• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Team, team and teams

Posted on November 29, 2022 by wtdavid

The idea of working in teams is one of our guiding principles.  You could say it’s one of the reasons why we are called: World Team(s)

In our World Team Ministry Framework, we describe a team as: “A team is a group of individuals united in healthy relationships who work together toward a shared vision. They serve each other, listen to each other, rely on each other’s gifts and strengths, and bolster where each is weak. Our teams accomplish more together than the individuals can working alone.”

There are a good number of applications that we can draw from this principle, but let’s focus on one in particular: that the members of any team “pool” their resources, offer their gifts and talents to serve the group to accomplish something larger than their own personal mission or vision.

We say that no one has all the gifts and skills needed to establish a community of believers on their own, but we can often act as if we do.  It is in allowing different team members to exercise their gift(s) that the team finds forward traction in the Spirit.  It is one of those times when we clearly recognize how much we need one another.

Sometimes when we read this guiding principle, we can read ‘team’ instead of ‘teams’ (plural).  By doing that, we may miss an important insight.  No team is an island by itself.  As World Team, each team is part of a larger group of teams that need each other in order to gain traction towards accomplishing the vision God has laid on our hearts as a global community. As teams which make up World Team, we also need one another. There are resources and gifts in other teams within World Team that would be useful and helpful to other teams; gifts and capacities that could be shared for the growth of the entire group.

One small practical application might be how one or several World Team team(s) in another part of the world could find, mobilize, and coach new workers to join a team in another very different part of the world.  I know there are plenty of other applications, small and larger.

Filed under: Collaboration, One another, One another commands, Teams | Leave a comment »

It’s not about us; it’s all about God

Posted on September 5, 2022 by wtdavid

Most of us were excited when we joined our first church planting team; excited to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Whatever form that church planting team took (translation, mercy ministry or small group outreach), we quickly recognized the benefit of being part of a team that was more than just one (1) person engaged in the work.

However, at some point, the team or a team member called us to account for the work that we had or had not been doing.  It may not have been something major, but our reaction made the proverbial ‘molehill into a mountain’.  To put it in other words, we took it personally.  Someone else was taking us to task; our work was being put into question. 

In that moment, we made the conscious choice to centre the work in which we were engaged around ourselves.  It was more about us in the end than it was about God’s purposes in this world.

I would argue that many of us easily slip into this mindset and way of thinking. And in many respects, it’s a natural reflex. However, the Scriptures are clear that the work that God has called us to is His work: “I will build My church”.  We don’t read that text as “David, Paul, Laura or Heidi will build God’s church”.  And yet, by our actions and reactions, we often say that very thing.

The mission, the vision that God has called us to as a community beats or trumps all!

When you find yourself reacting to the feedback or criticisms of others by defending yourself and putting yourself at the centre of what God is doing in the world, step back and take a deep breath.  And remember, or ask someone else to remind you, that the work is first and foremost about Him and His vision, His project for this world.

That’s why we need the larger community. That’s why we work in teams.

Filed under: Accountability, Teams, Vision | 4 Comments »

Why I get excited

Posted on January 28, 2020 by wtdavid

I met Jordan & Scarlett for the first time this past Sunday.  Or maybe I should say that I met them for the first time “in person” as we probably met when I spoke to their group at an Assessment Centre via Zoom presentation. 

They are seeking to join one of our new church planting ministry teams. 

Their enthusiasm is contagious.  They are excited about what God has been teaching them over the past year [even though difficult at times]; they are excited about the training they are receiving by serving in their local church, and they are excited about the work to which they feel called.

Three questions came to mind as we talked.  The first was: what has been the biggest blessing this past month? The second: what obstacle(s) do you see in front of you?  And finally: if you were the focus of a WT Global prayer thrust, what would you ask for?  

It was their answer to the last question that moved me to talk about them here.  They said, without hesitation: solidify their relational and family networks, and be at 75% of our support by April 2020 so that they could begin to plan for attending pre-field training!

The excitement of ‘going’ and yet at the same time the desire to ‘leave well’ and address relational networks and struggles that may exist.  I was challenged and blessed by their honesty.

You’ve probably guessed by now, one of the obstacles they shared that they are facing: the difficulty of partnership development and finding the needed support.  It hasn’t been an easy journey, but they have learned much through the process of how God is at work to provide for their needs.

They also know that they are part of a much larger World TEAM.  So what can you and I do?  Three (3) possible ways: PRAY that God would bring in their remaining support and ‘thrust’ them out.  DROP them a line to let them know you are praying for them [send me a note and I’ll let you know how to write to them].  CONNECT them to networks you know who might be open to joining their partnership team.

There are many other Jordans and Scarletts out there.  Will we stand with them, pray with them, and see them sent out?

Filed under: Partnership development, Prayer, Teams | 4 Comments »

My friend Paul

Posted on December 4, 2018 by wtdavid

My friend Paul went home to be with the Lord last week.  The deep groan of sadness that I felt when the news first came out, began to give way over time to reflection on the impact that this one brother had on my life. paul_welcome

As I ‘re-watched’ the videos in my head of the many times we had shared life and ministry together, three words or word images came to mind

Persistent challenge.  Paul regularly put challenges out in front of you. The reason I started running marathons came about the day Paul called me up to announce he had an entry for me for the London marathon. I had never put my name in for the London marathon (a lottery system)!  Apparently Paul, however, had been putting my name in, along with his name and his son’s name, for three years until our names had been drawn!  Paul didn’t just challenge you in life activities, he challenged your capacity to believe that ‘God could do above and beyond what we could ask or think’.  He pushed you to believe that God could work among a resistant people group; that He could spawn movements of multiplying churches; that He could work in and through us to reach others for Christ.

