Teamwork
“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:2-3)
“To accomplish anything great we need to work as a team.”
That’s a simple statement but I think I tell it to my church every service; at least it seems like it. The great thing is that I am blessed to have a church where teamwork is of a high priority, and that we work on deepening the unity of our team on a constant basis. Teamwork and complete unity within that teamwork is essential for effective forward progress. I strongly believe this especially about believers who are part of a local church, and who have a dream and desire to see their church truly make a difference for the Kingdom of God. There must be a unity that is there that goes beyond just the surface-level, superficial smiles, and “Hi’s”, and congenial small talk. True teamwork, and I mean teamwork that is inundated with the bonds of unity, carries within it the idea of brothers and sisters working together as a family that may at times disagree, but yet is a family that always forgives, forgets, puts the past behind, and moves forward. If we didn’t need each other so much than the Apostle Paul wouldn’t have written Ephesians 4 calling the Ephesian church and us today to walk in unity always realizing that each of us plays a vital role in the success of furthering the Gospel and building the church.
I witnessed teamwork at a recent outreach that our church did at a waterpark that is located near to where we hold our church services. I watched as the THCI Team worked and labored from 8am until 6pm in the hot Texas sun to play a part in the delivering of the Gospel message to over 2000 people! They set up tents, banners, the stage 3 times for 3 shows where Team Xtreme performed and ministered, carried brick and block, shared the Gospel with people who waited in line for an autograph, talked about the church to everyone, and generally worked like worker ants in unity to accomplish this task to the glory of God. It was awesome for me as the pastor of the church to witness.
Our verse tells us to be diligent about preserving the unity within the team. In other words, work hard at doing your part to keep the unity amongst yourself and those who labor among you. Hey, I realize that there may be people on your team that ‘grate’ on you a bit, but from what I read in Ephesians 4 the Apostle Paul doesn’t give us any out because of that. We are to suck it up, pray about it, put on the garment of love, and do everything you can to bring the team together in unity because that’s just the way it’s supposed to be. I don’t read anywhere in 1 Corinthians 13 where it is explaining what real godly love is that we are allowed to destroy the unity of the team because we want to hold on to our little grudges. This is one of the tricks of the devil and there is nothing more he would like to do than to have believers not get along, and thusly hinder the effectiveness of a church’s forward progress. If a ministry can rid itself from any strife than it can be mightily used of God.
So let’s not let the devil win. Let’s defeat him by being a team and working together with the kind of teamwork that is so unified that nothing can slow us down or hinder us from accomplishing everything God has called us to be and do!
What about you? Are you truly the team player you need to be in your church? Be diligent about preserving unity and make a difference on the team that God has placed you on. Teamwork is key for the effectiveness of God’s work.
God Bless you and may your team thrive and accomplish everything God has called you to accomplish!
Pastor Brad Tuttle
