God-Reflecting Teams are Like...

In our last blog we spoke of the perichoretic nature of God and of human teams being a reflection of the image of a Triune godhead. This blog will describe briefly what such teams actually would look like if they are based on that ultimate reality.

If our humanness itself bears the stamp of God, then (even with the reality of sin being acknowledged) the teams that we function in should also reflect the dynamics of the ‘team’ we see in the Bible. What would that kind of model team look like? Here are seven team descriptors that we will explore in turn.

Covenanting · Visionary · Culture-Creating
Collaborative · Trusting · Empowering · Learning

Covenanting: Implicit in the eternal, infinite love of the Father, Son and Spirit is a covenantal relationship. Even though we created beings do not exactly mirror this divine harmony, scripture does illustrate God’s desire to extend covenant and relationship to his children. Members of ministry teams covenant both to be in a relationship of God’s love and to agree on their mutual purposes and plans and the practicalities of seeing them fulfilled.

Visionary: Because God is sovereign and acts with intention, teams can be fueled by a mission that God has given them to embrace and to do. Teams (and their committed individuals) are the effective means of accomplishing God’s divine purpose and intent. They sense that their work has ultimate meaning and that they are engaged in something eternally significant and seek clarity about what each member’s role is in accomplishing that objective.

Culture-Creating: In a fallen world, we are called to establish and sustain the culture of the Kingdom (which is admittedly counter-cultural) in community with team members. We have ample evidence of the destructive and dysfunctional cultural norms replayed by media and every-day encounters in our neighborhoods. As culture-creators, teams are powerful influences that shape and drive values and narratives that facilitate a ‘Kingdom on earth’ culture.

Collaborative: In the nature of God we find what might be called ‘perfect collaboration.’ Collaboration should not be confused with uniformity — and the diversity of spiritual gifts given to the church reinforces this fact! A healthy, collaborative team recognizes the unique character of each member, renders each other’s weaknesses irrelevant, makes members flourish, and focuses on gifting and capabilities aligned toward the God-given calling of the team.

Trusting: It is God’s character to be utterly trustworthy. Broken trust destroys team unity and fellowship. There is no more powerful way to devastate a team than to betray another’s trust. Conversely, in a world that thrives on self-aggrandizement, betrayal and deceit, an ethos of committed trust maintained by a team is a redemptive source of healing and ministry to the church and the world.

Empowering: [Delegating] It is the very nature of God to pour out self, to extend grace, to give up life for us, that is, to be voluntarily emptied that we might be full. Similarly, the responsibility of a great team is to give away responsibility in order to empower others to learn, grow, and fulfill their potential before God. Empowering teams become highly effective by widely sharing their mission, power, and responsibility and creating broad involvement with minimal hierarchy.

Learning: In His omniscience, God has no need to learn. Teams consisting of finite members however are called to discover and experience the revealed presence and truth of God. Such teams experiment, take prudent risks, innovate, and attempt to apply their learning in practical ways that strengthen vision and advance Kingdom objectives.

Church teams that model themselves on the nature and character of the triune God will be god-honoring, thriving communities that are vivid examples of the healthy teamwork in a world that is often incapable of working together.

*This and the previous post have been largely based on concepts drawn from the book entitled Leading the Team-Based Church (Cladis, 1999).

Lee is a long time member of Manchester Christian Church and has served in a variety of leadership roles including treasurer, elder and part time staff member. He is currently a member of the Strategic Leadership Team and the Leadership Development Team.