And more on building your dream team...

- Team members know exactly where the team stands on any issue

Some years back we were going into a major building project and the small group system began to fall apart. I came under immense pressure to radically restructure this part of church life but I felt that it was not the time for a big policy change in this area. ‘Cell’ church was the big thing at the time but we decided to wait for 2 to 3 years. Our priority was the building – I felt we would only get one chance to design and erect a good building – once that was done we could recreate our small group system on an annual basis if we chose to! As it was, the delay gave us time to reflect on this important area of church life.

In more recent days we have moved to multiple Sunday meetings. We worked out that an attendance of 180 was ‘critical mass’ for a new meeting in our auditorium. At this point I spoke to all the ministry leaders and told them that I wanted them in that meeting! This was a change of philosophy.

- Team members are willing to pay the price

There has to be a personal counting the cost which may well have financial and career development consequences with implications for wider family members.