By Steve Matthews, Senior Missional Consultant for FaithX
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the
world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
This month, FaithX blogs have been highlighting one of our new offerings: The Vitality Improvement Program (VIP) 2.0. We have learned a lot from our pilot judicatory-based VIP program that began in 2022 and will end in 2025.
In VIP 2.0, we bring our strongest learnings from our pilot program into a shorter (though no less powerful) 18-month journey. One of the foundational components of VIP and VIP 2.0 is teamwork. We invite churches to form lay-led teams into the work of revitalization.
I am not wild over the word “team.” As a kid, I wasn’t very good at sports and often felt like the weak link on teams. I’ve been part of teams that felt kinda manipulative (sports teams and otherwise). Maybe you know the adage, “There’s no ‘I’ in team” (subtext: you don’t matter as much as the team outcome). The good-of-the-whole at all cost kind of teamwork is not what VIP is about.
On the contrary, while we certainly hope for transforming movement on these teams and powerful outcomes, we also hope that these lay leaders on church teams feel changed and transformed by the process themselves, and we want the team itself to feel like a spiritual community – a team grounding itself in God’s love and the gifts of the people gathered around the table. Like conventional teams, we want VIP 2.0 teams to notice, name and nurture their individual strengths. In other words, good teams operate from the strengths of each person’s passions for the church and community as well as their gifts of head, heart, and hand.
There’s a great resource called CliftonStrengths (developed by Gallop). This 30-minute online assessment evaluates answers and then groups people based on 34 strengths. It rates you from your number one strength to your number 34 strength. No weaknesses are discussed. The great gift of CliftonStrengths is that it encourages survey takers to focus on their top five or so strengths. How do you increasingly operate from your place of strength?
Imagine what this might mean when applied to teamwork. What would happen if our teams realized that we all don’t have to do everything well? What if we noticed, named, and nurtured the strengths of the people in our congregations for the benefit of the whole? Operating from our strengths would mean that when assessing a situation in our church or community, we would know exactly whom to call on to help make something happen. This would invite participation and reduce burnout on the people who have come to feel that the work of the church is all up to them.
This is the kind of teamwork we encourage in VIP 2.0 – the kind that nurtures ecosystems for long-term sustainability. Click here to learn more about VIP 2.0 (or email us at info@faithx.net), and learn more about your 34 strengths by taking CliftonStrengths (or for only $24.99 you can learn about your top five strengths)!
