Smaller churches often have a small missions team in which everyone must be involved in all aspects of missions team responsibilities in order to get it all done. Even within a small team, individual members may specialize in one area or another.
Most churches, however, find it useful to split up the responsibilities in a variety of ways. Major spheres of responsibility can be appointed to an individual or sub team (subcommittee). Individuals or sub teams may even recruit volunteers to help them with specific skills and expertise related to their area of responsibility; those ad hoc members of the sub team (subcommittee) do not necessarily have to have official membership status on the missions team.
Here are some suggestions for major areas of function or responsibility, along with ideas for secondary roles and responsibilities. These are samples and are not comprehensive. You will need to tailor responsibilities and functions in keeping with your unique church situation and tradition.
Leadership and Administration
- convening and organizing regular meetings
- keeping records: mission team minutes, financial records, etc.
- Chairing and moderating the meetings
- facilitating creation of missions priorities, strategies, and goals
- Interface with, encourage, and assist church leaders in developing the churches missions mindset and vision
Congregational Involvement
- stimulating, informing, and tracking prayer for missions ministries
training and managing missions advocates - encouraging participation in and managing short-term missions
- tracking and reporting missions giving
Financial Management
- creating and tracking missions budget
- keeping financial records and expenses in compliance with church and missions policy and financial decisions
- make recommendations regarding missions budget line items and missionary support
- provide giving records, as appropriate, to both donors and recipients of funds
Missions Education and Communication
- plan and implement the annual church missions emphasis event/s
- provide opportunities for missions education through Sunday school classes, fellowship groups, Bible study groups, men’s and women’s ministries, etc.
- Facilitate the dissemination of current missions prayer requests for missionaries, missions projects, people groups, the persecuted church, etc.
- provide regular missions content for church-wide announcements, bulletins, newsletters, prayer request sheets, etc.
- create and distribute appropriate promotion for missions events, missions opportunities for involvement, missions goals, etc.
Personnel
- assisting the missions team leadership in the recruitment, orientation, and training of missions team members
- recommending and maintaining appropriate criteria and priorities for the selection of missionaries or missions ministries to support
- prescreening missionaries and ministries requesting support
- interviewing qualified missionary and ministry candidates
- tracking church-based mentoring and training of missionary candidates from your own local church body
- shepherding and communicating with supported missionaries and ministries with a goal toward encouragement and counseling for long-term effectiveness and healthy marriages and families
- recommending changes in support relationships as the situation may dictate, including termination