Christian Leadership Foundations 6 - TeamSample

THE BLESSINGS OF TEAM

Leadership Devotion

Nehemiah was doing very well. He was a trusted, important official in the Persian court. He was well connected and well-liked. God was blessing him for his faithfulness. But Nehemiah was a team person. When he found out Jerusalem was in a mess and the Jews who had returned to Israel were in “great trouble and disgrace,” he knew he had to do something to help. So he returned to Jerusalem to lead a rebuilding of the walls.

Jerusalem had been taken over by non-Jewish, well-connected local officials who were not pleased about Nehemiah’s arrival and plans. Nehemiah knew the rebuild would face stiff opposition. It would need every Jewish resident to help. Nehemiah’s “call to arms” involved sharing fresh vision, reinforcing great confidence in God, and telling stories that showed God had already been at work. Team leaders motivate their team in the same way - by vision, faith, and stories. They share their faith vision and have evidence of God’s work to back it up. Nehemiah’s team was pumped and ready to go. This was exciting. They were going to do something together that had not have been possible without Nehemiah’s leadership.

It took just 52 days to complete the project. That’s incredible. I’ve watched road works using modern equipment take years to finish, and here the team rebuilt the whole wall of Jerusalem with new gates in less than two months under significant pressure and opposition. With new walls, the Jews could finally control their destiny (under God). This story shows the power of team. Nehemiah would have had no chance of completing this project by himself. He prayed, led, shared faith vision, and dealt with external opposition and internal conflict. But the team did the work.

You can imagine the team’s excitement and confidence in God when the last gate was hung. This was their wall! What had seemed an impossibility only months before had been achieved. Being part of a team that works together to achieve something special with God is very exciting.

To Contemplate

To check how you’re going with Team, please rate each statement on the following scale:
5 - Strongly Agree; 4 - Agree; 3 - Neither Agree nor Disagree; 2 - Disagree; 1 - Strongly Disagree.
Total the scores. This gives a score out of 25. A score below 20 indicates significant room for growth.

1. I am most alive and effective when working with a team. I need team.

2. I am vulnerable and honest with my team and encourage the team to shape our direction.

3. I and those I lead see ourselves as a strong team with the same values and goals.

4. Our team works through decisions and differences in a healthy, honest manner.

5. We have had some significant successes credited to our team.

Leadership Reflection

Team building is a leadership skill that grows our influence and widens our kingdom’s impact. Not every Christian leader will be a strong team builder because team requires some high-level leadership skills that not every Christian leader possesses. That’s okay.

If we can help build a group of people into a real team, our influence grows in two ways. First, more is achieved than team members could ever achieve by themselves, which builds ownership and commitment to the team and the leader. Second, people are keener to follow us because being part of a team provides empowerment and enjoyment. Let me expand on these.

1. Empowerment

One blessing of being a Christian is that you don’t have to do life alone. You become part of a body of diverse people where every member has a significant contribution. The body is tied together by its common relationship (child of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit), common direction (to love God and love others), and common values (the products of the gospel of grace as revealed in Scripture).

We don’t always see the body of Christ at its best. Sometimes, the relationships are not strong, there is little wise, godly leadership, and we don’t see the power of God at work through us much at all. This is a sad reality, but it is not what God intends for his church.

When we experience Team as God intended and become part of a group of Christians who love and support each other, use their complimentary gifts and skills, share values and vision, and hold each other accountable, we find that God can use us in ways that are far greater than anything we could hope to achieve ourselves. This is the body of Christ in action the way God intended.

A term that applies to such a work of God is “empowerment.” We enjoy the power of God at work through our team in a way not possible individually. We are empowered by the Spirit of God working through the team’s unity, commitment, and joint effort. This is wonderful to experience. It’s a taste of what our life in the future heaven/earth will be like. It is hugely encouraging and motivating and a blessing to everyone on the team.

Empowerment can also occur through a non-Christian team that operates in the way God intends. Christian leaders seek to build teams, whether in the church, workplace, or community. The empowerment that comes through team is such a blessing for everyone involved.

2. Enjoyment

Another spin-off for those who follow you as you forge a real team is that real team is fun. Getting to a real team is not always fun, especially in the “storming” stage. It takes a lot of hard work on everyone’s part, but when you get there, it is exciting and enjoyable.

You get to serve with real friends you respect with all their faults. You see God using your team in ways you didn’t think possible. You find the team has your back when things go wrong. You can be honest and open with the team and grow through your forged relationships. You see you are needed and valued. This not only makes life and ministry more significant for team members, but it also makes it more enjoyable. Real team is an aspect of the “life to the full” (John 10:10) that Jesus promised his disciples.

Building team is challenging. Many of us may not have the abilities/calling to lead people into team. That’s fine. Our influence will be more one-on-one. We will join teams and generously contribute rather than lead them. If you find this is your calling, please be a humble, hungry, supportive team member.

Even when we have the ability and calling to build a team, our insecurities and weaknesses will work against the forging of a strong team. We will struggle to make ourselves vulnerable, give away our authority, trust others, confront conflict, share the praise, keep on consulting, and accept our differences. It’s much easier to use our leadership to motivate and direct others and avoid all the give and take that team requires. Not many Christian leaders build strong teams.

Team must be our goal. We have seen this is the way God operates. This is the way he calls his church to function. The Bible clarifies that Christ’s body is meant to influence through team. So if we are gifted and called to lead real team, let’s develop the commitments and skills needed and give team our best effort.