- Develop the Understanding That All Members are Important. We Need Each Other.
Look at verses 20-26: of 1 Cor. 12
But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, whereas our seemly members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
In verse 21 the statement "I have no need of you" occurs twice. The perception is that we don't really need other people to accomplish ministry, because we're so highly qualified. This is pride, independence, an attitude of exclusivity. It is a self-important attitude. The eye and head telling a hand and foot that they can get along just fine without them.
That is self-deluded arrogance. You can imagine the eye and the head saying, "We don't need the motor skills of you distant members. We can see and think and talk and eat and hear. What essential contributions do you have to offer? We combine the higher senses, the cognitive skills." I have this vision of two feet and two hands taking them seriously and, skittering off in different directions, leaving the body sitting there with no hands or feet all day long. About dinner time it realizes it's in big trouble - how is it going to get what it needs to survive?
A local football coach was talking about how difficult it is to get kids to come out for team sports like football, basketball, and volleyball, but how amazingly successful the club sports are in a wealthy area. Club sports are golf and track and tennis and swimming - sports that require individual effort, training, and preparation. You can take private lessons to learn to do all those things, and you can buy your own equipment. It ends up insulating and isolating people and developing a sense of self-sufficiency. These kids who have all the resources don't want to play the team sports; they'd rather excel in a club sport.
It struck me that, sadly, this can happen in the life of the church and in the team. We see the same tendencies toward independence. It's fairly common for people who have been gifted with more prominent abilities to become self sufficient, even selective in who we will surround ourselves with and the kind of friendships we will develop, to become a lone ranger in ministry. And it's very possible, if you've been gifted in a significant way, to overestimate your own importance and to undervalue the contributions of other believers. That is just as grotesque and foolish as the eye's and hand's views of themselves in Paul's analogy.
The reality is that the weaker members are absolutely necessary. That's the point of verse 22. Paul's logic seems to be that some of the more prominently gifted individuals in the church or team aren't nearly as indispensable as they think they are, and, in contrast, the less notable parts that seem to be weaker (it's a matter of perception) are essential to the life and health of the team. And what Paul does in verse 22-24 is intensify the language and strengthen it as he describes these individuals in the body whom we might judge unimportant or unnecessary for the good of the whole. In verse 23 it's people we've judged to be less honorable, less valuable, or unseemly (unattractive). At the end of verse 24 it's members who "lacked."
We can all be so guilty of this kind of sense of superiority. We look at people based on physical appearance or what they physically have to contribute to the body, and we can make these same kind of ugly judgments of superiority. If we want to avoid dissension in the body, we must repent of any sense of superiority toward other people. The question we ought to ask ourselves is, "Who have we marginalized? Whose quiet, unassuming presence have we ignored or denigrated?"
Verses 25-26 make very clear that if we slight those who have less prominent gifting or ministry, then our church or team will suffer. We will be spiritually impoverished. The diversity of spiritual gifts leads to disunity when we compete with one another, but this diversity leads to unity when we care for one another. And how do we care for one another?
By functioning according to God's will, accepting where he has placed us, being led into ministry that he determines for us, and also by helping one another function as God wills, encouraging one another, praying with one another, listening to one another. If one member suffers, Paul says, it affects us all; if one member is healthy, it helps the rest of us to be strong.
An elderly lady who died in her eighties had spent the last ten years of her life in a wheelchair, a victim of diabetes and a series of strokes that had affected her hearing and vision. Her name was Emma Williams. If Emma were here among us, it would be very easy to undervalue her, to assume she had very little to contribute. She was an elderly black lady in two predominantly white churches. She wasn't totally "plugged in" during service. As a matter of fact, one of the pastors who officiated at the memorial service, said that if Emma was here today, she'd be dozing off every so often, chatting with the people on either side of her, sort of oblivious at times.
But she was also a lady who after the service would tug on her pastors sleeve and either encourage him or correct something in his preaching. She was always very aware. Many people came to the microphone to give testimony to her faithfulness in exercising her spiritual gifts in their lives.
