Church Team Building Activities for Adults

Henry Ford said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” This truth also applies in the church, where leaders have to be united to achieve organizational goals. 

There is a unique kind of teamwork that happens in ministry, as the followers are just as important as the leaders. God equally uses the efforts and gifts of each attendee and pastor to create a collective vision. In other words, teamwork is the backbone that holds God’s mission up in the church and an irreplaceable foundation to the church’s success.

Let’s discuss the importance of teamwork in church and break down several team-building activities that can foster better relationships among all the adults in your organization.

Importance of Teamwork in Church

There are three key reasons why teamwork is essential in the church:

• An organization is wiser with collaboration: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22, NIV). The Bible doesn’t list do’s and don’ts clearly, requiring multiple minds filled with spiritual knowledge and wisdom (Colossians 1:9, NIV) to discern right from wrong.
• We have individual strengths and weaknesses: The more people we have on board, the more forces we’ll have to balance out the imperfections. God gives us “different gifts” (Romans 12:6, NIV) that allow us to serve in the church and support each other uniquely. 
• Teamwork lightens the heavy workload God gives to a church: Putting all responsibilities on one leader is a recipe for burnout. Instead, have everybody share the load of shepherding members and handling ministries. Members will also have better accountability, resulting in a more effective and productive fellowship.

These three benefits of teamwork in church point to one truth: God is the only “chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4, NIV), and all members are sheep living for His glory. After all, He’s the one who promised to build the church (Matthew 16:18, NIV) for the gospel to spread throughout the nations (Mattew 24:14, NIV).

In short, teamwork reminds members that nobody is the leader – only Christ is.

Church Team Building Activities for Adults

Aside from Sunday school lessons, fun team-building activities can build rapport, trust, and cooperation among church members. We’ve designed these to accommodate all adults, but we also have lists for teens and women’s small groups.

Behind the Blanket

This game is a simple way to learn everybody’s names and encourage strategic thinking.

Start by having two people hold up a large blanket, and place a chair on each side of the sheet. Then, split the players into two teams and have them stand on different sides of the blanket. Before every round starts, the teams have to nominate one person for the round.

When the blanket falls, the first team to call out the name of the opposing player sitting across them gets the point. As the game progresses, both teams will create strategies to make it harder for the other team to identify who’s sitting on the chair. For example, they could pretend that they’re all sitting or keep nominating the least-known person on their team to gain more time advantage.

Play as many rounds as time allows, then award the team with the most points as the winner. Also, ensure that there are enough rounds for every team member to be nominated, so everybody gets a chance to be known.

Survival of the Fittest

This game takes more time to complete but is an excellent way to test the teamwork of your members. This activity also allows you to identify those with leadership potential.

Before the game begins, create a scenario that requires a survival plan. Your goal is to have the players imagine that they are stranded in a desperate situation, and their only chance of survival is to work together. It’s best to divide people into multiple teams, so there are multiple presentations at the end of the game.

Here’s an example of a survival scenario: “Your airplane crashes in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest and you are the only people left. The crew didn’t survive the accident, most of your belongings went up in flames, and all phones and laptops don’t work. All you have are one knife, two gallons of water, and pieces of the dismembered plane. Use these things and whatever is in your pockets right now to develop a survival plan.”

The groups should then figure out a detailed plan to handle the situation, like how they’ll use their resources, build shelter, and gather food. While you may be surprised at how these groups respond with a sense of urgency, we still recommend that you set a time limit.

Once time is up, have each team present their survival plan. This demonstrates how different people have different ideas for a survival plan, and that the best ones are usually born out of collaboration. You can end the activity with Noah’s story, where he created a “survival plan” with God’s guidance.

Team Building Activities with Bible Verses

You can also use team-building activities for church members to review the Bible verses they’ve learned. Here are some team-building activities with Bible verses:

Bible Verse Scramble

This game is designed for church members to refresh their memory of the Scripture.

Before the activity begins, choose as many famous Bible verses as possible, print them out on sheets of paper, and cut them into short phrases. To make things more challenging, put all the phrases in one giant pile instead of having one pile for each verse. Split the group into as many teams as you want, and have them stand around their respective pile of jumbled-up Bible verses.

Once the game begins, each team has to unscramble the pile of phrases into multiple verses. The first one to correctly complete all the Bible verses wins the game. You can also award the second- and third-placer if there are more than five teams or if you have a lot of prizes to give out.

Ensure that the game is neither too difficult nor too easy for the players. Assuming that you won’t allow them to open the Bible, you can make the game more challenging by including Bible verse references (i.e. which gospel, chapter, and verse it came from) in the “phrase pile.” You can make the game easier by removing references altogether, so they only have to remember what the verse said.

The Ultimate Guessing Game

This team building activity helps church members review their Bible knowledge while encouraging team rapport.

Write several Bible characters, stories, and well-known verses on small pieces of paper, then put them all in a container. Next, divide the people into two teams and give each a die, paper, pencil, and Play-Doh or clay. Before every round begins, one member from each team has to pick a paper from the container and roll the die. 

If they roll one or two, they must sculpt the word, story, or verse with clay. If they roll three or four, they must act out the word, story, or verse (like in charades) for their team to guess the answer. Lastly, if they roll five or six, they have to draw the answer (like in Pictionary) and hope their team guesses correctly before time runs out.

Set the timer for 5 minutes. The chosen members have to explain the answer to their team members without going against the rules. The first team to correctly guess the word, story, or verse gets the point.

Continue until you’ve run out of paper. Add up the scores, and the team with the most points wins the game. Additionally, you can make it more competitive by allowing teams to “steal” a point if the other team runs out of time and they’ve figured out the correct answer. 

How to Do Outreach in the Community

There’s no better way to build a team than by putting them in a real-life situation that requires everybody’s participation. That said, one of the surefire methods to encourage teamwork is by having community outreach programs. 

Below are a few ideas that are designed to highlight your church’s strengths, weaknesses, and unique connections:

Mental Health Outreach

Many people struggle with depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. To help those members and attract new people into the church, hire professional therapists and start a mental health program. Ensure that the volunteers or staff focus on being welcoming, non-judgmental, and open-minded to everyone.

Many people struggle with depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems. While the church isn’t a professional institution to deal with mental health issues, some may have healing ministries and guidance counseling that are beneficial to both its congregation and the surrounding community. If your church has the available resources, you can start a mental health outreach for everybody to find spiritual help.

Alternatively, your church can also hire professional therapists to start a more legitimate mental health program. 

Literacy and Teaching Programs

These programs don’t have to be language classes – they can be music lessons, gardening workshops, or even public speaking seminars. Scout for church members with in-depth or unique knowledge to share, round up a group to spearhead the project, and encourage them to make the program into an ongoing ministry. Not only is this a great way to promote teamwork, but it also opens opportunities for kids and adults to bond.

Church Community Cafe

Have your members start a coffee shop on the premises. The goal isn’t to earn a profit but to create an environment for community members to hang out, meet fellow Christians, and possibly share the gospel. Again, this is an effective way to put people into business situations requiring great teamwork to succeed. 

Using a church management software can help you plan and execute on all of these activities with tools for organization and communication.

Team Building for Church Leaders: Strengthening the Foundation

As Paul said to the church in Corinth, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Corinthians 1:10, NIV).

Christians may be individuals living separate lives, but we all live for the same reason–to glorify God and make Him known. Therefore, it’s best to work together, serve God in harmony, and stay organized as one unit for Christ. That unity begins with Christ, and is fostered by a good foundation of healthy relationships, which you can foster through strategic activities and programs.