Every person is gifted. Think of the skills needed to be a mum or a dad, to be a nurse or teacher, carpenter or carer, accountant or IT whiz, even to be a husband or wife, a teenager, young adult, a single person! To live life, whoever we are, requires a wide range of practical and relational skills.
Every person has a special gift, ability, or personal characteristic with which to serve and bless the whole body of Christ. The church is not about one person doing a hundred things, but a hundred people doing one thing. The church is a team.
This coming week I will be participating in a five day seminar/observation experience at New Hope church in Honolulu (yes, it’s a sacrifice having to go to Hawaii!!). The pastor from there is a man called Wayne Cordeiro who many years ago wrote a book called ‘Doing Church as a Team’. I really liked the theme and tenor of this book, as the body of Christ metaphor is all about teamwork rather than hierarchy (which is not to say there is no spiritual authority, but the nature of that authority is one which empowers individuals and teams).
I have been looking over his book, reminding myself of some of its observations and insights and thought I would share some with you:
“Everyone is a perfect 10 – somewhere’. We need to find it and help each other discern and use our gifts. We are most fulfilled when we are doing for God what we love to do.
“God deserves our best”. Whatever we do, let’s do our best for God. He quotes from Mother Theresa: “What we do is something small, but we do it with big hearts. At death we will not be judged by the amount of work we did, but by the amount of love we put into it. We do not strive for spectacular actions. What counts is the gift of yourself, the degree of love you put into each of your deeds….Do you want to be great? Pick up a broom and sweep the floor.”
Here’s a quote I like: “One of the greatest roles of a pastor is to believe in people”. Yet at the same time he says that it is our own responsibility to develop our gifts (cf parable of the talents). One of the ways we do that is by taking risks, failing if necessary, but stepping out and trusting God. As CT Studd, a 19th century missionary, once put it, “The gamblers for gold are so many, but the gamblers for God are so few. Where are the gamblers for God?”
Undergirding this is the development of a person’s character. Cordeiro says God is “less interested in what you are doing and more interested in who you are becoming”. That’s not to say that what we do is not important, but it needs to emerge out of who we are, or who we are becoming. We need people who can speak into our lives and help us and guide us in our growing.
I hope I can grow further in time ahead to facilitate St Luke’s as teams of people working together gladly, happily and fruitfully to grow God’s kingdom among us in many and various ways. Ideally I would actually be going as part of a team! However, if I receive any benefit hopefully there will be a ripple effect through us all.
May God help us work together as supportive teams of people who love God and love others and know His Spirit’s power as we do.