Tag: team

How Did Jesus Demonstrate Leadership To His Disciples?

If you aren’t sure what I mean by Leadership E-Words, go back and see this post about 6 practices of powerful leaders.

A while back, I came across some verses in Mark that prompted me to think about how Jesus guided the spiritual development of his disciples. So I used the Leadership E-Words as a template and was able to very quickly identify how Jesus used similar concepts to prepare the disciples for ministry.

These are all from the first half of Mark. I think you could do this exercise even better if you used the book of Matthew. It might also be interesting to look for similar patterns in Acts. I have no intention of doing either (unless some LifeWay editor is reading this and thinks it might make an interesting book, then I would be willing to write more… otherwise, probably not)

Leadership.png

Here we go:

Jesus ESTABLISHED a direction for his ministry.
Of course it was more about just identifying and clarifying God’s direction for His ministry… but that’s what we should be doing as spiritual guides anyway.

Mark 1:15 – “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus EXPLAINED to the disciples their role in the ministry’s direction.

Mark 1:17 – “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (aside: If you aren’t a fisher of men, are you sure you’re a follower of Jesus?)

Jesus EQUIPPED the disciples to accomplish their role.
Apparently, Jesus’ plan was two-fold: 1) Let the disciples/apostles hang around and 2) Send the disciples/apostles away.

Mark 3:14 – He appointed twelve—designating them apostles — that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach

Jesus ENABLED the disciples to be effective in their roles.
(an even better example of this step in in Matthew 28 and Acts 1, when Jesus gives the Holy Spirit as the ultimate enabler)

Mark 6:8–11 – These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”

Jesus ENCOURAGED the disciples in their efforts.

Mark 6:30–32 – The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

Jesus EVALUATED their success and incompletions.
The two stories found in Matthew 6 (feeding the 5,000 and walking on the water) both serve as labs in which Jesus evaluated whether or not the disciples had learned from the job he had given them (going out and preaching).

Unfortunately, they failed their evaluation. Fortunately, Mark has 16 chapters, so it isn’t over at the end of chapter 6. The final evaluation comes in Revelation!

Church Is A Team Sport

Several years ago, I came across a book called Church is a Team Sport. Written by Jim Putman, it was essentially a mashup of church philosophy and ministry memoirs. I didn’t finish it, because it slowed a bit in the middle, but I really enjoyed the beginning.

(I’ve noticed over time that many books start great, but fizzle in the middle and at the end. I think it’s because the author puts their great idea out there, explains it and then has to create enough filler stuff to get the publishing houses to bite. Like sermons, books should be short and to the point. That said, it could also be a me-problem. Maybe I just have too short an attention span)

I wrote down some of my favorite quotes from the book, and recently came across them. I’m always interested in thinking about how to be a better team builder, so I re-read them. I figured you might enjoy some of these also:

  • “When I speak of church, I mean a body of believers working as individuals and together as a team to achieve the Lord’s goals.”

  • “some say, ‘Well then, a small group can be a church.’ I agree, it can be, but a lot of small groups working together with accountability, organization, and good coaching can do more for the kingdom than one small group can. A team of focused and organized people in a local area can do something together for and with God that could not be done as individuals or even as a small group.”

  • “Either Jesus is a liar because the gates of hell are prevailing against the church. Or…the church that is being prevailed against isn’t Jesus’ church at all. Jesus did not promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against a church but that it would not be able to stop His church.”

  • “As a result of a pastor’s ‘show’ mentality, many Christians have come to believe their job is to attend the show.”

  • “When the paid-player mentality guides the church, everything becomes a show… So the answer is to pay big money for franchise players who will give a great performance that will draw the thousands of kids and youth in their area. They scour the land to steal a great player from another team, while their best players are being scouted as well.”

  • “if you love your people and help them grow in their relationship with Jesus and help them find relationships with others on your team, people will put up with less because they know they are loved.”

  • “God’s idea of a coach is one who creates a system that develops people into great players.”

  • “A pastor can’t do everything, but his responsibility is to make sure all the positions on the team are filled.”

  • “Churches often have stated goals but behaviors that circumvent or work against them. For instance, we might say we want to reach the world, but we do things that keep us from being in contact with the world we want to reach. We plan an outreach, but it is really designed to attract people who already think like us (other believers). We don’t know how to relate to lost folks, so we pray and expect that God will bring them to us.”

  • “Remember the church grows by word of mouth. No one will bring people to something that will embarrass them.”

  • “To create an effective environment, you have to break down every part of what you do and ask some important questions: Is this biblical? Will this move someone to where we want to take them next? Is this as relational as we can make it? Is this relevant and applicable to life? The answers to these questions depend on your target audience.”

If you want to read the whole book, it’s available on Amazon. Click here.