July 28, 2008 - Team Chemistry

A great team will be one that has unity. The team will have a desired goal that reaches beyond individual goals. Players will be willing to fill their roles or do their parts for the betterment of the team. In the sports world we often hear that called team chemistry.

One of the issues I deal with often with the church is the lack of unity. One of the areas I personally struggle with is that as churches we attempt to draw a crowd and build unity based upon worship style or programs we offer. And the problem is that no matter what style we choose we eliminate our appeal to certain people groups.

Part of this comes from a belief in being “culturally relevant” in our services. Scripturally we are called to be “culturally relevant” (i.e. Paul saying that to the Jew he became like a Jew.” But we also find that Scripturally there is no mention of the church body operating that way. For the corporate body the “glue” that held the team together was (and should be) simply a focus on Christ.

Our Sunday mornings are like a practice session where all we would do is separate the players by positions. (I.e. Big guys practice at one goal with the guards working out at another.) Sunday mornings have the most segregated hours in our society. And I am not talking about by race (although that would be helped as well by these thoughts.) What I am referring to is that we separate by age and split the family apart. We also separate based upon music preferences as we strive to reach one group and in doing so push away another.

There is a time for “position practice.” But our corporate worship should be drawing everyone as a “team” to focus on Christ through His Word.

One of the greatest pictures of this I have ever seen was when I was in the Dominican Republic and sat in an incredible worship service. The service used a boom box to play bad organ music of old hymns translated into Spanish. I am pretty sure the music wasn’t the cultural preference for these folks. Yet the time was filled with joy and enthusiasm. These folks were not concerned with the entertainment value of the service. They were focused on “El Senor”/God, and giving praise for sending Christ on our behalf.

Ephesians 2:14 tells us that Christ is our peace and that He is what brings people together! Read that chapter of Ephesians today as a reminder of our common goal that brings team unity!