Just a few weeks ago I wrote about how important structure, particularly staff structure, is to the growth of a church. Our staff structure at Community Christian Church was recently shifted to be more prepared for future growth. As part of that shift we will now have one team for all of children’s and student ministries, comprising birth through college. Previously we had a children’s minister (me) and student minister (Ryan Arnold). The two of us worked together as much as we could on our own and had a good understanding of both ministries.
Now we’re on one team and I’m blessed to lead the charge for that team. We have been Orange (see whatisorange.org) in our thinking from day one in children’s and student ministry and now we get to really think orange together each week as we meet as one team. Previously our staff team all met together and now we’re moving to a team based model. Part of this move is necessary as our staff has grown and it also allows for future growth but a huge benefit is the ability for each team to have focused time together on their ministries.
I’m excited about the shift for numerous reasons, including…
- Thinking orange as one team like I mentioned.
- Working with our awesome team of leaders in children’s and student ministries.
- Leveraging my strengths across children’s & student ministries and leveraging the different strengths of our team to help make everything we do from birth through college better.
- Getting involved with student ministry. I won’t be doing anything specifically in student ministry but working with our student minister directly will allow me to be more involved. I spent 6 years volunteering about 15 hours/week in various student ministry leadership roles at the church I grew up in and I loved it.
- Serving college-age men and women. I want to help create a culture where college-age men and women are connected with great mentors who will serve them well. That was a crucial part of my faith journey and I want everyone to have that same opportunity.
The shift included even more changes for our staff and my hope is that it will all help us serve our church and our community better.
