Teams can be a great place to grow in our character and competencies. Check out these paraphrased comments by Dr. Greg Livingstone in his book Planting Churches....A Team Approach Baker Books (1993); pp. 114-115:
- A successful church planting team: members feel secure even when they have different convictions...others do not have to conform to one's convictions. They can discuss all types of things together including doctrine, strategies etc in a "non-censorious environment."
- The team leader: understands the overall picture, can handle ambiguity and setbacks in order to help the team persevere, avoiding skism...and all this is keeping with the goal of producing a resilient church--whose resiliency refelcts the team's resiliency.
- Team fellowship: Members of teams sin, and the team can address this. This is normal and to be expected. Members will act badly at times. We all do!
- Emotinal baggage; We all have it. We have been damaged, there are areas in which we are blind and we don't see our own self-centeredness and selfishness at times. For some this will even invoved neurotic, addictive behavior. Teams must know how to do reconciliation well according to Scriptures such as Matthew 5:23-24 and Matthew 18:15-17
- Alas: Workes don't folow the Scriptural guideliines! Relational wedges form. And our many sins hinder love--love no longer covers a multitude of sins.
Reflection and Discussion
1. How relevant are these comments for your team?
2. Any additional comments to help teams be more resilient?
1 comment:
Just a wee note on a related area. I think many of the folks with whom we work/live--people in the host cultures--know a lot about resiliency already. And they in fact may have more to teach us about resiliency than we could ever teach them.
So--how the poor survive day after day, how the underemployed or occasionally employed (day labourers for example)still do their utmost to make a living and still have hope, how those without medical care chose to keep going on, how those with limited educational options for their children still do their best for them without despairing, etc.
If I want to really learn about resiliency, maybe I should go to the chronic illness ward in a dilapidated hospital, or go live in a slum for a season. I admire such folks too. There are over one billion slum dwellers on our planet for example. They form a major block of the prototypical resilient citizens of the future.
I think this is a large part of the literal message in the Beatitudes.
Kelly
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