Good leadership is essential to the success of your church. When frustrations develop in leadership, you can almost always trace it back to a break down in communication. For as good as we may be at speaking on a stage, it seems that many leaders struggle at communicating off the stage.

For this reason we sat down as a team and developed clear expectations for two of the most important roles in our organization: Team Leaders and Senior Team Leaders.

Team Leaders in our church are responsible for overseeing ministries and volunteers for a specific service. For example, a First Service Nursery Team Leader would be responsible for overseeing the success of the nursery during the first service. A Second Service Parking Team Leader would be responsible for overseeing the success of the parking ministry during second service. You get the picture.

So, we ask our Team Leaders to do three things. If they do these three things listed below, we consider that a success.

Team Leader

1. Show Up

• Be passionate.
• Be on time.
• Be a friend.
• Be an example.

2. Send Weekly Reminders

• Create a schedule.
• Gather contact info for each volunteer.
• Set aside a time each week to remind those scheduled to serve that weekend.

3. Care For and Encourage Your Team

• Pray for your leaders and your volunteers.
• Send weekly encouragement through the use of scriptures, devotionals, and stories.
• Notice who is missing and check up on them.

Now, we expect more out of our Senior Team Leaders because they are responsible for the success of entire ministries. They are not just responsible for one service; they are responsible for every service.

So, the Senior Team Leader of the greeting ministry will work alongside the team leaders to make sure the ministry is successful.

Senior Team Leaders are expected to do the same three things as Team Leaders, as well as the following.

Senior Team Leader

4. Recruit Volunteers for Your Team

• The most effective way to get someone plugged in is through a personal invite.
• Recruit volunteers with vision, not guilt.

5. Schedule Your Volunteers to Serve

• It is your responsibility to schedule volunteers to serve.
• If a volunteer is going to be miss or be late, it is your responsibility to cover or replace them with another volunteer.

6. Coach and Train Your Team

• Share articles, emails, and personal experiences that demonstrate what your ministry should look like.
• Have a training process that makes your volunteers feel confident and comfortable to perform their role successfully.
• Evaluate volunteer performance as it happens, and coach as needed.

7. Cast Vision to Your Team

• Cast the church’s vision and values, as well as your ministry vision, to your team on a consistent basis.
• Where there is no vision people perish, but when people embrace the vision people will flourish.
• Casting vision is simply communicating the vision in a way that others make your vision their own.

My church now has two services on Sunday mornings, and we ask our Senior Team Leaders to make it a priority to be there for every service. Not all of them do that, but we find that the ones who do are generally more successful in their ministry.

Now, I realize your church may not have multiple services, and this system may not work for you. That’s ok. I just wanted to give you an idea that you can take and customize to fit your own needs. I hope this helps.

Do you and your team struggle to communicate effectively? How do you make sure everyone is on the same page?