Pre-ministry – Mission team leader check list

  • requirements to be on a team are approved by the church missions team (policy about membership, age, etc.)
  • applications to be filled out to apply to be on a specific missions team
  • the team leader may suggest the team constitution, but membership on the team needs to be approved by the missions team (this has never been a problem since we seldom have to choose between two people applying for one spot.  Nonetheless, it is good to have this procedure in place in case the day comes where we need to make such choices.  The leader should consult with your missions team so one person does not make the decision on his own. If nothing else, the missions team can test his rationale for picking one over the other.
  • all team members from all teams should be able to share the gospel at least by using a tract.  This should be reviewed in one training meeting and practiced at least at the training session.
  • all team members from all teams should have a written three minute testimony of their salvation experience that explains the gospel.  All Christians should be able to explain how they were saved.  Members of any missions team including youth and construction teams may run into a witnessing opportunity even if it is while they are breaking for fast food.  Every team member should give their testimony to the team during team training for practice or in the case of large teams (20 to Tez), each new member and some of the veterans should share their testimony during team training.
  • all team members from all teams should be part of some type of a plan to solicit prayer.  One way is to start with team prayer concerns, add a couple of personal concerns from each team member (requests that relate to the mission of the team), and ask four or five friends if they will use that as a guide to pray for them once a day while the team is ministering.  The best way to encourage more prayer is by personal requests of those with whom we have a strong relationship.  We could hand the prayer guides out to the whole church.  But we will have more who follow through and actually pray when we get individual commitments from people who know team members closely.
  • all team leaders need to understand that a missions team experience should be one of the spiritual highlights of the year.  That is accomplished by planning to make devotions, prayer, and sharing a special part of the ministry plans and schedule. The team leader teaches and demonstrates what it means to live full out for God.  Because the missions trip is something set apart from our normal routine and because it is a rare opportunity just to focus on God, life-changing things can and do happen.  At the very least, the team member should long remember it as a special, spiritual time with the Lord and with brothers and sisters in Christ.
  • devotions should be an important part of each day when the team is ministering.  In the early years of construction ministry, teams did significant devotions at every meal (so 3 X /day).  Sometimes the schedule imposed on a non-construction team (e.g. at Tez where Pastor Daniel so books our work that we only are together as a team three or four times in the week) that all-team devotions cannot happen every day.  But leaders are ready with someone with a preplanned devotion at least once a day in case it can be used.
  • In addition to praying before each meal, prayer should be encouraged by the leader or his designee during the time of missions ministry. Leaders could encourage the team not to break up for sleep until they have prayer each day, or not to leave for ministry until they pray together in the morning, or for room mates to pray together before they turn in (what we do in West Africa having the men and women pray separately before sleep).  Team members could covenant to pray for each other during the day.  However it is done, prayer should not be something left just to the people back home, the one leading devotion, or a short “God bless this food, Amen” at the meal times.  Dependence on the Lord through prayer should be a detectable part of the mission experience.
  • should there be a prayer meeting attendance requirement? I think it should be considered as a requirement and not just for those who have already become comfortable with prayer. Missions service, if anything, is a time to grow closer to God. What church would want to send a team to represent them whose members are not willing to come to prayer meeting to ask God’s blessing as a group before they go? I require our West Africa teams to come to prayer meeting until we go.  I think, at the least, we should be able to ask people to come to one prayer meeting where we can pray for them. It would be even better to require at least two (rationale: Come to one for others to pray for the team ministry, but come to at least one other prayer meeting to be willing to pray for needs of others). I’d be pleased if they would plan to come to more than two.  I am also of the opinion that a youth missions team should come to more than one prayer meeting to learn at a younger age something about corporate prayer.
  • all team members from all teams should be trained how to report to the church what God has done so that the church is built up and challenged. Identifying people in slides, telling stories about team members, and cracking jokes is easy.  A tiny amount adds flavor to the report.  But the most important part of every team member’s report is telling what God did in their heart to change them and who God changed through them. How will they be different now that they are back? When a team member knows this is what they will report, they pray during the time of ministry on the team for something to be able to share when they return.  God will answer that kind of prayer in amazing ways! Then the church will be encouraged and hopefully catch the passion and commitment of someone who had spent a week or two just serving and enjoying the Lord.  The team and even its report should be life-changing for first timers and a spiritual highlight of the year for the others.
