The Team Leader’s Handbook by Dave Moore might not jump off the shelf and commend itself as a gripping must-read but it’s actually full of gold and could be a hugely helpful resource, maybe even a game changer, for churches seeking to move from rotas to teams.
The target here is an unpaid ‘lay’ ministry leader who is leading a team of similarly unpaid gospel workers (volunteers) – so we’re talking about someone who e.g. leads the hospitality team or stewarding team or leads all the kids/youth leaders.
Moore’s big point is that the team leader needs to stop being a team member. Team members run the program, but team leaders run the team. You need to be the football coach not the football player. The place of a coach/leader is to be on the sidelines watching carefully and communicating to the team what they’re seeing. There is occasionally a time and place for being the ‘player-coach’ on the field but Moore reckons this is attempted far too often because the leader either hasn’t worked out how to win from the sidelines through their team or the leader hasn’t learned to enjoy seeing their team do the ministry more than they enjoy doing it themselves.
Highlights:
- Lots of good sensible wisdom on issues like how to navigate relational complications where there is both an authority aspect and a friendship aspect.
- Enough use of stories to keep it readable and digestible and flesh out principles in real life examples.
- Useful phrases. Some will need a bit of translation from the Australian but it’s very helpful to have examples of the sort of things a leader can say and the sort of questions he/she can ask to unlock and lead. E.g. just using the phrase “Anything else you want to talk about?” at the end of a 1-to-1 giving an open space to raise what is really on someone’s mind/heart. (This could work particularly well in indirect communication cultures where the thing you get onto right at the end of the conversation is actually the point of the whole meeting.)
- We forgive before we see repentance (p.68) – not a position everyone agrees with but it is what Christ does.
- The importance of re-recruiting people to your team every year. I.e. instead of recruiting people to serve indefinitely / assuming their continued service / removing the door handle on the inside, you just ask people to commit for one year and then actively ask them if they’re happy to continue for another year or want to serve elsewhere.
- Clarifying the difference between teams and rotas. With a team there is a shared responsibility for a kingdom goal (not just a task). They will work together towards that goal, review how they’re doing and where necessary change what they’re doing to better achieve that goal.
- Clarifying the nature of leadership. Leadership = ministry. It is just a different sort of ministry. Servant leadership doesn’t mean you don’t lead. It doesn’t mean you don’t have authority to call the shots. Servant leadership = calling the shots that are best, even at your own expense.
- Reminder that a leadership position is not a reason to think that you have somehow ‘graduated’ from the need to exercise the fruit of the Spirit.
How a church leader might want to use this book:
- Give it to a new team leader – don’t assume a great team member will instinctively know what to do to be a great team leader
- Use it as the content of a course training team leaders
- Read it for your own leadership – while it is aimed at volunteer teams there’s plenty of stuff that would apply to the leadership of a paid staff team.
