Solutions October 2017 | Page 22

Creating a Highly Effective Team By Trisha Taylor and Jim Herrington with John Sparks When was the last time you were excited to be asked to serve on a committee? Almost every church has a variety of committees. Some churches even have a committee on committees! Pointless, boring committee meetings are fodder for jokes and generate creative excuses for avoiding them. Few of us say, “I hope I get to spend more time in my life sitting in the church basement in a folding chair drinking bad coffee listening to people drone on while my family is watching TV at home without me.” 22 Solutions Some churches call their committees “teams” as a way of making them sound more important and more meaningful than they actually are. Most of us aren’t fooled. We serve on committees because we love our churches and we know that work needs to be done and decisions need to be made. But few of us see our committee work as a deeply meaningful, life-giving part of our spirituality. Imagine something different, though. Imagine being part of a small group of people who learn together, doing