THE S.O.S. GOAL AND S.O.S TEAM
 HOW Teams are Formed

In an area where there are several target places, the volunteers coming from the different participating churches are divided into teams of 30 to 50 depending on the total number of volunteers and the size of the target place. This task is the responsibility of the Registrar. (The guidelines and the forms for this function are in the Registrar’s Folder). Teams must be formed by the third day of the training week because there are aspects of the training that are done within the team.

THREE MAJOR STEPS IN FORMING TEAMS:

  1. CLASSIFYING THE VOLUNTEERS
    1. REASON FOR THE CLASSIFICATION - To determine the individual capacities, talents and ministerial readiness of the volunteers. The SOS volunteers vary in ages from 17 to 71 and in spiritual maturity and ministry experiences from one-year old Christians to experienced pastors. This means they have different capaci­ties in the church planting work. In SOS, we want each volunteer to find fulfillment by functioning according to his individ­ual capacity and ministerial readiness. We provide full expression of their talents as well as keep them from fear and frustration due to inability to do an assigned job.
    2. BASIS OF THE CLASSIFICATION - volunteers’ answers to the questions asked in the Volunteer’s Data Form . The questions are designed to find out in what way each could best participate in the church planting endeavor. Answers will be further verified in an interview.
    3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF VOLUNTEERS
      1. LIGHT GROUP (LIGHTERS) - new Christians (1-2 years) or those who have been Christians for a long time but has not evidenced maturity. They are not ready to teach others but they can `let their light shine for Jesus!'
      2. LIFE GROUP (LIFERS) - those that are ready to teach & counsel, particularly able to conduct Bible studies and effectively disciple others.
      3. LEAD GROUP (LEADERS) - those among the LIFE members that are also able to lead, plan, evaluate and make decisions.

  2. ASSIGNING CODE NAMES - Each volunteer is given 3-PART code name which tells:
    1. The volunteer's age: A - Above 25 years old B - Below 25 years old
    2. The volunteer's sex : M – male F - female
    3. The volunteer's classification
      1a - Class A LEAD-With proven leadership & teaching ministry
      1b - Class B LEAD - Has at least a year of experience in leadership and teaching
      2a - Class A LIFE - Well experienced in discipling
      2b - Class B LIFE - Have at least a year experience in BS
      3a - Class A LIGHT - Have experience in witnessing for Christ
      3b - Class B LIGHT - Very new, no experience

    Examples: A 28 year old experienced male pastor will have a code name: AM1a and a 20-year-old female Bible study leader will have a code name: BF2a).

  3. DISTRIBUTING THE VOLUNTEERS EQUALLY

    4. We aim for the strength of each team. Therefore, the number of LEAD, LIFE and LIGHT volunteers are equally divided according to the number of teams being formed. Later requests for reassignments will only be considered if swapping of volunteers with the same code name is possible. There are questions in the Volunteer’s Data Form that give the volunteers the chance to express town assignment preferences, antici­pated problems on field, commitments that conflicts with the field work schedules, health and family factors and other details that the Chief Registrar must know. These questions should be answered to facilitate quick grouping with minimum need for changes later on. However, only valid requests will be given priority consideration.