January 16, 2026

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Teaming

Teaming, Team Leadership

X-teams on the Mission Field

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Types of mission teamsPart 5 on a series about teaming on the mission field.   In a previous post, we talked about the three main types of teams found in our mission organization. When new missionaries think about teaming, they are generally thinking about what we have called a basketball team. Basketball teams work together closely and interact frequently with each other about their various ministries.   But many of our mission teams are more like track teams than basketball teams. Track teams have a common purpose and team members support one another, but each person on the team works independently. But there is yet a third type of team that is commonly found on the mission field.   We call this an X-team or an expedition team.    X-Teams have at least two members, a guide and an explorer.  We think of expedition… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
The Track Team on the Mission Field
Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash
Teaming, Team Leadership

The Track Team on the Mission Field

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series Types of mission teamsIn a previous post, we talked about the three main types of teams found in our mission organization.   When new missionaries think about teaming, they are generally thinking about what we have called a basketball team.  Basketball teams work together closely and interact frequently with each other about their various ministries. But many of our mission teams are more like track teams than basketball teams.   Track teams have a common purpose and team members support one another, but each person on the team works independently. They generally do not do ministry together.  For many of our track teams, each team member works in a different church, a different ministry project, or even in a different town.  While they are geographically close enough to one another to make it feasible to meet together regularly, team meetings are relatively… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
The Basketball Team on the Mission Field
Teaming, Team Leadership

The Basketball Team on the Mission Field

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Types of mission teamsIn our last post, we talked about the three main types of teams found in our mission organization. Now I would like to discuss each of these three types in more detail. Basketball teams work closely together and interact frequently with each other about their various ministries. Planning must be done as a team because most of the key ministries involve more than one person on the team, and each ministry role is interconnected with what other team members are doing. Biblical examples of this type of a team would be Jesus with his disciples and Paul with his missionary band of Silas, Timothy, Luke, and others at various times.   These ministry teams did ministry and life together, side-by-side experiencing both the joys and hardships of proclaiming the good news.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Teaming

Three Different Types of Mission Teams

This entry is part 2 of 7 in the series Types of mission teams Part two of a series on teaming.   Part one looked at the question of whether every group of missionaries can be called a team.   This post was written a few years ago by one of our senior missionaries. In missions, everyone wants to know if they will work on a team. SEND believes strongly that teams are a highly effective way to engage unreached people, but just as in sports, not all mission teams are alike.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Are We a Team?
Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash
Teaming, Team Leadership

Are We a Team?

This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Types of mission teams Our mission organization and many other agencies are committed to teaming. Our mission’s policy manual says that we seek to place our personnel in areas where they can meet and minister with other Christian workers (missionaries and/or national workers) who are committed to a common purpose, goal and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A desire to serve on a team The majority of our new missionaries want to serve on teams. Yes, many of them are assigned to isolated locations, but nevertheless they want to be working together with other missionaries. So it should come as no surprise that almost all missionaries talk about their “team”. Our staff meetings are called “team meetings” and our supervisors are called “team leaders”. Commonly, whenever more than one missionary family are located in the same city,… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
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