Читать книгу How To Build A Winning Team. Serving God Together - Маттс-Ола Исхоел - Страница 14

“Teamwork” can sound like a contemporary expression, but it represents the same truths that the church was founded on from the very beginning.

In the Old Testament we often see that men and women of God served individually in their callings. Men like Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Elijah and Jeremiah seem more like elected individuals who carried out important missions from God, than people who served in community with others.

This picture changes however when we come to the New Testament. Jesus made it clear from the beginning that the disciples needed to continue the work together in unity with each other. He said:

“…but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.”

Matthew 20:26–27

He emphasized humility, submission and cooperation. During three and a half years, He turned His disciples into a strong group of ministers, and this was the concept that was supposed to continue in the church.

As the story continues in the book of Acts, this is the very pattern we see. Among the first Christians, we do not read about any inclination amongst the apostles to dominate the others. What we read is about believers who lived in a unity and fellowship that astonished the world.

“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul… And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

Acts 4:32–33

The apostles appear in the book of Acts as a group of leaders, and even though Peter was the one in charge among them, they served together as a team. When difficult questions needed to be decided, as in Acts 15, they came together, listened to each other, respected the senior leaders and came out with a common answer. Their unity and mutual respect became the strength of the church. No more do we see the lonely prophet who walks and serves by himself.

When the gospel started to spread in the Roman Empire, it was through mission teams travelling together. The first example is Paul, Barnabas and John Mark, followed by larger teams. Luke, who travelled with Paul on some of his journeys and wrote the book of Acts, simply says “we” when he tells his story. “…we sought to go to Macedonia”, “…we were staying in that city for some days”, “…as we went to prayer.” (Acts 16:10, 12,16)

Paul was the leader of the team, but Luke did not use expressions like “Paul and the rest of us”. No, he said “we” because this is how they thought.