The Church of the Nativity Ministry Team Program held an assessment meeting on September 12, 2012. [1] The group agreed to continue the Ministry Team program and investigate alternative meeting times. [2] Feedback highlighted strengths like a sense of community and service, but identified opportunities to increase membership, leadership, and communication. [3] Small group feedback supported the Ministry Teams overall but suggested improving team objectives, communication, recruitment, and budget guidelines.

1. Church of the Nativity
Ministry Team Program Assessment
September 12, 2012
1. Group Assessment-
Keep Ministry Team program– Done!
Investigate holding meetings at another time along with Wed night, e.g. have a quarterly forum
on Sunday to engage others or alternate meeting on Wed night and Sunday mornings –
Stephanie and Jane to discuss
Team communications: copy all members, Vestry liaison and Stephanie on emails – all Ministry
Teams
Clarify Team leader role, time commitment, training, and support, include Vestry liaison and
team member roles as well – Stephanie and Jane are working on this
Look into ‘job fair’ idea - Pending
Standardize meeting minute format – Jane to send out meeting minute format for October
meeting
2. General Feedback Themes –
Strengths:
Sense of Community, service
Vestry Support
Collaboration, ownership, teams
Visibility to minutes, budget, transparent
Process, program is good
Right teams
Liked the Wednesday night meeting time
Calendar coordination
Opportunities for Improvement;
How to get more membership and resources
Review of what teams did, recaps, collaborate
Vestry support
Need to increase team leadership, rotate role?
Commitment, sustainability
Roles, clarity, authority
More assessments, group discussions

2. Opportunity in communications, get folks outside of teams discussing Ministry Teams,
format minutes, create a ‘buzz’, have a ‘job fair’, now do we increase awareness to
membership?
Duplicate efforts, competing events
Understand, define team authority
Flexible meeting dates, times?
Understand budget, guidelines
3. Small Team Feedback Comments-
Team #1
Strengths:
Team knows what to do
Work in community
Team is service
Once a month is good
Fast acting
Bldg/Grounds very active
Vestry support (some teams)
Meeting duration
Email
Community
Personal act of service
Belonging to church
Opportunities for Improvement;
Need more team members
Day to meet decided by team (can this happen?)
Resources (personnel)
Review time (all teams share)
Are we reading minutes?
Provide transparency
Vestry support
Church membership increase
Team #2

3. Strengths:
Collaboration
Shift in ownership
Recognizing shortcomings, process owners
Team leadership
Feeling of empowerment
Opportunities for Improvement:
How to maintain involvement?
Strength in numbers
More music in children’s programs
Increase Team leadership and clarity, # of leaders
Clear up Vestry liaison roles
Increase exposure of activities and results
More think tank time, broaden teams impact on 3 yr plan
Team #3
Strength:
We do think overall that we are better off than a year before
Budget, minutes visibility
Sunday Times working well
Opportunities for Improvement:
Worship Team – need clearer objectives, goals
Need to increase communications about Ministry Teams, etc., distribution, alternative forms
of communication, listserve is vastly undersubscribed
Increase awareness of Ministry Teams – how to sign up
Inter-team communication, mechanism to share projects
Recruitment, leadership
Team #4
Strength:
3 Education Teams – ok
Bldg and Grounds – Ok
Communications – Ok
Worship – questionable

4. Finance and Stewardship – Ok
Outreach – ok
Good pathways
Opportunities for Improvement:
Proportional team membership
Worship team – give ‘em more reins (clarity of purpose)
Shift team members or ask for more?
Quick recap every month
Flexible meeting dates
Budget knowledge, familiarity of process
Team #5
Strengths:
Right number of teams
Rotating leaders?
Get minutes in a timely manner
So many more people involved
Discussions happening throughout month, after church at fellowship, etc
Gives structure to meetings
Short and sweet
Empowerment is a learning process
Opportunities for Improvement
Need leaders!, identify and train, nurture
How to recruit? Or how do you move from group to group?
Competing church activities (EFM)
Condense meeting notes
Standard format for notes
Have set time every Ministry Team night to collaborate among teams
Budget guidelines, get input early on in the budgeting process
Team #6
Strengths:
Process of developing Ministry Teams to be together

5. Meeting on one night
Energy
Increase number of participants
Regular meetings
Coordination of calendar issues
Ability to communicate
Specific time limits for each Ministry Team meeting
Overall process, results are more transparent
Building community
Year round, no summer vacation
Opportunities for Improvement:
Clarify specific roles, authority
How to invite more people to increase involvement
‘job fair’, invite community to join, short period of time, not commitment
Expose Ministry teams to larger congregation
Share minutes with congregation
Alternative ways to share Ministry team work
Increase awareness of Ministry Team members
Bulletin boards