow enough time to do them well. You need to think about what needs to be done by when, and who can do it.
Communicating is something that most people think they are good at. The effectiveness of communication is not defined by the sender – it is defined by the recipient. That means you probably don’t know if you are good at communicating, unless you ask people to reflect what you said. In a program ministry context, communicating starts with thinking about what others need to know.
- What does your team need to know?
- What do your ministry subjects need to know?
- What do their families need to know?
- What does your boss or board need to know?
Communicating well means not bothering people with details that are not relevant to them. Communicating connects to planning, because you need to think about when they need to know it.
Team building is not as much about going on retreat, or getting to know each other, but following the principles of body life.
- Valuing the gifts and talents of everyone on your team.
- Helping your team use their spiritual gifts.
- Encouraging your team members to step up.
- Coaching them by giving them feedback.
- Being very clear about each member’s job, specifically what is expected, when they are signing up.
- Being direct when they are not meeting expectations.
- Asking them for feedback then listening to them and valuing their feedback on your planning, your communication and your team building.
- Helping them to work together to solve problems and work without you directing every task.
In the next few posts, I will spend some words on the specifics of planning communicating and team building.