LeaderOnline

Editorial: Winter 2005-2006 issue

Almost everything I know about team ministry I have either learned from experience and observation, or from Phil Jackson, former coach of the Chicago Bulls basketball team.

When Jackson (whose mother was a Mennonite) became coach of the Bulls, he decided he had two tasks to fulfill if the team were to win championships. One, he would have to convince Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest player ever, that the sign of a great player is not how many points he can score, but whether he makes his teammates better players. Jordan had to be converted from having a “me” perspective to a “we” one.

The other task was to find a way for the rest of the players to use their own distinctive gifts toward winning games, rather than holding back and “letting Michael do it.” Through one of Jackson’s assistant coaches, the team learned the vaunted “triangle offence,” which empowered all the players to be involved in the action and to score points.

Mennonites have had a long history of team ministry, with responsibilities and tasks shared among a number of persons.

Jackson also knew that relationships among the players mattered. He tells of a great Chinese emperor who didn’t have a noble birth, nor was he as smart as some of his chief advisors. Yet he was the first leader to consolidate China into a unified kingdom. When an incredulous visitor asked what was the key to the emperor’s success, the royal advisor responded by asking what makes some wheels stronger than others.

“A wheel is made not only of spokes but also of the space between the spokes,” he said.“Sturdy spokes poorly placed make a weak wheel. Whether their full potential is realized depends on the harmony between.” A great wheel maker not only makes strong spokes, but also pays attention to the space and harmony between them.

Mennonites have had a long history of team ministry, with responsibilities and tasks shared among a number of persons. In one branch of Mennonite history, it was called “the bench,” since all the ordained men (and they were only men then) sat in a row at the front during worship.

But then, as now, with different forms of team ministry, spoke problems occasionally occur—some spokes being stronger than others, with the space and harmony between them askew. Indeed, when I was five years old, my parents and a group of others left their congregation to start a new Mennonite church. It was not a particularly amicable separation. One reason for the exodus was that the “bench” was in disharmony, and was therefore not providing the spiritual leadership my parents and the others needed.

Strong spokes in a team ministry—and harmony between them—require at least four elements:

Shared vision. Team members must reach together for a mission larger than themselves. Each must remember that it is not what “I” want or even what the team collectively wants, but what the Holy Spirit wants of the team and its members.
Worship together. Regular worship together puts the focus where it should be: on God. It is also through worship that the Spirit can inspire the group in their discernment about how to minister to and lead others.
Shared lives. In the ministry team that I belong to, the chair opens each meeting by inviting us to share what is happening in our lives. We are developing a sense of solidarity that allows us to be vulnerable with each other. We’ve also been challenged to pray for each other and the team as a whole between meetings.
Honesty and transparency. The space between the spokes is not served well when team members play power games with each other. Teams need to develop ways of dealing with the conflicts that will inevitably arise. All members need to know that their perspectives are heard and their feelings considered, whether or not things go their way.

Many people assume that strong leaders are also “solo” leaders. But in my experience, it takes even stronger egos to work with a team, to not need to have one’s own way, to give and take. It can be one of the most meaningful and powerful human experiences to be part of a team, pulling together for something larger than one’s self, in service to God and to others.

Richard A. Kauffman