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When working in the ministry, it doesn’t take long to realize that you can’t do it alone. The work is plentiful and the workers are few. Whether you launch with a team or intend to build your team later, you will need to know how to select team members. This is not an easy task. In the time I’ve been in ministry, I’ve had the privilege of working with a wide range of people. All of them were good people who loved the Lord, but not all of them were a good match.

Why? Well, there are a number of factors such as life experience, personal ambitions, ministry vision, and personality among others. Some things can be overlooked because they can be corrected with time and training. But there are other things that will make or break a team. I don’t recommend trying to address those issues while working together because it becomes a huge mental, emotional and productivity drain on the whole team. When these issues aren’t in line its best not to join forces until they are. This will preserve the health of the team and allow for more focused growth and effectiveness for everyone.

We must discern between those God wants us to minister with and those God wants us to minister to!

I made this mistake early on. Even when someone is talented, they may not be the right person for your team. Knowing what to look for in a person can save you a lot of heartache.

Top 7 Characteristics to Look For in a Team Member:

• Calling
• Character
• Doctrinal Agreement
• Ministry DNA
• Spiritual Maturity
• Talent and Giftedness
• Personality

If someone doesn’t line up in these areas I won’t consider them as a candidate to join our team. If they do, they will be considered even if they are relatively young in the Lord or lacking specific skills. This is because maturity and skills can come with time and training.

Calling: This is most important. You both must know God has called them to the ministry you lead and why. I’ve learned that God calls some people to a ministry for a season of learning and growth, not service. Maybe He has called them to learn from you ¹ before joining your team to serve. This is hard for those who have served for long periods in other ministries, but it is often necessary. We are never done growing and learning.

We must discern if they are called to learn from us or serve with us. Of course, it is possible to do both at the same time, but in some cases, it is better to focus on learning before serving, especially when the team you lead is very different from their previous ministry in its style and objectives.

Another important aspect of Calling is anointing.

When someone is called by God they have an anointing for that particular calling. This is vastly more important than talent. Someone who is anointed for a task will be far more effective in the long run than someone who is talented but not called.

Lastly, Calling is important because in ministry things get tough and people are tempted to quit. If they don’t know they are called then they will be more likely to give up when things get hot.

Character: Do they display things such as holiness, humility, integrity, honesty, transparency, teach-ability, diligence, faithfulness and loyalty? Are they loving, generous, and unity-minded? All of these are important.

Humility and teach-ability are huge in a team environment.

Doctrinal Agreement: You don’t have to agree on everything but you should agree on the main issues such as The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit, The Word of God, Sin, and Salvation. You will need to determine which issues are deal breakers for you.

Be careful not to define the issues so narrowly that no one can minister with you. I have found great joy and learned a ton by serving with people from other denominational backgrounds.

Ministry DNA: Do they share your Vision, Core Values, and Philosophy of ministry? This is another big issue that I overlooked early on. Your Ministry DNA defines why and how you go about your work.

Two people who share the same beliefs but different Ministry DNA will struggle to work together, even though they are trying to accomplish the same thing.

Spiritual Maturity We must be careful how we determine spiritual maturity.

Too often people simply look for spiritual knowledge and mistake it as maturity. This can be disastrous.

Having the right answers is not the same as having Godly Wisdom and understanding. Are they emotionally healthy, secure in their identity, compassionate towards the weaknesses of others, walking in victory over sin, including less obvious sins such as pride and arrogance? Can they handle conflict in a healthy way? Do they honor others above themselves? How are they walking out their faith? These are some of the things to look for when considering their maturity level.

Talent and Giftedness: In ministry, the temptation is to look for the people with the most talent and giftedness, but this is a mistake. These are given freely by God and don’t indicate a calling or a qualification for ministry. Talent is certainly important, especially in specific skills like worship, but it is not as big as we make it because skill can improve with time and training.

Personality: Even when everything else lines up we should consider a potential team member’s personality. This is a difficult one because we want to work with people we get along with but we can also learn from those who are different from us.

The question is, are you both able to overlook the quirks of the other persons personality? As Christians we should be able to, but it isn’t always easy to do on a daily basis.

We need to be honest about where we are at in our own spiritual walk and how working with someone else will challenge us and strengthen us.

Choose Wisely

These are just some of the things to look for in a potential team member. But above all, we must give it a lot of prayer. A healthy team is a blessing, and even the best teams will have their moments, but working with the wrong people magnifies those challenges. At best it might derail ministry progress and set you back, and at worst it could potentially destroy the ministry.

If you are going to finish what you started, you need to assemble your team wisely!

Do you have anything you would add to this list? Feel free to share it in the comments!

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