Leading Among Friends

God is the God of unity in three persons. Within the Godhead is a flow of love and unity with and an absence of competition and jealousy. From among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit comes action to extend this fellowship of love to all creation.

Reflecting the Trinity, team-led churches are participatory and relational. Teams are comprised of people who are respected and gifted for service. Working together, they collectively pool their gifts for a single purpose. They are not a collection of individuals but a group working together collectively.

The Team Leader

The team leader has a key role in bringing the team together relationally as participators in the vision and mission. The team leader is not the “big banana” over all the “lesser bananas.” Indeed, the team leader’s task is not to shape the other team members into his own image but to help facilitate relationship, love and commitment among the team. He takes responsibility to ensure the team members build relationships with one another and not just with him. Some ways to facilitate this include retreats, lunches, team-building exercises, vision “jam sessions”, as well as praying and playing together. Relationships within the team are built on trust, which requires time together.

A principal goal to create a participatory team means the team leader takes responsibility to initiate a team process that results in giving away responsibility. The successful team leader has an attitude that they do not need to make all the key decisions nor assign all the key jobs. The team member knows that they don’t know all the answers and that each one needs the other members of the team. The team leader will draw out team member's feelings and frustration. There needs be a vulnerability and honesty. Building this kind of team requires energy, nurturing, maintaining relationships and a significant investment of time. As with any valuable endeavor, true friendship is worth the effort as it reflects the loving God we serve.