Having a Teammate Makes All the Difference

Saw a fascinating tweet by Marcus Buckingham last week about Andre Agassi's new biography Open.

Andre hated tennis.

He hated it because it was a solitary sport. Some of his best experiences happened while playing doubles when he had a teammate.

I wonder how many church planters are out there secretly hate the sport because it's solitary.

I wrote a whole chapter in Church in the Making about how a church gets started among a team of leaders versus one, lone guy slugging it out in solitude. Makes a world of difference.

Comments

[bondChristian]

What an eye-opener: "I wonder how many church planters out there secretly hate the sport because it's solitary."

Gives me a determination to seek out teammates, but more importantly, become a teammate. I know I could surely help my church leaders simply by coming alongside and being there with them.

The dropout rate for church leaders is huge. I wonder how many church leaders - or for that matter church members - would stick around if only for a teammate. It sounds selfish or superficial in a way, because it means note fully trusting in God, but often God uses companionship more than anything else as the needed encouragement to keep going.

Jesus always sent out two at a time.

-Marshall Jones Jr.

[Jamie Limato]

Good stuff Ben. This is one of the very things that drew me to Aletheia and the model in which we plant churches. I absolutely know that I would have quit our plant at ODU if I didn't have a team. Solitude is good for our repentance and relationship with God personally but, planting and carrying out the mission was never intended to be a solo activity.

Here is point #1 in the Aletheia Model: Everything must be initiated from the context of Team Development
Acts 13-20 provides biblical principles for church planting.
Never start a church without a team surrounded by lots of prayer! (Don’t challenge God on this one!)
Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted…”
“ministered” (λειτουργεω to serve at one’s own expense without expecting anything in return)
“fasted” (represents self-sacrifice)
These characteristics along with the emphasis of everyone being a committed servant help to create an effective description of future team members. (1Corinthians 4:1)
The team would include contact (social) experts, admin people, graphic artists (materials), musicians, hospitality experts, evangelists, disciple makers, tech/sound people…and anyone else who may be foundationally important to recruit. (See Acts 20:4-5)