Deacon Ministry Teams provide a lively way for Deacons to be involved in ministry to the church and community. Whereas the Deacon Family Ministry plan expects each Deacon to be a “generalist,” the Team plan allows a Deacon to serve as a “specialist.”  The strength of the Team plan is that it allows each Deacon to choose to work in an area that best fits him.  He does something he’s already gifted, talented, skilled, or trained to do.

1. Start with Strengths.
Find out what each Deacon can do well or loves to do.  Ask them to examine five areas of their life:

• spiritual gifts
• things they love doing
• natural abilities and/or job training
• personality tendencies
• life experiences / hard knocks.

2. Survey the Saints
Ask the congregation what areas of need the church is meeting very well and three areas of need in which they would like to see the church improve.  Each church member can receive a blank piece of paper or a page with a generic list of ministries / needs from which to choose.

3. Seek the Spirit
Informed by the strengths the Deacons already have and the perceived needs the congregation has identified, pray for wisdom and guidance.  Pray for the Holy Spirit’s influence in choosing which areas to develop Deacon Teams.

4. See the Solutions
Envision the end results of carrying out the Deacon Team Ministry plan.  What results do you want and expect to get from ministering to the church and community.  Hold this up as a target, goal, or vision for doing the work you have been equipped to do. Put them in writing.  Work toward hitting the specific targets.

• One Deacon body chose to organize around only one team: personally delivering sermon recordings to shut-ins.
• A larger Deacon body organized ten teams: Hospital, Widows, Shut-ins, Grief, Prayer, Membership, Food, Newcomers, Visitors, and Witnessing.
• Another Deacon group worked in four teams: Shut-in/Nursing Homes, Hospital visitation, Visitor follow-up, and Church Staff families
• Team members can be Deacons only, non-Deacon partners, or church members.  Teams are built around common interests.

Your Cooperative Program gifts provide packets of resources for starting Deacon Ministry and is available from the Leadership & Worship Team.  Also an optional two-and-one-half hour training session is provided called, “Be It, See It, Risk It, Do It.”  For more information, please visit (www.absc.org/Deacons)