"The Power of A Team"
Ecclesiastes 4:7-12
Sunday, July 29, 2012

Introduction:  A few years ago I worked with a group called “Christian Resource Ministries” receiving training on how to help myself and our church become more focused in our living for God. In this training I learned about the  Biblical purpose, values, and goals that God wants me to have. Yet, even though my individual goals are important, I also need to remember that as an individual I must find a way to join together with the family of God;/  I need to become part of a team.

            Example- There is a little game where you work with a group of 4 people. You have 2 chairs that are about five feet apart. Standing behind the chair you need to build a bridge from one chair to the other only using newspaper and masking tape. The other team you are competing against is standing behind the other chair needing to do the same thing. However, soon into the game, even though you are competing with another team, it becomes apparent that without the 2 teams working together, neither team can complete the project. In the end, both teams have to work together to join strips of newspaper. In doing this, both teams in essence win.

            This is often how it is in church life. We might feel like we have to do it on our own, or we might not feel comfortable working with others. This morning I want to help us discover the “power of a team;” the great work that God can do in and through us when we work together as the “body of Christ.” I want to look briefly at 6 different areas of cooperation that makes a good team (these 6 characteristics are found in Pat MacMillan’s book “The Performance Factor”).

I.                   Common Purpose- (John 17:20-21; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

First and foremost it is important to have a common purpose. I think that it

should be pretty self-evident that teams that are strong are the teams that understand their purpose, and have defined roles for the different members of the team. They are very aware of their common purpose. This isn’t always easy, because it takes finding a way to mold together all of our individual purposes into a common purpose. To do this we need to find that common ground, that common thread that weaves its way through the purpose God gives to each one of us.

            Second, this purpose can’t simply be dictated by a leader, but rather it needs to become a part of the passion of the whole team. The more members of the team that become passionate about the purpose, the more energy, enthusiasm, and purposeful work will go into making this vision a reality. So the teams that will be the most successful, are the teams that have the most members participating on the same track and going in the same direction. That is why it is worth struggling together to achieve this common purpose!/

In John 17, Jesus  prayed a prayer before He was arrested and crucified. This is the prayer He prayed as He anticipated leaving this earth, He said these words: “My prayer is not for (just those who believe in me). I also pray for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”/ In this prayer we see that Jesus knew that only by being unified in purpose could we do the work of winning people to Jesus. And the common purpose is to bring people to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And as new people are added to the kingdom, as they believe, they too need to become one in the purpose. This can only be done if we are one with God!

Thirdly, it calls for us to support, encourage, and help one another. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help…… A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

II.                Clear Roles- (1 Corinthians 12:7)

MacMillan then says in his book: “If a clear, common, compelling mission is our

reason for cooperation, then appropriate division of labor and clear roles is our strategy for cooperation.” What MacMillan is saying here is that a common purpose helps to unify us and lead us toward the goal, but not everyone can do the same thing. It is important to understand that we all play a role, and each of us must accept our role, get excited about our role, and do the best we can in our role.

            Example- The best teams aren’t just the ones that have the best players. The best teams have players on the team who are willing to play a role. The two years I coached the all-star teams were challenging, because a few of the kids did not want to give up their primary position to help the team. Only when they finally became “team” players was the team able to be successful. Not everyone can pitch all the time. Not everyone can bat first! The team is strongest when you figure out who is your best lead-off hitter, and who is your best pitcher.

            So it is in a church. We must each have a clear sense of the role we play. And yet it is equally important to have a clear sense of the roles of others as well. By doing this we can understand how our role fits into the role of another. It also helps us to see if our team is complete. We may have a lot of helpers, but not many teachers.

            On top of all of this, the role needs to be compatible; meaning that the role should match the members’ strength. I talk about the importance of this at every new members class, and mention it often in my sermons, because I know the Bible teaches this. To have someone do a task they are not gifted to do is not only bad for the person, but bad for the ministry as well. We need to involve ourselves in the ministries and areas where we are gifted!

            So as we seek to carry out our role, we work together to support and complement each other, and we can come to an agreement that each of us is important and essential for the purpose to which God has called us. As the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:7- “Now the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”/  These gifts are given to us by God’s Spirit to be used for God’s kingdom to bless one another for God’s glory!

III.             Accepted Leadership- (Hebrews 13:17)

Now I said before that this purpose should not just be dictated to the group by a

Leader. It is a stronger purpose and better carried out when the purpose is formed by the members of the team together. This doesn’t mean that leaders are not needed. I think it is pretty obvious that a group without a leader or leaders will be a group that will quickly fall into chaos.

            Example- I happen to watch the reality series “SURVIVOR.” This show is

about 18 people coming to live on an island trying to live and compete and ultimately be the last to “survive” without being voted off. It is always inter-

esting when the people come together on the first day, and are formed into a tribe. In the first few minutes of the tribes’ existence you begin to see the jockeying of who will be the leader; because until a leader is determined, not much fruitful activity will happen.             LEADERS ARE IMPORTANT!

We are told in Hebrews 13:17- “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”/ Paul says some important and powerful things here. First, leaders are important and need to be followed. Second, when you follow them willingly it helps them to enjoy their leading and keeps them from getting overburdened. Third, when leaders are happy, they do their work better and it is more enjoyable for those who are being led.

            So leaders are important and need to be willingly followed. But good leaders understand that the overall team is what is important./ Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, in their book The Wisdom of Teams say this: “Successful team leaders instinctively know that the goal is team performance instead of individual achievement. They genuinely believe that they do not have all the answers so they do not insist on providing them. They believe they do not need to make all key decisions so they do not do so. They believe they cannot succeed without the combined contributions of all the other members of the team to a common end and so they avoid any action that might constrain input or intimidate anyone on the team.” /  So we see that getting people to work together depends on the critical attitude of putting team performance first.

