Today I want to share a few thoughts about developing your team. It’s ridiculous to think this topic could be covered in a blog post, but here is an outline of how I’ve approached team development as I’ve led kids ministry. Each individual component offers an area that I believe is critical, but could be studied in much, much more depth.

And, as you know if you’ve read this blog for long, lists, alliteration & acronyms help me remember things (hold on the comments about my age! ), so here’s my acronym for D-E-V-E-L-O-Ping your team:

Develop yourself first.

• “You cannot pass on to others what you do not possess yourself.”
• You should have an intentional, daily plan for personal growth – what you pass on to others will flow from this.

Enlist the right people.

You will have a head start to developing a great team if you find people with:

• Character – Godly in actions, attitude & heart.
• Competence – able to do the job they are being asked to do.
• Chemistry – finding people that love each other & want the TEAM to succeed are more valuable than superstars.
• Commitment – willing to buy into the vision and give their all for it’s accomplishment.

Vision-cast continually

Sometimes we act like communicating vision one time should be enough with our core leaders. It’s not. Vision needs to become part of our language and drip from everything we do & say. Always.

• “If your vision is for one year, plant wheat. If your vision is for a decade, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.” Ancient Chinese Proverb
• “Vision focuses on what does not yet exist, but should.” George Barna

Encourage them

Your leaders need pats on the back because ministry is not only hard for you, it’s hard for them (in fact, NOT being the key leader is often harder because you are following someone else’s vision).  Take a moment to read these verses:

• I Thessalonians 5:11
• Hebrews 10:24-25

Lift them up in prayer

My favorite quote – let this sink in a little:

“Prayer does not EQUIP us for greater works…
prayer IS the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

Now meditate on these passages:

• John 17 – Jesus’ example of how to pray as a leader
• James 5:16

Offer growth & leadership opportunities to them

This is where most people start, missing the foundation of everything we’ve already mentioned! There’s so much more to “developing” your team than just “training” them. But here’s the process I use for this step:

1. Evaluate – where is this team member (individually) at in his/her leadership development process. Start them from there (and everyone will be different, which is one of the challenges of developing your team, and why it takes so much effort).
2. Equip – create a plan to help them grow in their required skills (specific to their role) and in their overall leadership abilities.
3. Empower – give them leadership responsibilities. Start by doing it with them, then watch while they do it themselves, then give them complete authority (while you retain responsibility).

Pursue deeper relationships with core leaders (the top 20%)

Yep, your going to play favorites. As you begin to develop leaders, some are going to rise to the top. The more you grow, the more you are going to focus on those that are becoming better leaders. That doesn’t mean that you ignore the others, but remember, you are trying to do more & more of what only you can do, give away responsibilities to rising leaders, and equip them to develop other leaders.

What would you add?

In the past several years the Church attracted generations of families based upon the fact that it was what those generation’s forefathers had done before them, so they just stuck with it.  There was always a common bond that tied families to the church.  Those bonds included:  the community in which they lived, the similarities in economic status, jobs of a similar type, a common race, familial relations, and several other types of criteria that people used to identify with each other.  While these things are not bad in unifying a group of individuals within a church body, they can be some-what isolating.  Paul made it clear in Ephesians 4:1-6 that our unity within the church body isn’t to be based upon our personal similarities but rather the fact that there is only one God and His one work of salvation.  That is the common bond that we should all share with other believers to unite us together.  Unfortunately that has not been the case and we have allowed our insignificant differences to separate us from one another.

One of the major issues facing the local church is a lack of young families and they are more culturally diverse than any other generation before them.  While this group of young families may seem minor right now (they don’t have high paying jobs, they don’t contribute as much to the overall giving to the church, and they may seem disinterested in the traditional church attendance), in the next ten to fifteen years they are going to be a force like no other before them.

Many at this point, would ask the question, “If they are going to be a tremendous force in the next ten to fifteen years, why should we begin concerning ourselves with them now?”  In the simplest answer possible, if we do not begin to evolve our methods of how ministry takes place we will lose this next generation family.

Lifeway Research completed a study on individuals who were born between 1980 and 1991, these individuals are the new “young family.”  Amid tremendous amounts of other information one specific thing caught my attention.  Out of 1200 people surveyed within this age range only 31 percent strongly agree with John 14:6.  They (Lifeway) also discovered that there is a mass number of young adults that are leaving the church because they do not find it relevant to their lives.

Here are a few things that we as church leaders can begin to do in an effort to slow this decline and develop this group into the next generation of Kingdom Builders.

1.      Develop New Forms

• When it comes to the overall direction of the church there are two main points that are discussed most often:  form and function.  The essential function of the church has to encompass at a minimum two things.  The first is that the church exists to glorify God.  The second function that the church is called to fulfill the Great Commission.  These two things take place in a variety of ways, which is what we call “form”.  We always must carry out the “function” of the church and that can never be lost but the “form” in which that is accomplished can be extremely diverse.

2.      Develop New Ways to Live Life Together

• Sunday school has been the traditional method used by most churches in the past century to create a sense of community within the body of a church.  Most churches use the “Sunday School Hour” to categorize groups of people (usually based upon age) in an effort to surround them with people that may be facing the same or similar life conditions.  While there is nothing wrong with this approach I believe that it is important that more interaction take place outside of the four walls of the church building.  Millennial families are looking for people that they can live their life with not just a group that they meet with once a week for an hour.  It is essential for the church to encourage leaders to take people into their homes and spend time with them on a regular basis.  Not just in a one on one setting but also in a group gathering.  We can learn more people in a two hour period outside of the church than a whole year of Sundays.

