Many years ago, when I looked at the promises in the Bible concerning Israel, the Church, the Messianic Remnant, and the End Times, I came to the conclusion that no one is strong, wise, or righteous enough to fulfill them. If God was calling us to be involved, we had to work together as a team. If we could not develop teamwork, we could not fulfill our destiny.
It’s never easy to work in a team. A team involves people, and people have problems. They bring their weaknesses, their differences of opinions, their pride, fears, stubbornness, frustrations, etc. People come with their “baggage” and their “garbage.”
Once I distributed pieces of a children’s jig-saw puzzle to our staff. We had to slide our pieces to the center of the table and make them fit together. The separated pieces had no meaning, but when they were connected, a coherent picture emerged.
Each piece had curves going inward and curves going outward. We interpreted the inward curves as our weaknesses or needs, and the outward curves as our talents or strong points. The inward curves – our weaknesses – were what enabled the pieces to fit together. To form a whole picture, the critical task is for each one to recognize his need for the other. We can allow our weaknesses to pull us together, where often our strengths push us apart.
Joint Ownership
I serve in senior leadership at Revive Israel Tikkun Global (RITG), Ahavat Yeshua, and Tiferet Yeshua. Thank God, each team is bearing much fruit by His grace. I feel very aware of my own weaknesses, and often am not sure of what I contribute. Each team is made up of people who are gifted, talented, and motivated in their own right.
If there is anything that I feel we have done right, it is to foster a feeling of teamwork and joint “ownership.” In each of these groups, it is apparent that there is interaction and “give and take” in the team. This in itself provides a sense of safety for the other people involved. Nothing is dependent on just one person.
I summarize our teamwork goals in a simple three-step guideline:
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Your Success
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Our Togetherness
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Generational Transfer
The first priority is to desire the success of the others involved. The attitude should be: “If I can help you succeed, then I have done my job.”
The second priority is maintaining the unity of the team. Everyone has to sacrifice of himself in order to keep the togetherness. Yielding is the price of unity.
The third area involves training and transfer. Not only are the goals of the kingdom of God too big for any one person, they are too big for any one generation. Transferring roles and positions goes in both directions: “up and out” for the elders, and “down and in” for the younger ones.
The transition is like a family in which the child eventually becomes a parent, and the parent becomes the grand parent. The authority is moved gradually away from the elder to the younger, but the elder remains in a place of influence and honor.
I hope these principles of teamwork and covenantal relationships will help you bear much fruit in every sphere of life (John 15:5, 8, 16).
