Transform Your Church with Ministry Teams

by E. Stanley Ott

The concept of "ministry teams" is rapidly taking hold in churches, but just what are they and how do they work? Transform Your Church with Ministry Teams outlines what effective ministry teams look like, describes what they can offer local congregations, and gives concrete step-by-step suggestions for making them happen. The power of ministry teams lies in their unique capacity to generate genuine Christian fellowship, nurture disciples, develop leaders, and mobilize people for ministry. While traditional church leadership organizations concentrate almost exclusively on task, policy, and program, ministry teams are designed to enhance faith development and, thus, ministry effectiveness. E. Stanley Ott explores three main areas of ministry-team development. First, he explains the philosophy behind ministry teams and discusses the issues involved in shifting from committee-based to team-based ministry. Second, he tells how to begin ministry teams, including how to identify team leaders and members and how to determine their roles. Third, he looks at the details of ministry-team life, including ways to build team fellowship, foster discipleship and communication within teams, and accomplish specific ministry tasks. Filled with wise, time-tested advice, including four how-to appendixes, this book will help pastors and lay leaders transform the life of their church or Christian organization.

207 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jeff Bjorgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of Ott's book, developing healthy teams to do the ministry of the church. By my own experience, when teams are given ownership, when they have team buy-in, and when the team genuinely cares for its members, a lot of good and creative work gets done. The appendixes at the back of the book are worthwhile keeping close at hand, as they spell out how groups should run their meetings.

I did feel that the book was too long. It was a systems book, and a detailed one at that, but I felt that many of the ideas seemed to repeat themselves, and the writing style didn't "lure" me forward, wanting to find out what he'll say next. Although I appreciated how the book resisted turning teams into a corporate model of doing church, infusing discipleship into the DNA of each group, I found a lot of the points were common sense, particularly in a contemporary evangelical church setting where teams or small groups are already often the foundation blocks of a church when it comes to ministry. I also wish that the book and title were a bit more appealing. I know you shouldn't by a book by it's cover, but it could have used a fresher look and "Transforming Your Church with Ministry Teams" should have been a sub-title. Yes, that's a cheesy criticism, but it is what it is.

Regardless of those criticism, I think the book has value alongside other leadership and systems books (a "how to" of organizing a church). And I particularly appreciated it's comments about what every volunteer needs and the importance of sending (read commissioning) teams.