Four Valuable Concepts When Preparing A Team

People need far less training than they think they do for short-term mission trips.  In fact, there is a danger in providing too much training, or over-training.  There is much greater value in under-training, if you will.

Clearly, people need an overview of the trip and training on what they are going to be doing.  They need to hear the bigger picture and how they fit in and will help move the vision forward.  Understanding their strategic role is critical, as well.  And surely they need some basics on ministering cross-culturally.

But, what is most needed is a team saturated in the Gospel and prayer before they get on the plane.  I typically have each team member pick a Gospel account and read and re-read it and pray through it extensively for three months.

Then, when we get to the cross-cultural training portion of our twice monthly team meetings, I spend time discussing four words:  humility, learner, servant and unity.  With these four concepts and carefully selected bits of training and non-training the team is actually better prepared to be used by God.

Humility

Too much training can build too much confidence.  And then comes the urge to walk in tall and charge ahead.  Though it would be done politely most of the time (from our cultural perspective), we still don’t need an outside team moving ahead unaware of their misplaced confidence.

It is preferable to have team members in a posture of dependence upon the Lord and one another.  Getting the ministry done well during the short time there requires trusting our national partners and following their lead, thankful to be a part of God’s plan under their direction and plans.

Learner

Too much preparation leads to people who are too prepared.  Then they will want to teach something to someone.  The experts are our partners not our preparation manuals on culture and ministry.  Such preparations should be kept general and in the background; rather we should build anticipation to learn from actual real people.

It is preferable to have team members show up as joyful observers of culture and ministry, prepared to change the way they think and do ministry.  By providing minimal training at home there is no option but to learn by experience alongside a believer from another culture.  

Servant

Too much training prepares people to be in charge and direct events to unfold as they envision them.  They come ready to give out, but not to think though what would best serve their brothers and sisters.  It tends to focus their efforts on making a successful trip happen by their own cultural standards.

It is preferable to have team members who feel less able and less in control.  This way they are more observant of true needs and willing to take direction from others, especially from our national partners.  Also, realizing they have less to give puts them in a position of wanting to do whatever would be most helpful from our hosts’ perspective.

Unity

Too much training makes for independent-minded people with their own goals.  They will more likely attempt to forge their way and make their own trip happen.  The relational stress level in taking a team cross-culturally is high enough and over-training just adds all the more opportunities for disunity.

It is preferable to keep people working in the project together with an inter-dependent spirit.  Maintaining unity is the greatest team challenge.  With barely enough training the team is more likely to realize how much they need one another to accomplish goals and glorify God in all they say and do. 

A Team Prepared to Head Out

Understanding these concepts, along with personal time with the Gospel of Christ, and then purposefully not training the team any more than is truly necessary, prepares them well to live out these concepts for their brief time in the field. 

Training on these four concepts has been the most helpful preparatory lesson for the teams I have led.  It ends up being most helpful to the mission’s advance, and to themselves as growing Christians.  The team as a team becomes more effective at sharing the Gospel; and then upon returning, they are even more eager to discover what God might have next for them in His Mission in the world.