Dogged perseverance.  I cannot think of Paul without thinking of how he was constantly ‘moving forward’.  I still marvel at how he, a former wrestler, finished the London marathon in a very respectable time. He doggedly pursued the difficult tasks.  More importantly, he doggedly pursued God.  There was always that new thought, fresh insight that the Lord has laid on his heart and that he wanted to share with you when you got together in a meeting.  He not only shared, but he lifted you up before the Lord in prayer, and you could count on that when he told you so.  He kept driving forward to the ‘upward call’.

Amazing adventure.  You never quite knew where Paul was ‘taking’ you when you set off with him.  One year, he decided to rent a boat on the Thames for the week long meeting of the Europe field directors.  After that ‘week on the boat’, we all said that we would never do that again.  However, his ‘adventure’ worked to draw us together in a way we weren’t expecting … and part of the proof is that we’re still talking about that infamous ‘boat trip’ to this day!  It wasn’t the craziness of the activity that finally characterized Paul, it was the context of grace he tried to create where you came to recognize the One in whom we put our trust and confidence, and who gave us the grace we needed to keep moving forward.

I will deeply miss my friend Paul.  I have missed him being part of my team for the past number of years.  Detlef got that privilege in recent years. And we are all better people for having rubbed shoulders with Paul.

I will not forget the impact that Paul has left on my life.

Don’t miss the opportunity to share with another how they have influenced your life!

Filed under: Friendship, Grace, Teams | 8 Comments »

Six characteristics of a team

Posted on December 15, 2017 by wtdavid

Within the World Team Global community, we talk about the six (6) characteristics of an effective or fruitful team.  Stated simply, these characteristics are: common purpose, appropriate division of labor, accepted leadership, agreement on the plan, solid relationships, and good communication.

HumilitySomething struck me as I was reading through that list again recently.  All six are linked by one essential heart attitude or motivation.  Humility.

To agree to a common purpose and to share the workload means that we as team members will need to ‘give up’ something for the benefit of the group.  To stand behind accepted leadership, we must take our hands off the proverbial ‘steering wheel’ and allow ourselves to be led by another.  To agree to a joint plan means that we choose to stand behind the direction we as a group have taken.  And obviously, solid relationships and good communication can only occur on a team when each of us is willing to be transparent with others, acknowledging our mistakes, seeking forgiveness, and offering forgiveness to others.

Each characteristic seems to call for humility.

Humility though is often somewhat elusive to us.  No one has ever ‘explained’ how to go about growing in humility by certain action steps.  Maybe that is why it might be better to talk about ‘gospel humility’. It’s the humility that is the fruit of God’s work of driving the Gospel deeper and deeper into our hearts.  It’s not something we do, but something that is cultivated.  It’s about a heart that allows God’s Spirit to search us, pull us up short, and enflame our hearts with the overwhelming good news of the Gospel again and again!

So monocultural and multicultural teams can be fertile contexts wherein God works that gospel humility into our lives; where we learn the richness and depth of His love as we rub shoulders in team ministry with brothers and sisters who may not be like us but are committed to the same vision and calling.

A question on which to reflect: how has God used team members to further your understanding of and growth in grace?

Filed under: Humility, Reflection, Teams | 9 Comments »

Multicultural teams don’t work

Posted on December 12, 2017 by wtdavid

Now that I’ve got your attention, neither multicultural nor monocultural teams work in the long run if team members don’t work hard to understand the ‘world’ of each member.

Teams do not work because team members do not take the time to understand another’s ‘culture’ or way of working.  I can be from the same culture as other team members, but if I am a ‘thinker’ and another is a ‘feeler’, I could be frustrated by his/her lack of being able to ‘make a decision’. It may feel like he/she is always stalling our team and never wanting to come to closure.  However, that is not how this person is ‘thinking’ or processing. Failing to understand another’s way of thinking will cause dissonance and conflict in a team.multicultural conflict

Teams fail, not because of the cultural make-up of the group, but because we believe our way of seeing and dealing with reality (for example, how to do ‘team life and ministry’) is the best or ‘biblical’ way.  Our own culture can create a sense of right-ness in our hearts, and keep us from humbly learning from others on our team.  We can miss the opportunity to experience team in a deeper way.

It is true that when you add the ‘multicultural’ card into a team, it adds another dimension that the team must address.  However, the ‘multicultural’ card will also add a dimension to any team that enhances its cross-cultural ministry capacity.

When two or more cultures come together to work on a church planting team, they must learn how to ‘bridge’ between the cultures represented on that team.  They learn not only how to ‘divest themselves’ (Philippians 2), but how to ‘translate and contextualize’ what another is saying.  This allows them, as a team, to be even better prepared to contextualize the message into the cultural context of the people group to whom they have been called.  In other words, they gain valuable experience for their ministry from learning to work together and minister to one another as a team.

So, whether your team is monocultural or multicultural, each of us needs to start by asking at least two questions so that our team can be built on grace and honesty:

  • What do I need to ask another to better understand how they think and process?
  • What heart barrier (cultural, emotional or spiritual) keeps me from hearing and learning from another who seems very different from me?

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Cultural intelligence, Teams | 9 Comments »

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