3.      Develop Outreach that Impacts Lives

• One of the marks of this millennial family is that they have a deep desire to make an impact on the world around them.  They have a desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves and affect their world in a positive way.  While international mission trips to Jerusalem, Peru, Pakistan, Europe, and Africa are great, millennial families can only have limited involvement with such events without abandoning their children or their spouses.  The young family wants to be useful at impacting their community in which they are living.  Creating a church culture of community involvement and taking care of the areas in which the church resides is a sure fire way to motivate this younger generation family to invest their time and resources.

4.      Develop a Community, not just a church

• This point goes hand in hand with the previous ones because as a church we should encourage our members to not only function well within the four walls but also outside of the building of the church.  We should develop a mentality of community as a church body.  As we live life together and do ministry together we (the church) should be ministering to the needs of one another.  This has a great impact on this new type of family because they see people involved and making a difference in the lives of people around them.

5.      Develop Opportunities for Individuals to Grow

• Another major draw for the young family is knowing that the church they are coming to serve and spend their time and energy in will give them opportunities to grow into other areas and provide them with additional training that will assist them in that process.  When the millennial family feels as if they have reached the peak of where they can go within a local body of believers they are more likely to become disinterested and unengaged.

6.      Develop Disciples who Disciple

• Most millennial families want to know what it is that God has called them to do as spouses and as parents.  We need to not just tell them, “This is what the Bible says…”, but we also need to provide them with the opportunities to develop, learn, and implement those skills.  Families that have these desires want to, in turn; share what they have learned with others who may not be as far along in the process as they are.  They want to make an impact and teach the next group of families that are coming up behind them.  The young families behind them desire the same thing because the last thing that most millennial families want is someone, outside of their blood relation, that is twenty years older than them telling them how they did it twenty-five years ago.

7.      Develop an Appreciation for Technology

• As a church we should develop an appreciation for the technological advances that the internet has to offer.  Our young millennial families are kept abreast about the latest events because of their technological involvement.  Skype, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Foursquare, Blogger, etc are all forms in which this generation keeps in constant contact with the world around them.  While there are many possible pitfalls in this social networking web there is also a great deal of benefits.  Keeping leaders and the church in front of these young families through social media is an essential tool for reaching out and keeping the activities of the church in the forefront of the busy lives of the millennial family.

Think back for a minute. What was the first Bible story you learned? What was the first Bible verse you memorized? For some children who have been in church since they were only a few weeks old, recalling the first Bible story they heard may be difficult because the stories are so ingrained in their biblical knowledge. Even remembering which Bible verse they learned first may be a challenge. Simply hearing the Bible stories and verses repeated numerous times has helped the children learn them with little or no effort.

As most adults will tell you, memorizing Bible passages tends to be much easier for children than for adults. However, applying the Bible verses may be difficult for both ages. Use one or more of the following suggestions to help you assist children in applying biblical teachings to their lives.

• Speak in terms the children will understand.
Imagine you graduated from college with a degree in education. Through your education, you were never exposed to much work in the automotive field. A problem develops with your car, and you take it to the repair shop. The mechanic tells you the torque converter in the transmission is not locking and may be slipping. In layman’s terms, he is telling you a wheel in the engine is not connecting with a rod in the transmission, so the transmission is not functioning properly. Which would you understand better—the technical automotive language or the layman’s terms? Bring abstract concepts to a level the children can understand and comprehend.

• Ask the children to restate the key points or concepts from the passage.
Make sure the children have a clear understanding of the purpose and content of the scripture passage. Asking the children to restate these things will assist you in insuring the children have a clear understanding. Remember—it is impossible for the children to apply something they do not understand.

• Ask: “How does the material you just learned differ from what you already know?”
Lead the children to process the information and compare it to concepts and ideas that are already developed in their thinking. Leading a discussion of how the material differs from what the children know assists the children in making application to the present.

• Ask: “How does this Bible story (or verse) apply to your lives?”
Encourage the children to move beyond simple “church answers” and share current situations with which they are dealing. Guide the children to understand how the Bible can apply to their lives. Encourage the boys and girls to personally apply the teaching to the situations they deal with each day.

• Help the children understand that applying biblical teachings to their lives may go against what other people believe.
Not everyone believes the same things or feels the same way about a situation. When children apply biblical teachings to their lives, they are taking a stand for what they believe and know is true. To test this, ask: “If you found a purse with $100 in it, what would you do?” Say: “Some people would keep the money and say that it was the person’s fault that lost the purse.” Ask: “What does the Bible say you should do? Imagine it was your money; would you want someone to keep the money?” By providing simple illustrations such as this one, you will gain an understanding into the beliefs of the children.

• Allow the children to see you personally applying biblical teachings to your life.
It has been said: “Your actions speak louder than your words.” Children will more likely desire to apply biblical teachings to their lives when they see evidence of biblical application in the lives of their teachers or other important adults in their lives. The example you set for the children in your group will stay with them longer than some of the words you say.

• Continually pray for yourself and the children as you present the material to them.
Pray for each child by name on a regular basis, asking God to help him hear and apply what he is learning.

• Assist parents in understanding the material covered and how to reinforce the life application throughout the week. Feel free to invite parents to be a part of the worship experience each week