IV.              An Effective Process- (Luke 14:28-30)

We next move to “effective process.” What is effective process? “Effective

process” is the pathway enabling the team to carry out its defined purpose. To have a written purpose is good, but this purpose needs to be defined further. To define the purpose you first must come up with a plan. Jesus said in Luke 14:28-30- "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? [29] For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, [30] saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”/ To carry out any purpose, we have to have a plan.

Next, the “Effective process” includes implementation. Meaning, that we begin to outline the goals that will help us to carry out the plan; the goals that will help us to implement our plan. And remember, as we talked about last week, the trick to living out these goals is to make them specific, achievable, time-oriented, AND get them into the calendar. By following these steps, we can then move forward in carrying out our call by God.

And finally, there is the re-evaluation of the process. As we begin to live out our call, there will be some bumps in the road; there will be some struggles; there will be some failure. These are not bad, because they help us to refine the process; they help us to understand what we are called to do and what we are not called to do. We may have the goal to reach out into the community, but does that mean we turn our church into a “soup kitchen?” There will be ministries that will be effective, and others that won’t. As we re-evaluate along the way, we can constantly be determining what God is calling US to do at this time and in this place. The re-evaluation keeps the team focused giving significant attention to HOW a team will work toward its goals by breaking things into properly sequenced and manageable steps.

V.                 Solid Relationships-

EXAMPLE- “The 1000-Mile Dog Sled Run”- Every year in Alaska, a 1000-mile dogsled race, run for prize money and prestige, commemorates an original “race” run to save lives. Back in January of 1926, six-year-old Richard Stanley showed symptoms of diphtheria, signaling the possibility of an outbreak in the small town of Nome. When the boy passed away a day later, Dr. Curtis Welch began immunizing children and adults with an experimental but effective anti-diphtheria serum. But it wasn’t long before Dr. Welch’s supply ran out, and the nearest serum was in Nenana, Alaska—1000 miles of frozen wilderness away. /  Amazingly, a group of trappers and prospectors volunteered to cover the distance with their dog teams! Operating in relays from trading post to trapping station and beyond, one sled started out from Nome while another, carrying the serum, started from Nenana. Oblivious to frostbite, fatigue, and exhaustion, the teamsters mushed relentlessly until, after 144 hours in minus 50-degree winds, the serum was delivered to Nome. As a result, only one other life was lost to the potential epidemic. Their sacrifice had given an entire town the gift of life. (Source unknown; found on internet, bible.org)

The goal of a team should always be “high performance.” To be a “high

performance” team, teams have to do life and work together. As Katzenbach and Smith say in their book: “What sets apart high-performance teams, however, is the degree of commitment, particularly how deeply committed the members are to one another. Each genuinely helps the others to achieve both personal and professional goals.”

When we are committed to each because we are all children of God, and when we are committed to each other because we all want to see God’s kingdom grow, then we will be motivated to become a high-performance team. When you go to a church, you can tell if that church is high-performance based on their attitudes toward one another, and on how well they are working together. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t conflict or struggle, but it does mean that we need to learn how to love the way God loves, and forgive each other the way God forgives us!!

VI.              Excellent Communication-

Illus. “John and Alice,” Amusing Grace, p. 27, #50. There is a story of a man and woman (John and Alice) who were sitting together on the couch drinking lemonade. At one point Alice turned to John and asked: “John, do you think my hair is soft and shiny?” John responded: “Yep.” Then she asked: “John, are my eyes bright and beautiful.” “Yep,” he said. After a few minutes she then asked: “Do you think my skin is smooth and white like porcelain?” Again he simply said: “Yep.” At this she smiled and declared: “John, you do say the sweetest things.”

The last characteristic of a successful team is that of excellent communication. Excellent communication is not just about the sharing of information, but it is making sure that the information that is shared is complete and accurate. When the information that is shared is not complete or accurate, problems will occur; conflict will happen; mistakes will take place; teams will get frustrated and derailed. To be complete and accurate in your sharing takes effort and practice, but can be fairly easily achieved. And when information that is shared is not complete, or not accurate, then the person who received the information needs to be diligent in seeking out the important information that was left out or mis-communicated. This does not mean that we should get angry at the person who made the mistake, but rather in love we go to them and explain what was left out and why it caused a problem.

It is also important to have an environment where people feel comfortable and confident to share. This means that all ideas are important, all people are important, and mistakes will be expected. It also means that not all ideas will be implemented and we will seek to grow from our mistakes and mishaps. As I said in the last point, and it is important here as well, to create this environment we must have an attitude of love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

Conclusion: As a church we can choose to just  “function together.” Functioning together does not make us a team, but basically just enables us to “get things done.” God wants so much more from us as a church than to just get things done. God wants us to be unified in purpose, and performing together as a team, because God knows that there is “power in a team.”

            Do you know the mission statement of this church? If not, you can see it on the back of the bulletin. Let me give you an easy way to remember it. Think of a baseball diamond. Going from first to second is the important point of “bringing people to know Jesus”. Going from first to second is about “helping people grow in their faith”. Going from second to third is about “becoming responsible members”. And going from third to home is where we “share God’s love beyond the church”!

            An effective team will happen when we together have the conviction that God has placed us here together to minister for Him, and love for Him with this purpose in mind. An effective team will happen when we live together in “authentic community” seeking to truly care for and pray for each other. An effective team will exist when we seek to use our gifts as a way to fulfill a “ROLE” on the team/  and encourage others to use their gifts as well.

            So let us join together in commitment to accept all who God brings to this church, to do what God calls us to do together, and to give forth the energy and involvement that needs to take place for the work of God to be lived out here at Community Presbyterian Church. Amen.