  • Each team should have multiple training sessions.  Construction ministry may require a different number of training sessions than a youth missions team or an international team.  But each team member should be equipped to share the gospel (and practice during one training session), give a testimony (and practice it during one training session), and be able to succeed in what ministry we ask them to do. We want to continue our policy of openly sharing in the application process and during the training, the challenges and hardships a mission team’s work might require so no one is shocked.  They should learn that flexibility, gracious love, and the work of the Holy Spirit must be a part of everything we do on the mission field.
  • Each training session should include prayer by team members (not just the leader or the same one) and hopefully a season of prayer for the various aspects of training and ministry before them that God might bless in and through them..
  • The team needs a plan for soliciting prayer from others for the ministry of the team.  At a minimum, the leader should see that a list of prayer requests are typed up to hand out to others. Consult with a pastor if you want assistance.  We need deeper prayers than for everyone to be safe (though that is a legitimate prayer request) and have fun.  We also want to talk about heart change and God’s glory. Many teams like to allow each team member to add two or three specific requests to the prayer sheet. The leader should make sure all the personal requests are appropriate and related to the team ministry.  At the least, each team member should ask for prayer support and supply a prayer sheet of team prayer requests to several who will pray for them.  Asking personally is much more effective than merely posting the prayer requests somewhere and hoping someone will care enough to pray. There is room for the ministry team and/or the missions team to creatively plan other prayer efforts.  But what is the minimum effort we expect in generating prayer support?
  • Most, if not all training, should have spiritual components that might include teaching from the Bible, or if nothing else, the biblical reasons for the ministry and/or modeling how devotions should be led.
  • Special training needed for specific mission work should be given by assignments done outside of the training such as: dividing up responsibilities for things like food and transportation, requiring folks who will teach to sit in on other classes to observe teaching styles, preparation of lessons/curricula,/Bible stories/accessories/etc., or serving as a greeter to prepare for speaking with those you don’t know.  I require greeting training for all first-timers who have never done it.
  • The team leader should clear all training sessions with the church calendar (through Terri) to make sure there is no conflict with meetings or ministry already planned and also so that the team training may appear on the church calendar and bulletins so the church body is encouraged by the seriousness of scheduled training sessions.  It is not sufficient for your team to know when they meet.  The church needs to know so they are becoming excited enough to commit to praying seriously during the time of team ministry.
  • The team leader must schedule a Wed. prayer meeting the entire team will attend and supply the team prayer requests a week before to the man leading prayer that night (usually one of the pastors, you may start with Terri and she will get it to the right prayer meeting leader).
  • The team leader must schedule a service of dedication (through Terri) where the team is dedicated to their ministry.  Thus far we have not done this for construction teams, I assume because they are not specifically planning to take the gospel to a target group even though they train to be able to do so.  We do want to dedicate any team that has trained hard for spiritual ministry in the name of Jesus.  As long as we are largely just working with hammers and nails and not people, I am content with the way things are. But if a construction team also had a planned component of ministry directly to people, I really think we should consider also dedicating them as a requirement.
  • The team leader should schedule (through Terri) a Sunday PM time for the team to do their ministry report.  The team leader must also train the team on how and what to report as well as what to not include in a report (see samples from other teams).
  • The team leader needs to provide (to Terri) their meeting time for leaving and their time of return to the church.  The church office often fields questions from family or friends of the team.  Sharing your information with the office helps our answers to be accurate and also puts them in the church calendar and bulletin exactly as you want them.  It would be mildly embarrassing for the office to admit we have no clue on when our teams are leaving or when they return.
  • The team leader will ask the administrative assistant (Terri) to have a WELCOME HOME ***** MISSIONS TEAM (fill in the blank with your name) message posted on the Route 40 sign so it is seen when they return.  The primary purpose is to let locals know what God is doing through our church.  The secondary benefit is to encourage the team upon their return.  The third benefit is to make sure that even those who only attend occasionally know that God is at work through us.
  • The church plans most of its worship and prayer a month or more beforehand. What is done on Sunday PM’s and what is posted on the signs are often planned months ahead.  It is a very helpful courtesy for team leaders to schedule all of their dates listed above before they start training.  That is an evidence of carefulness of organization to which I think we all should strive.  I know I will find it helpful to use the check list I am generating.  As team leaders we want to do all these things. But there is so much more to leading a team than one realizes until having done it.
  • Determine who will be informed of the team’s safe arrival.  It is nice for the church to know.  The family of team members also want to know. Team members and their families all need to be clear what arrangements there are for relaying their safe arrival.  A team sent only a short distance and is in easy phone contact with home, may have each member notify their own family.  A team going to a place where communications to home is more difficult may design a calling tree so that one call from the team may be relayed to a designated contact member of each family.