You, in your role as team leader, need to develop an Covenant of Team Understandings (COTU) which will enable potential team members to understand how your team will function. A copy of your COTU should be on file with your sending base (church) since it spells out your relationship with them. Also your mentor should have a copy as well. Try to keep this to 4 or 5 pages in length. It will generally spell out the relationship of your team members to you, to their sending churches and to any other agencies that may be involved. You may have a more extensive version for use by the team on the field which will spell out some of the specifics. Likewise those members of your "home team" in your sending church may want more specifics as well. Get help from your church leaders, other team leaders, prospective team members or your mentor in thinking through those questions you get stuck on.

Consider the following points as you develop your COTU:

1. People follow someone who leads. Share your understanding of team dynamics in such a way that it enhances their confidence in team life. The COTU, coupled with the Strategy Paper will display your vision and the process through which the team will pursue that vision. Both papers together should inspire confidence and vision!

2. Do as much as you can to enable them to picture what team life would be like. Things like your leadership style, their participation, team reproduction and how interpersonal relationships will enable growth of all members should become evident to the reader.

3. Keep in mind your audience--the prospective team member. They will likely be looking for two things: (1) security from the leader and (2) freedom to try new things. It is not easy to put these two contrasting things together. Keep this in mind as you develop your COTU, trying to balance security with creativity. If you have had leadership experiences in your other settings draw upon them. Be tactful, realizing that initial resistance often dissolves with deepening relationship.

4. People are drawn to a winner. Use your COTU to share ideas on why you believe this team is going to get in, stay in, grow, make disciples, and see a reproductive community of believers come into being.

5. If you are in the process of drawing prospective team members onto your team, you should enlist their help in writing the COTU. The more input they have, the more ownership they will have. As part of the COTU, you should also develop a team covenant. After your team is formed, those added to the team will sign on to an already existing covenant. Sample covenants are included.

You may want to get ideas from some other team leader's COTUs. Feel free to plagiarize things that say what you want to say, but be careful not to include something that you don't intend to provide or do on your team. In other words--don't plagiarize without thinking things through.

You may want to let potential team leaders know your strengths and weaknesses and how you see them complementing you. Why do you need a team in the first place? People need to be needed.

Specific questions an COTU should address:

1. Summarize briefly (a sentence or two): Where are you going? What is our specific target (people group, socio-economic segment, city, etc.)? Are there any non-negotiables in strategy? (This will be more thoroughly developed in your Strategy Paper).

2. What are some ways that you will be able to get employment for your team members? (Most will be tent makers).

3. Who makes life-style decisions? Where to live? Apartment? House? As single families or as a team? What do I have to agree to before I leave?

4. For those who are supported, how is the support level set? What does this level include? Just personal family needs or does it include ministry expenses? Will there be any funds pooled for team ministry? An emergency fund? Once a church is established, where will their giving be dispersed?

5. How are decisions made?

6. How is conflict to be resolved? What recourse is there if the conflict is with the team leader? (Put yourself in their shoes!)

7. What if I determine that I should not be there after arriving. What is the exit procedure? How soon can I leave? Is there a probation period?

8. If your COTU deals with cross-cultural church planting, will I be expected to learn language?

9. What skills am I expected to have before I get to your team? How do I really know that I am ready to go?

10. What about theological issues? Are there any theological non-negotiables such as charismatic leanings, etc.? What kind of person would be most comfortable on this team?

11. What happens if the team leader feels called to another area and leaves behind a remnant of the team?

12. What provisions are there for sickness, emergencies, vacations, leaves of absence?

13. Who is the team leader accountable to? How do our sending churches fit into our team's effort? Who is responsible for seeing that the work is kept in high profile in the sending church? What kind of coaching or mentoring are we going to get from outside the team?

14. Are there any restrictions on the team for the first year? (Visits home, vacation, training in other places?)

15. How do you envision team life? Will the team meet for worship? Prayer? Training? Socially? How often? Will there be differing roles for men and women? Will you accept single women on the team?

16. How will shepherding roles be set up? What if I have problems in my family? Who will I go to? Will there be discipling of younger members by older ones. What if my wife is a member of the team with me, who is responsible to shepherd her? In what areas?

17. What sort of reporting procedure will be followed? (to the home church, other agencies, etc.)