[Course 3 Index] [Prayer-School Index] [Prayer Mini-Series Index ] [_________] [Next Lesson]
Team Ministry
Introduction and Overview
Even from the very beginning, creation indicates the need for a team. It is not good for the man to be alone (Gen. 2:18)
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: if one falls down, his friend can help him up........A cord of three strands is not quickly broken (Ecc. 4:9-12). So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Rom. 12:5). From Him, Christ, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Eph. 4:16).
It is several people working together while exercising their spiritual gifts under the call of God to serve a certain group of people in achieving the goals God has given them towards the end of glorifying Christ.
Team Work has to do with the interactions and relationships of the team members while working together to fulfill the given task or ministry responsibility.
We will see in the New Testament a wonderful quality of team leadership and ministry that our Lord both taught and practiced. Without a doubt, team leadership became the model for the New Testament church and it is a model that is needed today.
Anyone who has ever experienced being on a team knows that being a part of a successful team can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. (Examples of team from every day life include sports, band, project, church ministry, corporate intercession).
A team is more than a group of people who happen to be physically in the same place at the same time. For instance, those waiting at a trolley stop are not a team.
To be a team,
What this group needs is commitment. It ensures the group will work together no matter what the circumstance.
See this group of mixed people. Ages, races, occupations, ...when the packed trolley pulls up they all scramble for the few available spots. A mother with 4 kids can't make it and has to wait for the next one.
At the next stop is a team of high school baseball players. They scramble and shout and the coach holds the door and does a head count and they all make sure everyone gets on.
It takes a team to be really successful. We all should want to be that in God's eyes. It takes a great team to make a great church.
We will talk about the Value of a team. Its value to the whole church and to each of the team members.
John Maxwell says "Team work makes the dream work."
Everyone must be involved.
The Amish can put up a whole barn in one day. Hundreds will come together. That is amazing. What an example of team work. Each one having a part to play and submitting their skills and talents to others for the good of the whole.
A car is more than a pile of different parts and pieces. If it were just that it would not get very far. All the parts need to understand team work.
A really successful marriage takes husband and wife working, praying and growing together. It is the same for a Pastor or Christian leader. You can run your marriage or church like the army, going around barking out orders, but that is not the Biblical way or the true successful way. It also leads to burnout, physical or nervous breakdown, personal exhaustion and a spirit of frustration. You just can't do it all yourself:
1 Cor. 12 demonstrates in detail how the unity of the physical body offers a model for team work. God has a place of everyone in the church and everyone's place is important!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 Paul introduced the human body as an illustration of the interrelationship of the members of Christ's body, the church. Paul said in the context of the Lord's Supper, "Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread." From that point on through the end of chapter 12, Paul refers to the human "body" to describe the church sixteen times. It's an important image he wants us to grasp.
The human body must be the most amazing organic creation in God's whole created order. The human body is marvelously complex, yet it's unified with unparalleled harmony and interrelatedness. It's a unit. We can't subdivide the body into several bodies. If the body is divided, the part that is cut off ceases to function and dies, and the rest of the body loses some of its functions and effectiveness. The human body is immeasurably more than the sum of its parts.
One of the important marks of human maturity and self-awareness is a growing understanding and respect for one's own body. There is a parallel in our spiritual life: as we mature in Jesus Christ, we gain a deeper understanding and a more respectful appreciation for the church, which is the body of Christ.
In Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12 Paul emphasizes the church as the body of Christ.
In 12:1-11 We see that as members of the body who are growing in spiritual maturity, we are to exercise our spiritual gifts. We learned that every one of us has been gifted by God, and there is tremendous variety in our respective gifting. Every one of us has been given a ministry, a variety of places to serve, tasks that we're called to do, areas in which we're to exercise our gifts, and Jesus Christ as Head of the church is responsible for that. We saw as well that God himself is responsible for the results, the effectiveness of our exercise of ministry. That takes a tremendous weight off of us. We're called to be faithful, and to trust him for the eternal results. We saw that gifts are given not for our personal, selfish pleasure, but always for the good of the whole body. And we also saw how well-organized this distribution process is: all these gifts are given under the sovereign care and direction of God himself.
Now Paul is going to illustrate this theme of unity and diversity in the body of Christ with a unique examination of the human body in verses 14-26.
And he is going to address two separate sinful tendencies (inferior attitudes and superior attitudes) that we find at work in our hearts as we evaluate our own place in the church and our individual spiritual gifting. (These we will deal with later on in the class).
