Being a team player

I have been on highly functional teams and dysfunctional teams. I'm sure you have been too. I am also pretty sure that you prefer, like me, to be a part of a highly functional team. In dysfunctional teams there is chaos, things don't get done, there is finger pointing, blame...

The interesting thing to me is that you can have great leaders leading highly functional teams and great leaders with dysfunctional teams as well. So, what's the difference? Usually it's one of two things... the people, or an undefined mission.

Sometimes, when the world looks at the church we see a dysfunctional group of organization. It's sad, but true. We make mistakes. We don't have a good system to identifying new people and helping them feel a part of the church. We send people to class, but we don't make sure they really understand what they believe. We put all our energy into the outward appearance of a Sunday service, but leave people to fend for themselves the other 6 days a week.

We have a clear mission, as defined in the Bible. We have leaders - God promised that He would give us Pastors, Teachers. So... is the problem with the people?

I'm not sure... and believe me, I'm not pointing fingers. If I were, I would be examining myself first and how I fit into my local church. The thing is... this isn't new. The question as to whether or not the people truly commit to what the Bible asks us to do has existed even from the early church.

Let's take a moment and read this motivational speech that "coach" Paul gives to the church in Rome:

Romans 12

 1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Basically, Paul says that in order for there to be a change in our church, in our community - it has to begin with us! The King James version of the body says that we should "present our bodies as a living sacrifice" - Romans 12:1. That... is commitment. So, to quote the Gatorade commercial... "Is it in you?"