A Team: Don't Leave Home Without One
by Bruce HansenIt is a sign of how deeply our American individualism has infected us that we even consider serving on the mission field apart from a team. The apostle Paul would not have considered it.
Acts 13 tells of Paul’s first mission venture. The Holy Spirit commanded the church leaders in Antioch to send out Paul and Barnabas. They added a third member, John Mark, as a helper. Half-way through the journey, John Mark chose to return home, leaving the team and the work. We learn later in Acts 15:36-41, that John Mark’s desertion troubled Paul so deeply that he refused to include John Mark in their second mission venture. When Barnabas insisted on giving John Mark a second chance, he and Paul parted company. Barnabas took John Mark on one mission trip, while Paul went on another.
This conflict shows that TEAMWORK CAN BE DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL, even for mature Christians like Paul, Barnabas and John Mark. We should not expect to fare much better. This may sound discouraging to some, but I find it freeing. It tells me that missions work is for real people with real problems like me. The gospel works in real life, not just through idealized apostles.
After a failed team experience, we might give up on the team idea. Not Paul. He immediately chose another teammate, Silas (Acts15:40). And at their first stop (Acts 16:1-4), they recruited Timothy to join them. Paul, Silas and Timothy became a strong missionary team. 1 Thessalonians 1-2, for example, speaks of their effective joint ministry in that city. Paul always built a team.
There is ample Biblical perspective showing why teamwork was an assumption for Paul. God works in community, by community and for community. God Himself is a kind of community—three in one, the Trinity. If we are created in God’s image, then we cannot be fully human by ourselves. God has always shown his redemptive work to be in and through communities—the people of Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament.
A TEAM IS CRITICAL TO OUR WITNESS because God reconciles us to each other as well as to Himself. If we are to demonstrate what we believe, we must be a team. If God wants to build a new community—the church—we must proclaim it as a community. Such a strategy is exactly what Paul points to in 1 Thessalonians 1 and 2. Note that this epistle is authored by a team!
God distributed various gifts among many of us so we would really need each other. To pursue God’s mission on earth alone is to work against God’s economy. It is also unbiblical and arrogant.
WE NEED EACH OTHER TO SHARPEN AND REFINE US as we mature. It’s foolish to go into a new and difficult missions situation, where stress and disorientation will bring out our worst characteristics, without teammates who can help us become more Christ-like instead of more offensive. If we go into mission work alone, we deprive those we’re sent to of all that God wants us to be. For their sake as much as ours, we need to build a team!
In choosing teammates, the highest priority is to CHOOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY EFFECTIVELY USING THEIR GIFTS in a team to do God’s work here and now. People will not magically become good ministers of the gospel when they move to a cross-cultural situation. If anything, the opposite is true. And because teamwork is hard, potential teammates ought to have demonstrated a commitment to teamwork even when it is difficult. It is unwise to try team ministry for the first time on the mission field.
Teamwork is always a frustrating way to do ministry, especially for Americans. But it is God’s way. Despite his difficulties with John Mark and Barnabas, Paul persisted in team based ministry. Paul never neglected it. Neither can we.
Here are some things to think about as you consider forming or joining a team to serve on the mission field:
- Make a list of your gifts, skills, temperament, etc., that would be an asset to a team.
- What aspects of yourself need to be "sharpened and refined"?
- What gifts, skills, personality types, etc. in team members would complement yours and help you to be a more effective witness?
PRAY that God will continue to refine and shape you, PRAY for a servant heart and a willingness to put others' interests before your own, and ASK GOD to bring together team members who are committed to loving Him and each other sacrificially.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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