Building a Vision Team for Healthy Church Revitalization
No Pastor Can Do It Alone. And He Shouldn’t Even Try
As a pastor seeking to lead your church through a season of revitalization and renewal, one of the most important steps you can take is assembling the right team to help shape and execute the vision and strategy. Building a strong, diversely gifted team to participate and guide the process will help you gain momentum and lead to better results.
Why a Team is Crucial
The pastor or key leader of a church can't do everything. He doesn't have every gift. What often happens is, is a church is shaped and only shaped by that key leader's key gifting. But the truth is, is that we need a diversity of gifts. We need a well- rounded group of people with different gifts, talents and experiences to help determine how we operate and function, as a body.
No one leader, no matter how gifted, has all the gifts and skills needed to effectively lead a church through major change. It takes a team with complementary strengths.
Assembling your vision team isn't just about getting extra help - it's about having the right combination of gifts and talents around the table to holistically lead. As Proverbs reminds us, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22)
6 Key Roles for Your Revitalization Vision Team
As you build your team, we suggest looking for people to fill the following key roles:
1. The Visionary Leader
This person brings the ability to develop, communicate and inspire people with vision. You're not going to unify a group of people towards a goal or aim and lift them with inspiration without vision. Even if the lead pastor isn't the strongest visionary, having this gift on the team is critical.
2. The Administrator
More than just keeping the details straight, this team member takes the vision and breaks it down to actual meaningful tasks and, and also breaks down the structure into a meaningful executable plan to be delivered on. The Administrator brings accountability to execute the vision.
3. The Shepherd
To balance out the Visionary and Administrator and their bias toward action, the Shepherd focuses on making sure people's needs are met in the process. Having the shepherd is so important. He needs to speak into the vision and the plan so that the people are cared for, so that you're not burning people out and neglecting people in the process.
4. The Spiritually Gifted Teacher
Look for someone who teaches God's Word in a way that truly changes lives. This person is focused on how God's Word is going to be transformative for people and represents that priority on the team.
5. The Gatherer
The Gatherer is a people-person who naturally draws others in and gets them engaged. They don't just lead people to Christ, but they're actually people who are able to bring people to do something and mobilize others. Every church needs that person who can rally the troops and get people excited.
6. The Translator
Finally, the Translator serves as a missionary to the community. They understand the culture you are trying to reach and can be a bridge. According to Nathan, "This translator is really, really critical because you can be doing all kinds of amazing things with excellence...but it's not actually communicating to the people you're targeting." The Translator keeps the team relevant.
A Few Caveats
As you build this team, keep a few things in mind:
Look for people with complementary gifts. Rarely will one person be strong in more than 2-3 areas.
Not everyone has to be "elder qualified". The Gatherer and Translator especially may not fit the typical mold. The key is that they love Jesus and are committed to Him and the church.
This team will shape your culture. Be intentional about the voices you have in the room.
Moving Forward
If you are a pastor preparing to lead revitalization, don't go it alone. Prayerfully begin assembling a team with these key gifts.
Together, empowered by God's Spirit, you can cast a compelling vision and lead your church into a new season of health and impact for God's Kingdom. Trust that God will work through you and your team as you obediently follow His lead. May He revitalize His Church for His glory!
Use the form for access to the Vision Team Profile Document