They called her a prayer warrior, a woman of vision. She could see things in people that they couldn't see in themselves. A tremendous encourager, she helped young mothers learn how to mother, and loved to hold babies. She would light up the room with her presence. One of the health care workers who cared for her in the rest home the last three years of her life said, "You know, Emma came to a place where old people come to die. But she didn't come to die, she came to serve and share her life and encourage people, and she was serving clear to the end." Again, on the surface, she had very little to offer physically, and yet she was convinced of her giftedness, in love with the Lord Jesus, and expressing those gifts clear to the end. Two different church families rose up together and called her blessed, and said they had a sense of loss that she wouldn't be there any more.
- Keep Biblical Vision In Perspective
It is the duty of the leadership ministry team to rule, feed and train the saints. Eph. 4:11-12 says: "And He gave some apostles and some, prophets, and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry."
Never lose sight of this vision or goal. Our purpose is to bring everyone to a high level of maturity.
On day 6 of the ill-fated mission of Apollo 13, the Astronauts needed to make a critical course correction. If they failed, they might never return to earth. To conserve power, the on board computer that steered the craft had been shut down. Yet the Astronauts needed to conduct a thirty-nine second burn of the main engines. How to steer?
Astronaut Jim Lovell determined that if they could keep a fixed point in space in view through their tiny window, they could steer the craft manually. That focal point turned out to be their destination--earth. As shown in the 1995 hit movie, Apollo 13, for 39 agonizing seconds, Lovell focused on keeping the earth in view. By not losing sight of that reference point, the three Astronauts avoided disaster.
Scripture reminds us how to finish your life mission successfully, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." (Heb. 13:2)
The same principle applies to team work, ministry and team mission. Read Col 1:27-28 and 4:12.
The Biblical purpose for having elders must be kept before us: mature the sheep for ministry.
The leader has to know what is important to the team...
Example: In basketball the players on the team recognize that scoring is what is important so they can win. So this is their focus. A player may be a wonderful ball handler. He may be able to dribble circles around everyone. But if that is all he does every time he gets the ball until the shot clock runs out, he is not helping the team. He may be the best dribbler in the world and his efforts may give the fans great joy, but that is not the purpose of the team.
He needs to know that this ball handling ability is a tool to help the team score.
John Maxwell in his book "Developing the Leader Within You" tells why animal trainers carry a stool when they go into a cage of lions. They have their whips, of course, and their pistols are at their sides. But invariably they also carry a stool. It is the most important tool of the trainer. He holds the stool by the back and thrusts the legs toward the face of the wild animal. Those who know maintain that the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. In the attempt to focus on all four, a kind of paralysis overwhelms the animal, and it becomes tame, weak, and disabled because its attention is fragmented.
- Encourage Diversity And Variety
The New Testament clearly teaches that there are many different gifts that have been given to the church. (1 Cor. 12; Rom. 12)
There is a pressure to conform within a team rather than operating in your gift for the good of the whole. For example, my gift is exhortation and not administration. The strength of a team is diversity and variety.
Football team... Each has a role, a talent and gift. The lineman must not feel they need to be the QB.
- Allow For Margins
Grace is a word that dominates much of the writing of the New Testament. This is the oil that will keep the team running smooth. Allow for mistakes. Give each other room.
- Gal. 6:1-2
- Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear you one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Our team will not be like the "Dream Team", the U.S. Olympic basketball team of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Carl Malone, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullen and other greats. There was not a question of whether they would win or not, but by how much. The players on the opposing teams were asking for their autographs.
GRACE IS LOVE IN ACTION!!!
- Set The Pace In Personal Growth
We all need to grow. Paul talks a lot about abounding more and more. Consider these verses:
- Phil 1:9
- And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more by knowledge and in all judgement
- 1 Thes 4:1
- Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.
- 1 Thes 4:10
- but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more.
- 1 Thes 3:12
- May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
Refuse to be outdated in methods and ideas. Set the example in growth. Develop professional skills and spiritual fruit and character.
- 2 Tim. 1:6
- Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God which is in you....
Attend classes, training sessions, seminars, maintain the intimate relation with Jesus that keeps the fire burning hot.
Make use of technology to stay informed and keep others informed.
