Inside Track October 2004

A CHAT WITH OUR MEMBERS:
MINISTRY AS A TEAM

We received an intriguing email about team ministry from Jeanine Dinsmore, children’s director at Antioch Progressive Church in Sacramento, California. We followed up and she was delighted to share her experience for the benefit of our other members.

The Inside Track : Jeanine, in your email you said that you didn’t have to do much to recruit workers because the ministry leaders were seeing that success comes when you work as a team. Tell us more about that.

Jeanine Dinsmore: We’re organized in two different ways that overlap. One way is tribes. As people join the church, they’re assigned to one of 12 tribes, named for the tribes of Israel. A deacon oversees each of those tribes, and they pick a new mission every month. That way there are always new and different opportunities, so there’s something that just about everyone can do all the time.

The other way we’re organized is into ministries. As people join the church, they go through a gifts-assessment test. That helps the Antioch Advanced Leadership Team find the best ministry for them. That’s why things like recruiting and motivation aren’t issues for us. Once people are placed in a ministry that they have a passion for, it pretty well takes care of itself. So when we have a need that their ministry can provide, they’re ready, willing, and able. You don’t have many people who are marathon runners, so we do a lot of short-term mission projects. Everything is done in the context of “What are we doing for our community?”

IT: So the advanced leadership team assigns people to a specific ministry?

JD: We have “cell leaders,” who oversee several ministries within a cell. The leader of the Membership cell really pulls this together by handling the gifts tests for new members and bringing that to the other cell leaders. The cell leaders then place people in ministries that fit them.

IT: You mentioned teamwork as being the key to your success. How does that happen in your structure?

JD: I’ll give you an example. We have an advanced ministry team meeting once a month. At that meeting we let each other know what our needs are in advance. In our September meeting I handed out an “ask list” for what we needed for our upcoming Oktoberfest. They all signed up for the pieces that their ministries could cover, and they’re already taking care of their parts of what I need. I pretty much don’t have to worry about a thing.

For last year’s Oktoberfest, I decided to set up a hay maze for people to go through. I found hay for free; all we had to do was move it from one location, use it, and then put it back in a different location for the farmer. Our men’s ministry leader took that over, and they got a truck, got the hay, built the maze, put it back on the truck, and took it back. I didn’t have to worry about it.

We have a kitchen ministry, and our cuisine team will provide the food for all events (as long as it’s within budget.) We asked them to run our concessions and they did that, too. All we have to do is set it up and somebody else comes and does it.

We have a grandparent ministry that runs the nursery at events so the parents can participate in everything. It’s easy…it’s just one day for about three hours.

Sometimes in the summer when people are on vacation, it can get hard. But we try to plan things like our vacation Bible club a year in advance, so we’re sure everything is covered. If something comes up and a person can’t make their event, somebody else in their ministry or tribe will cover it.

IT: It sounds like you’ve created a church culture in which everyone expects to be involved in some type of ministry.

JD: That’s made clear from the beginning when new members are given their gift assessments. In my children’s program, we talk about that a lot too. In fact, we don’t do child care. There is no baby-sitting at this church. We tell people that if you leave your children here, they will be taught. I started a children’s ministry in groups from toddler to preteen. Children weren’t designed to sit and be quiet; they were designed to get messy, make noise, and learn what God has in mind for them.

And even the children’s ministry doesn’t just take; we help other ministries, too. I start leadership development training for 5^th and 6^th graders. They can be greeting at the door on Sunday morning, they can be ushering, they can be working in the children’s ministry (as long as they’re working with me to supervise them.) It’s a win-win situation, because they feel like they’re contributing and they learn from the beginning what’s expected of them.

IT: Thanks, Jeanine. I know a few burned-out ministry leaders who would love to hear about a church where leaders work together to accomplish each others’ goals.