Teams of national pastors and, on occasion, a missionary carry out the ministry of each church. Team ministries are used to spread growing responsibilities. In AJC Churches the pulpit ministry is shared. This provides continuity, a breadth of experience, less missionary paternalism, greater efficiency, and smoother, less traumatic pastoral transitions should a single team member move on to a different ministry.
In India, the larger AJC churches with congregations of over 2,00 people have two or four pastors on full-time staff. Even new daughter churches typically start out with two pastors in order to keep up adequately with growth. The AJC churches alone have a combined team of over 120 pastors.
This team concept is followed not only on the local church level, but also in the inter-church organization. Encounter is not merely a group of churches that happen to be located in the same city and agree to work together on a common project. It is a family of churches with common roots, common goals, a common strategy, a common program and a common destiny.