At a recent graduation ceremony of a small liberal arts college the number of graduates was rather small, so they were allowed to make a statement or two as they received their diploma. One comment that got the best response was when a new graduate waived his diploma in the air and said, "It's time to stop learning and start living!!"
We can all understand that feeling. Now is the time to reap the benefits of the hard work. However, learning must never stop for a good team member. Jesus called His followers disciples which means, a learner.
Again, look at Paul. The most influential Christian in the history of the church. He wrote more than half of the New Testament. He started several churches and help spread Christianity through out the known world. He never said, "I have arrived." In fact, in Phil 3:10-16 we see where his heart and mind was. He wants more, he wants to press on.... v. 12 says "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
He is saying, "I am still learning. I am still a student."
We all need teachers....
John Elway is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football and yet he has a coach. He still needs someone on the sidelines giving him direction and offering leadership.
Michael Jordan, who is without doubt the best ever to play the game of basketball has a coach. When the last shot is to be taken he will yield to what the coach says. Couple of years ago he passed to Steve Kerr for the winning shot against the Jazz. He was told to look for him as soon as they came at him with the double team.
Being a good team member means we never stop learning, never stop growing, we never stop becoming.
Summary
A good team does not happen by accident. It is built through a combination of prayer, practical skills and methodologies and good leadership. Each member on the team plays their own crucial role and all members of an effective team should be made to feel that they are an important part of that team.
Each team will have its goals and purpose. The leader must never sacrifice the members for that purpose. They are not pawns to be used but parts of a living body jointly fitted together. Seek to build up each member and help them to become all that God has ordained them to be and make them effective in what God has gifted them to do. As each member is built up and encouraged to step into their their God-appointed skills/roles, the team becomes stronger and more effective.
Remember that each team member is uniquely and wonderfully made with their own giftings and skills. Encourage diversity so that the members can function as they are most effective rather than trying to become carbon copies of someone else or of their leader. Also remember that each is an human being, who is developing and learning and growing. Encourage that learning/development process in each member, and give them room to make mistakes so that they can learn/grow from their mistakes.
REVIEW:
Last week (lesson 8), we covered the first 5 items. They were:
- Develop the Understanding That All Members are Important. We Need Each Other.
Do not allow any members of the team to feel unimportant or unappreciated. Teach the team to value each other. Each member is important.
- Keep Biblical Vision In Perspective
Never get so caught up in the goals of the team that you sacrifice the members for the goal.. remember that we are to bring everyone on the team to a high level of maturity in Christ.
- Encourage Diversity And Variety
God has given many different gifts to the church. Allow people to function in their gifts instead of making them carbon copies of each other.
- Allow For Margins
Have Grace one for another.. give each other room.
- Set The Pace In Personal Growth
Keep each member of the team growing. Encourage that learning and development process in each member, and give them room to make mistakes so that they can learn/grow from their mistakes.
CONTINUING ON:
- Be Sensitive To Other's Needs
Everyone has physical needs, financial problems, family demands and social desire. Phili. 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Be concerned about the growth and goals of each other. This requires time together. It requires things like retreats, social events, relaxing (playing together). Paul felt this way towards those working with him. Phili. 2:25, 27 2 Tim. 1:2-4 Philemon 1:10, 13, 15-16, 18
Teams that don't bond can't build. The team needs to become a cohesive unit.
When a team member cares about no one but himself the whole team suffers. Can you imagine a man in a boat doing nothing while the two guys at the other end of the boat are furiously bailing water. He says "Thank God that hole isn't in my end of the boat!"
Building relationships is the key in producing caring attitudes. For team work-ministry to really work, great care must be given to interpersonal relations. You can't escape this. A pastor may spend hours in his study working on sermons, but if he never relates to people there is something missing though his sermons be packed with knowledge and wisdom.
This excerpt is from "Chicken Soup For The Soul" book 2 page 13, "The two-hundredth hug" by Harold Bloomfield, M.D.
My fathers skin was jaundiced as he lay hooked up to monitors and intraveinus tubes in ICU. Always a well built man he had lost 30 pounds. He had cancer of the pancreas and was given 3-6 months to live.
