Are you a team player?
20 Nov 2017
One of the greatest joys and challenges of mission is team life. When team life works, it’s wonderful! It helps with clear Kingdom vision and mission purpose, divided responsibilities and a sense of synergy which reminds us that we are better together. As we reflect Biblical interdependence, we can model a reflection of God’s people, the church, provide continuity for the ongoing work and see those around us further formed into the person God would have them be.
Team life provides care and fellowship, builds resilience and helps with longevity. When it works, team is wonderful.
But team life can also break your heart. We are human, and therefore broken. We will fail each other, the only question being not if but when and how. We’ll misunderstand each other, frustrate each other, harbour doubts about another’s ability or strategy. Differences can be rich and add to team, but they can also become barriers to deeper relationship and the root of conflict. And yet, as an organisation, we value team.
Why? Why is team important? Is it really, truly worth it?
Well, have you ever considered that unity within team can be part of our mission strategy? How will they know that we are His disciples, as John 13:34-35 prompts us? By how we love one another.
As we interact with each other in relationship, live out team in both the being and the doing, work together towards a common goal, people are observing us. They see how we respond to each other, how we love and forgive each other, how we choose to believe the best in each other, and work together in a way that honours God and honours each other.
When we choose to go out of our way to clarify a confusion or miscommunication, guarding against conflict, we honour God and others. When we choose to quickly forgive a hurt, whether intentional or not, we live out the forgiveness which is the crux of our faith in Christ. When we work hard to understand the others in our team, hearing their stories, learning from them as a brother or sister in Christ, believing that God has entrusted them to us for a time, we are choosing others over self.
When we give up our own rights, we are saying in action, you are more important than me.
And this is part of our mission task. Unity, expressed in team, bears witness. Serving in team is one way of displaying our love for Christ and the truth of the gospel.
-Kate P