The Dynamics of Team Ministry

(This lesson was adapted, with permission, from material developed by Dr. Bill Hamon and Christian International Ministries Network.)

Requirements for Trainees

The trainee should be willing to make an up-front commitment to the training process. You do not want to spend time and energy training people who are not committed to the process and who probably will not end up serving on the teams. The trainee should understand their commitment, defining details like length of time, level of commitment required, etc. This needs to be stated up front. There should not be any surprises on the part of the trainer nor on the part of the trainee.

1. Have each individual commit to a designated length of time -- whatever length of time the school is -- from beginning to completion. It is suggested that you give one excused absence that must be obtained in advance. You need committed and dedicated people who are willing to sacrifice. Again, the eager will comply.

2. Each student must submit to the direction of the school in training sessions and ministering services.

3. They must observe the written purpose of the school along with agreements, guidelines, and schedule.

4. The trainees must use materials required for the school, such as: The teacher's manual, or other books selected by the trainer.

   Some suggested books - materials written by Dr. Bill Hamon and available at most Christian bookstores or through Christian International Ministries Network (http://www.cimn.net). Some of these books would include:

   • Prophets and Personal Prophecy
   • Prophets and the Prophetic Movement
   • Prophets Principles to Practice & Pitfalls to Avoid

5. Any financial charges if applicable. If there is a financial commitment on the part of the student, they need to be made aware of all costs (fees, book purchases, etc) up front. It is not fair to have them get part way through they program and then hit them with unexpected financial charges that they can not afford.

Practical Tips On Training Your Teams

The word "trainee" implies that the individual is undergoing training. Thus, it is an excellent idea to offer formal training sessions. These sessions should be comprised of both teaching and of activations. The activations are critical, because this gives the person practical ministry experience in a controlled setting. These training sessions should provide a safe environment for a trainee to make mistakes and learn from them without being made to feel like they are a failure.

THE ROLE OF FEEDBACK IN PROPHETIC TRAINING

Gentle but honest feedback is a critical in the training process. It helps trainees fine-tune their hearing and prophetic accuracy. Most of the time, feedback will serve to encourage a person that they have indeed heard correctly. However, there will be times when it will help them identify errors in their hearing. Feedback should be given with the goal of "helping" the person who gave the word to improve, and encouraging them in that which they did well. It should never brush over obvious errors, but it should not condemn the person for making an error.

Because feedback is such an important component of the learning process, it is wise to spend a little time explaining how to do it just before the first activation of any given training session. Make it clear why we give feedback and how important it is to be truthful and how important it is to be gentle. Help the trainees learn to give effective feedback about words that their fellow trainees give them. Remind them that they will be receiving feedback from their partner as well as giving it to their partner. Spend a few minutes telling them how to benefit from the feedback that they receive. In general, most people tend to be much harder on themselves than they are on others. If they give a word with 4 specific details in it, and they are accurate on 3 of the 4, they may go away "beating themselves up" over the one error instead of rejoicing that they heard correctly on three words of knowledge or specific details. Feedback will give us a reality check, but we must be sure to keep the emphasis on encouraging the successes rather than focusing on the occasional mistakes.

SAMPLE AGENDA FOR TRAINING MEETINGS

A. Have the students sign in and take a number (to be used later)

B. Teaching Session: Purpose is to lay foundation. Make it interesting!

C. After teaching, take a short break for a designated time with a designated time keeper.

D. Re-gather the group

E. Activation Time

Form ministry circles using the numbering system. Each circle leader (a ministry team leader already trained and instructed) holds up a large number on a card. All the people who have that designated number go to that circle and stay in that circle for that session. (Later in the school it might be desirable for teaching purposes to place students in specialized or certain groups; this system can be used without calling attention to the student or school.)

F. Re-gather the students into class (be seated) for the final 20 minutes get feedback, questions, comments, and for the director to encourage the class.

G. Dismiss the class.

H. Immediately meet with the circle leaders and support team for feedback, input, questions and answers, observations, what worked well, what did not work, adjustments if necessary and encouragement to the circle leaders.

There can be three different levels of training in your introductory school for Prophetic Teams:

1. New Trainees
2. Leaders - team leaders and support team.
3. Directors/Assistants

ALTERNATE SAMPLE AGENDA FOR TRAINING MEETINGS

A. Sign in Students

B. Teaching Session

C. Designated time for questions and answers about prophesying at church services (or similar open meetings), or anything concerning teaching, prophecy, what's working, what's not working, how to limit time.

D. Activation exercises - These vary according to what stage of development the class is in. DO NOT GET STUCK IN A RUT. Continue to believe that the Holy Spirit will show you new methods of activation. God is a Genius! Pull on His Creativity.

E. Leader's directives:

During the training, the director helps trainees develop their gifts. They also have the opportunity to impart knowledge in other areas, such as: God's Character Curriculum for P.I.T.'s. (Prophets-in-Training); The trainees will also need to learn what is expected from them in such practical areas as dress, manner, etiquette and ethics when they minister in Church assemblies, when they are traveling, and when staying in people's homes when traveling, etc.

Training Resource Materials

GodSpeak International offers a great amount of free training resources, available from their www page. Many of these materials are very well suited for training teams. The "flag-ship" trainings are PS 101 and PS 201. These materials are copyrighted, so you have to register with GodSpeak International (or the copyright holder if the copyright does not belong to GodSpeak) to use them to train your teams. There are also many excellent training materials in the "Prophetic-School Mini-Course Series." A few that may be particularly helpful in training teams include "The making of a Prophet" (Course 1), "Prophetic Bloopers and NoNos" (course 5) and "The Practicalities Of The Prophetic" (course 16).

The URL where all of these courses are located is

http://www.godspeak.net/goto_classes.html