I approached my dad and said, "Dad, I feel deeply for what's happened to you. It's helped me to look at the ways I've kept my distance and to feel how much I really love you."
I leaned over to give him a hug, but his shoulders and arms became tense. "C'mon, Dad, I really want to give you a hug."
For a moment he looked shocked. Showing affection was not our usual way of relating. I asked him to sit up some more so I could get my arms around him. Then I tried again. This time he was even more tense. I could feel the old resentment starting to build up, and I began to think, 'I don't need this. If you want to die and leave me with the same coldness as always, go right ahead.'
For years I had used every instance of my fathers resistance and rigidness to blame him, to resent him and to say to myself "see he doesn't care." This time, however, I thought again and realized the hug was for my benefit as well as my father's. I wanted to express how much I cared for him no matter how hard it was for him to let me in. He had always been a man to shut off his emotions.
"Come on dad, put your arms around me." I leaned up close to him with his arms around me. "Now squeeze. That's it. Now again, squeeze." In a sense I was showing my father how to hug. As he squeezed something happened. For an instant, a feeling of I love you bubbled through. For years our greeting had been a cold and formal handshake that said, 'Hello, how are you?' Now, both he and I waited for that momentary closeness to happen again. Yet, just at the moment when he would begin to enjoy the feelings of love, something would tighten in his upper torso and our hug would become awkward and strange. It took months before his rigidness gave way and he was able to let the emotions inside him pass through his arms to encircle me. It was up to me to be the source of many hugs before my father initiated a hug on his own. I was not blaming him, but supporting him. After all, he was changing the habits of an entire life time, and that takes time. I knew we were succeeding because more and more we were relating out of care and affection. Around the two-hundredth hug, he spontaneously said out loud, for the first time I could ever recall, "I love you."
Jesus always centered on people. He focused on meeting their spiritual and eternal needs. Also on their physical needs.
Two great fears keep people from deeper relationships with each other.
- Fear of being judged
- Fear of being advised
- Learn How To Listen
It is mandatory to keep a listening ear open to other team members. Don't just listen, but allow them to feel heard. Never belittle suggestions. Our attitude should be "I don't care who makes the touchdown. We are a team!"
Solicit opinions, ask questions, encourage suggestions.
- Jam. 1:19
- Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.....
- John 12:49-50 (This is Jesus listening to Father.)
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- For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.
- I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."
Listen to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the Word, and each other.
Acts 15 is a good illustration of this. James, the senior elder at the Jerusalem church led the discussion on this important doctrinal issue. He listened to all and then made his judgment on the subject (v. 13). And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me:"
Here is an example of listening:
When Telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication a young man applied for a job as Morse Code operator. He answered the ad in the paper. Went to large busy office filled with nose and clatter, including a telegraph in background. He was told to fill out an application and wait until they were called to the inner office. He did so and sat with 7 others who waited to be called.
In a few minutes he stood up and went into the inner office. The others wondered what was going on. They were there before him and no one had called. They assumed he would be disqualified. Within a few minutes the employer came out and said, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled." The others were outraged. He said, "I'm sorry, but all the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: 'If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did and the job is his."
- Esteem One Another As Equals
Each member should feel that they are a vital member of the team. They are co-laborers and in mutual submission. 1 Peter 5:5; Eph. 5:21; Phili. 4:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Phili. 2:3
Just how do you do this in the right spirit? You do it like Jesus did, by serving.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake. 1 Thess. 5:12-13
If team members do not serve, then the congregation will not have respect.
- Numbers 27:18-20 is an example of this:
- So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him.
Can it happen??? Luke 22:24 "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." see also...Mark 9:34; Luke 9:46
3 John 9 I wrote unto the church; but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. (There are too many of these around today).
Power corrupts the best of leaders and team members and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is important to build an attitude of serving and honoring one another, of building each other up. Seek to serve the people of God with humility. (see 1 Cor. 1:26-31)
In short, this is how we are to behave towards members of a team we lead:
- Show appreciation
- Encourage them privately
- Praise them publicly
- Demonstrate pride in them
Researchers have been telling us for years that affirmation motivates people much more than financial incentives. People thrive on praise.
