by Gina McClain
Have you ever watched a team of Kindergartners play soccer? It’s comical. Arguably the most disorganized sport on the planet.
I remember my daughter’s first experience with soccer. Like a miniature version of the Women’s U.S. Soccer Team, these girls looked fierce in their matching jerseys and soccer socks with their ponytails swinging behind them. They meant business.
Yet watching these young, Olympic hopefuls on the field was a far cry from the real U.S. team. There were no strategic passes, targeted shots or daring headshots into the opponents’ goal.
It was nothing more than a massive cluster of ponytails meandering across the field as the ball was kicked from one end to the other.
We left that day confident that we could strike “soccer scholarship” off our list of college funding options.
Truly, I had no hope that soccer would be her thing. It was awfully entertaining to watch the group as they scrambled to figure out how to work together to score a goal. But as the season progressed, with time and practice (lots of practice), the team transformed. They learned that different positions have different responsibilities in the game, yet every position is designed to work together to score a goal.
We do the same thing in our churches every week. We have so many moving parts— so many players on our team. And yet all these players are there to work together to obtain two objectives: to connect kids in relationship at church (what we call “Lead Small”) and to equip parents to engage in faith conversations at home (what we call “Parent Cue”).
Yet, if we don’t have the right structure or game plan in place, our Sunday mornings can look a lot like a Kindergarten gaggle on the soccer field—a group of people scrambling to score that elusive goal. Everyone takes a kick at the ball, but we just don’t seem to keep it moving in the right direction.
That’s what makes the right team structure and game plan so important.
A team structure is a framework that supports what you want your ministry to accomplish. In fact, I would contend that your team structure isn’t simply your staff organizational chart. It’s the framework that fosters your culture.
To be clear, this team structure isn’t your amazing volunteer team who comes every week to connect and teach your kids. Nope. This structure is the inner workings that support your volunteer team. It’s your inner circle. That group of people you lean on to make that amazing volunteer team . . . well . . . amazing.
In a smaller church context, this inner team may be comprised of high-capacity volunteers who lead other volunteers. In a larger context, this inner team is your staff.
Whether your team is comprised of paid staff or volunteers, your goal is to establish a structure for how they work together. Just like players on a field, every role in your structure contributes toward the same goal.
We call this staffing for your culture.
In kid and student ministry, there are many plays we execute. But the two most important plays are: the connections we strive to create between small group leaders and kids at church, and the tools we put in a parent’s hands to foster faith conversations at home.
So, how do you do this? How do you staff for a Lead Small and Parent Cue culture?
It begins with creating a “team of champions” and hard wiring a “game plan” for the win.
This blog article was excerpted from the e-single Fuel Your Recruiting by Gina McClain. Get this entire e-single for free with a subscription to GoWeekly—a library of resources for church leaders. Learn more about GoWeekly at goweekly.com. For more e-singles about developing small group leaders and engaging parents, check out the You Lead Book Series on Amazon.
