5 Advantages of Teams over Committees

Written by C. Gene Wilkes

"Team" is part of how you view your church and how you do its work. You change from committees to teams only when you change how you view church and how it functions. Any other reasons for change are simply cosmetic. Creating teams in the wrong environment will be ineffective and potentially destructive to the organization.

Teams: A Biblical Model
The basis for forming ministry and support teams is the biblical model for the church. 1 Cor. 12 and Romans 12 teach that the church functions like a human body. It is highly organized, but it is organic and diverse. A body has many members, but each one belongs and each one has a functional place of service. All the members work as a unit to follow the directions of the brain. Every part is connected to the others in such a way that what it does contributes to the overall health of the body.

Paul On Leadership: Servant Leadership in a Ministry of Transition

Ministry and support teams are one way to connect members systematically to be the body of Christ. I am convinced that teams are the most effective way to complete the mission of God for your church because they best match the biblical analogy of integrated teams of organs in a body.

What is the Difference?

Committee-run churches fit an institutional model of the church.
Teams belong to a mission-driven, organic model of the church.

Unique Functions of Committees:

Committees belong to an institutional way of doing church.
Committees tend to control the resources of the institution in order to maintain its stability and viability.
Committees often see their role as controlling resources rather than empowering others with them.
Committees tend to protect the assets of the organization.
Committees tend to make decisions for others.
Committees value agendas and meetings.
Chairmen head committees.

Unique Functions of Teams:

Teams belong to a mission-driven environment.
Teams empower members and others to complete the mission of the church.
Teams enthusiastically invest assets to complete the mission.
Teams primarily make decisions for themselves as related to the goal.
Teams value performance and goals.
Servant leaders lead teams.

5 Advantages of Teams over Committees.

1. Teams involve more people more effectively.
The mission to make disciples of all people requires that every member of the body be in service to it. Both needs and goals related to such a God-sized mission are so numerous that a limited number of groups cannot meet them. Members gathered in teams will involve more people on mission. You may have more people on committees in a traditionally organized church, but teams with a shared mission come closer to doing the work God has assigned the church to do.

2. Teams maximize a servant leader’s potential and minimize her weaknesses.
Teams maximize the potential of true leaders in your church. A gifted, servant leader mobilizes and empowers a team of people who share his or her passion to meet a need. In the same way, a team of on-mission members can minimize the weaknesses of the leader. An effective team allows the strengths of some members to compensate for the weaknesses of others.

3. Teams provide multiple perspectives.
The advantage of diversity on a team is that the team does not need to argue over where it is going. It simply asks how will it get there. Multiple perspectives help accomplish that goal. Diversity among members in the context of shared leadership toward a shared goal allows the team to be more effective.

4. Teams keep the leader accountable.

Churches evaluate the committee chair’s performance related to the ability to perpetuate the work of the committee.
The team leader is evaluated by his performance related to reaching the goals assigned to his team.

Servant leaders in team ministry make themselves accountable to others on the team for its effectiveness. If reaching the goal is the measure of success, then leaders who have made themselves accountable to it will graciously give leadership to someone else who is more effective than he is.

5. Teams can simply do more.
Teams score. Committees meet. It does not take much to meet. Reaching a goal, however, requires endless energy, strategic positioning, and creative tactics. Teams that reach their goals or meet the needs assigned them have the potential to do more than other groups in the church - especially when they have a clear goal in front of them.

C. Gene Wilkes is pastor, Legacy Drive Baptist Church, Plano, Texas. Learn how to do this in your church by taking your leaders though his excellent studies:

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