There really is little resemblance between most people and the Energizer Bunny. That pink bunny keeps showing up and going, and going and going. Not most people. They need their emotional batteries charged often. People need more than vision, duty, commitment, rewards, to keep them trucking along.
DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS!!
Different people on a team will have somewhat different needs. The following is a somewhat playful (but quite insightful) portrayal of how different people need to be recognized/praised.
We have Desperados on one side and Auto-pilots on the other.
- Desperados.
- Can't get enough praise and good strokes. They are desperate for it. "Warm Fuzzy" is their middle name. Like a junkie, they need their daily fix.
- Up and downers.
- Life is mountains and valleys for them. Emotional roller-coaster. Their needs vary depending on where they are on their ride.
- Normal people
- Are there any? I think they are dying breed.
- Auto-pilots
- These are the Energizer Bunnies. Any attempt to praise them is like a pesky gnat flying around their face, they just brush it away. They just don't need it.
SO, HOW DO WE DO THIS?
How do we build an effective team, taking into account different people's needs and helping them to grow together as a cohesive unit?
- Listening
- Jam. 1:19 Be quick to listen and slow to speak
- Empathizing
- Rom. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep
- Comforting
- 2 Cor. 1:3-4 We have gone through stuff that enables us to comfort others.
- Carrying burdens
- Gal. 6:2 Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
In addition to that, try sending cards or find other ways to express your appreciation: send thank you, missed you, thinking of you, just because cards.
Finally, give honor to whom honor is due 1 Pet. 2:17; Rom. 12:10; 13:7
- Give Room For Creativity
As the team leader allow other members of the team to use their gifts fully. Don't make them feel they have to do it like it has always been done. Every program in the church needs to be periodically evaluated and updated. If it is not working it should be changed or dropped. Let people think and make decisions.
Will people make mistakes? Yes. That's okay.
Praise initiative. Be excited over another's discoveries. You are not the only brain in town!!
- Practice Loyalty To One Another
Team ministry requires a high standard of ethics, honesty and integrity.
Never play one member against the other like children do with their parents. "Daddy lets me play in here"
Complaining and bickering is not allowed. It is not good for the team and it is unbiblical:
John 6:43 says "Murmur not among yourselves."
Phili. 1:27 says "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel."
Phili. 2:14-15 says "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."
The Yankees set a record for most victories in a season last year. The were noted for being a team made up of regular guys. In the playoffs against Cleveland in game five pitcher David wells was breezing along with one out and nobody on in the eighth. Joe Torre decided to remove him and bring in the middle reliever. Wells did not like it but accepted it. He had come to understand the team principle. Earlier in the season they had had a run in because Wells had openly berated a fellow player on the field for making an error. Torre informed him that teammates don't do that. From that point on, Wells was was a teammate.
And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses... Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?...and, behold Miriam became leprous... Numbers 12:1,2,10
If there is a difference of opinion in an Elders meeting, when the decision is reached you should support it fully.
- Work For A Spirit Of Unity
Unity in diversity must be maintained Eph. 4:3,13; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phili. 1:27; 2:2
Disagreement is not the same as disunity. Disagreement can be good for it forces us to look at the issues and to give serious consideration to the facts. It takes more than 11 players to make a successful football team. They may all be all pro players at their position, but they must be unified in purpose or they will never score or win.
Some guidelines to help maintain unity in times of discussion
- Examine all alternative to a situation. Look at positive options. Don't give ultimatums which force a person into a corner.
- Ask What is right? not Who is right?
- Switch roles and argue for the other side.
- Don't judge motives or question someone's integrity. Question proposals.
- If the major, ultimate decision seems unattainable at the present, look for possible agreement on short term goals.
- Compromise is not a dirty word. When principles aren't involved, compromise can get the ball rolling. Be flexible and adjust.
- Discern the right timing. The idea might be right, but the timing wrong. Wait. Put in on the shelf for a more appropriate day.
There was a lot of disagreement in the New Testament, but the unity of spirit and purpose kept them going. Problems were not ignored or brushed aside, but dealt with in the spirit of love which unifies all Christians.