Working as a Team

1. Working as a Team

2. Aim To enable participants to identify and reflect on their current skills and encourage them to actively seek support for themselves in their work with children.

3. Learning outcomes • To evaluate current skills, gifts, strengths and weaknesses and identify possibilities for personal development • To recognise the need to feel valued, equipped and supported in their role • To develop the skills and habit of reflecting on their work with children.

4. Opening thought • There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps in everything we do. The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. • (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

5. Team debrief • Who took the lead? • What other roles were identifiable? • Was everyone made to feel part of the activity? • How was the contribution of each person valued? • What words or actions assisted the group?

6. What’s in a team? • What needs to happen in a team?

7. Who’s in a team? • Which do you think you represent? • Which roles might have been displayed in the earlier part of the session? • Which roles are missing in the team you work with?

8. Job advert • Write a job advert for the team of people you need for the children’s work at your church.

9. Reflection in action

10. Four qualities of a good leader • Leaders have vision • Leaders attract followers • Leaders can communicate their vision • Leaders enable the group to achieve a common goal.

11. Reflection on learning • What do you bring to the team in which you work? • Are there new skills you could develop to enrich the team and complement the other members? • How can you help all the members of the team to play an active role within it? • Are there members of your church who would be willing to be part of the support network for the children’s work? • How can you encourage them to be involved?