A Word About Teams

Our church leadership has transitioned from committee-based leadership to team-based leadership.  The primary difference between committees and teams is this.  Committee members are elected to office by the Charge Conference.  Team members are a part of a team because that is what they sense God is calling them to do.  Committees meet because they have to; teams meet because they want to.  Our church has three committees: Church Council, Staff-Pastor Relations, Trustees and Nominations.  The rest of the ministry in the church is team-based.  For more general information about how team-based ministry works, read the document “Team-Based Ministry” by William M. Easum, a ministry resource available in the church office.

 

Our church has three basic core teams: Nurture, Outreach, and Witness.  Nurture teams are formed primarily to care for the people who are already a part of our church.  Outreach teams are formed primarily to care for the people who are not a part of our church and who may or may not become a part of our church in the future.  Witness teams are formed primarily to reach out to others for the explicit purpose of bringing them into the church.  The following pages are an attempt to categorize our existing ministries under these three categories. Granted, not all of these teams have been easy to categorize for a number of reasons.  First, we are trying to overlay some pre-existing ministries onto a new structural format, and in some cases it has been like trying to fit square pegs into round holes.  Second, some ministries in the church do not readily lend themselves to the team concept and are best served by individuals.  These ministries are still listed here and the individual has been designated as the team leader, so he or she can add people to their team if they so desire.  Third, some ministries are a combination of nurture, outreach and witness.  For example, Vacation Bible School is primarily a Witness Team since it is intended to include other people not a part of our church and introduce them to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  However, VBS also provides nurture for those who are already a part of our church, since children from LUMC attend as well.  VBS has also provided outreach by taking up a collection for less privileged families in our area.  The primary purpose of VBS is still Witness, and so that is how it has been categorized.  The same applies to other ministry teams as well.  They are categorized according to their primary purpose.