Calling a Team

Discern Your Leadership Team

Next, work with your faith community’s leadership and initiative facilitator to discern who from your community is called to participate on a Leadership Team. You can get started by identifying the gifts needed for the Leadership Team and drafting position description(s). See sample leadership team position description.

For example, the team needs to include people open to a new vision, passionate about helping members discover their gifts and call to ministry, as well as people who are gifted in organizing, teaching, facilitating, and researching. You will also want to be sure to consider the diversity of the community and ensure that it is represented within the Leadership Team. For instance, you want to think about the various ways in which your congregation is diverse and try to get a diverse team that will best represent your context.

• Are you inviting youth to participate?
• What other age-groups need to be represented?
• Do you need a representative from the various committees in the congregation organization?

You also have several other decisions to make:

How will you call your Leadership Team?

There are a variety of approaches you can take to this important step in the process. They are outlined below with the pro’s and con’s of each:

• All-call: Announce your intention to begin your asset-based initiative and advertise for Leadership Team members in forums and newsletters. While this is the most democratic approach, be aware that individuals may volunteer that do not have the gifts necessary to participate actively or appropriately. Carefully discern with your leadership if this is the best method and, if it is, plan how you will pastorally handle redirecting some volunteer energy toward other areas of ministry.
• Private invitations: Work with your leadership to develop a short list for candidates and either send them an email with a good explanation of the initiative and a job description attached. You can also meet with them on-on-one to issue a personal invitation. The benefit of this approach is that you can be relatively sure you are getting people with just the right combination of personalities. The downside is that a closed process can lead to questions about how the team was selected and possibly hurt feelings from those not invited. If you choose this method, be prepared with pastoral and honest responses.

How does the Leadership Team fit into the fabric of your wider community?

Specifically, you will want to consider:

• How the team relates to existing ministry teams. For example, how will the team incorporate the work of the existing Outreach or Justice programs? How will the team interact and incorporate youth and children’s ministries?
• The level of staff support the team will require. What will you require from your Rector, Senior Warden, or others? To what extent will you be asking them to incorporate the work into preaching, Vestry meetings, newsletters, and more? Be sure you take the time to gain the support of these key stakeholders before you continue.
• Will your Leadership Team have a chairperson with other leadership roles? What are those and what is the job description associated with each?
• What type of training you will provide for Leadership Team? Who will participate in an asset-based initiative training? Will you have 1 or 2 facilitators who will both train the Team members and take a primary role in guiding the initiative?

How many people should be on the Leadership Team?

This is a question with which you and the faith community leaders will need to grapple. You will want it to be big enough to do the work, but not too big so it becomes unwieldy. Many think that a group of 5-7 is a good size, and if you are working in a large faith community, you may want to expand that number.

How will you communicate with the wider community through this process?

Good communication should be a part of the very fabric of this initiative from the beginning. Make sure to get off on the right foot by answering these questions:

• Will you start with just a broad outline of the asset-based approach and why it’s an exciting opportunity for your community?
• Will you work to generate support before the initiative gets underway?
• How will you announce the Leadership Team?
• How often will you update the community on the Team’s progress?

Celebration: First Step on a Journey

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Martin Luther King

Once you have called your Leadership Team, celebrate this important milestone with the community. This can be anything from an initiative kick-off to a commissioning of the team for ministry.