A Ministry Team is a collection of church volunteers who work and play together in groups to heal our planet, create positive, progressive change, and live out our liberal religious values in meaningful community with one another. A Ministry Team is like a smaller “tribe” within a larger church village. All activity that goes on in the life of First Church, happens through the hearts, hands, and minds of the Ministry Teams.

Ministry Teams are a reorganization of the many committees at First Church, into related areas of church governance. Each Ministry Team has a staff member responsible to it, and lay leadership, in order to help facilitate projects and coordinate volunteer efforts. The Ministry Teams are able to make independent decisions, as long as they adhere to Board policy.

The Ministry Team model was adopted in order to empower people. Broad policies are agreed upon, key people are accountable for seeing that these policies are implemented, a task is defined or emerges from some corner of the church, a funding source is identified, a budget is established and the community says to the lay volunteer, "Go forth and get it done." Micromanagement by lay leaders is not only discouraged, it is antithetical to the system. Each Ministry Team has a mission and has several groups within it.