This is a rather silly section of Scripture. The humor here is goofy. Paul has talking hands and feet and heads and eyes in conversation with each other. I have never considered the apostle Paul to be one of the great comedy writers in the Bible. I can't think of any other part of the Scriptures that Paul wrote that's funny. He's intense and passionate and a great scholar, but a humorist he is not! But there's wonderful humor here.
We have a talking foot and ear who feel jealously inferior to a hand and an eye, and they threaten to secede from the body, leaving it unable to walk or hear. Then we have an eye and a head who feel arrogantly superior to the hand and the foot. They think they can get along just fine without them.
The Roman writer Livy tells of a story that came from the fifth century BC in which the rest of the body got really frustrated with the stomach because all it did was lie there and accept all the food that they gave it. They started feeling that the stomach wasn't pulling its weight, so they decided to teach it a lesson to get it to do more for the good of the body. They went on strike against the stomach and refused to put food in it. It worked well - so well that the body died.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-31)
[12] For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. [14] Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15] If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16] And if the ear would say,"Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? [18] But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19] If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20] As it is, there are many members, yet one body. [21] The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." [22] On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23] and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; [24] whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, [25] that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. [26] If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
[27] Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28] And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30] Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? [31] But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
It's the Holy Spirit that inspires us and moves us closer to God. But it's also the Holy Spirit that holds us together in the hard times of struggle and the hard times of tragedy and trial. Paul is right: "When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer." The Holy Spirit encourages us and strengthens us as we reach out to encourage and strengthen each other.
(Christians who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier, because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.)
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. (It's good for us to stay in formation with those who are headed the same way we are going.)
When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point. They share the task of leadership and do not resent the leader. (It pays to take turns doing hard jobs -- whether it's people in the church or geese flying south.)
The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gun shot and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with that goose until it is either able to fly, or until it's dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their original group.
That's what we're called to do. Sometimes we don't do it very well. But most of the time we do. Because of the presence of God's Holy Spirit and the unity of the body we are able to minister to one another and work together as a team. As a consequence we are all honored. But most important of all: God is glorified.
God is glorified because there is one Spirit and one Heart. That heart is the heart of Christ.
I think I may have told this story before but it's worth repeating. A few years ago during the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally challenged, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the sound of the starting gun they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with the relish to run the race, to the finish and win.
All, that is, except one boy who stumbled. He tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and paused. Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed the boy and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine of them linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for 10 solid minutes.
Why? Because they all had the same heart. And they knew that the goal was to win, but that the greater goal was to cross the finish and it was better to do it together, than to leave one behind, hurt and crying and alone.
Having the same heart, one heart in Christ. One heart because of Christ allows us to rejoice together when any one of us is honored. And it allows us to reach out in love and compassion when any one of us suffers.
And if we were to translate 1 Corinthians 12:12-26: into a Super Bowl version, it would read something like this:
"For the team is one and has many players, and all the players of the team, though many, are one team ... Indeed, the team does not consist of one player, but of many. If the defensive end would say, 'Because I am not the quarterback, I do not belong to the team,' that would not make him any less a part of the team. And if the right tackle would say, Because I am not a wide receiver, I do not belong to the team,' that would not make him any less a part of the team. If the whole team were tackles, where would the running backs be? If the whole team were running backs, where would the kickers be? And if the whole team were kickers, where would the cornerbacks be? But as it is, the coach has arranged the players of the team, each one of them, as he chose. If all were quarterbacks, where would the team be? As it is, there are many players, yet one team. The quarterback cannot say to the tackle, 'I don't need you.' Nor can the defensive ends say to the running backs, 'We don't need you.' On the contrary ... if one player suffers, the team suffers together with him; if one player is honored, the team rejoices with him."
Each Super Bowl team has one thing in common. They are there to play and win. That is their purpose. If the members of the team forget and each try to be the only one getting the attention, they will fail miserably. Their purpose is to play football.
The "Atlantic Monthly" (11/94) told about superstar tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti performing together in Los Angeles. A reporter tried to press the issue of competitiveness between the three men. But Placido Domingo pretty much stopped him in his tracks when he said: "You have to put all of your concentration into opening your heart to the music. You can't be rivals when you're together making music."
That's also true in the church as a whole and the local expression. What ever size team you are on within the larger team, it is true also. When we are making the music of faith, when we put all of our concentration into having one heart that is open to the one Spirit, then we are that team, that community of faith that reaches out to each other and to others and glorifies God.
Sometimes life throws us curves. Sometimes we get at odds with each other. Sometimes we fall out of formation or we get tired of being the lead goose. But when we dedicate ourselves to God and belong to a team, we can help each other hold on, we can support and strengthen one another, we can rejoice with each other. Because through our faith in Christ we are able to have one spirit, one heart, one purpose.