Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
(1 Cor. 1:10 KJV)

I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common. I bring this up because some from Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my attention that you're fighting among yourselves! I'll tell you exactly what I was told: You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I'm on Paul's side," or "I'm for Apollos," or "Peter is my man," or "I'm in the Messiah group."
(1 Cor. 1:10 MSG) 

I am reminded of the story of the leader who was asked to help a group of leaders communicate better between themselves. He first asked them, 'Are you friends?' There was no answer, so he asked them again and still no answer, so he said, ‘By your lack of response you are not friends.’ To build a great team you must first be friends. For a team to work together, they must be onboard with the vision and the culture of the church. Do you know the vision of the church? If your answer is no, then take the time to find out.  

There are four things that stood out to me in the 1 Cor. 1:10. The first was how serious Paul was with them. How serious are you with the position that you have on the team? Some theologians say he was begging the Corinthian church. Do you understand faithfulness and commitment? 

Second he asked that there be no divisions among them and the Message Bible said it so well, "You must get along with each other." Do you leave a team meeting with unanswered questions and direction?  

Third he asked them to speak the same thing. I have ministered in hundreds of churches and it amazes me how often when I speak to team members that they are not on the same page with the other team members in the church.  

Fourth he asked them to be of the same mind and judgement. I like what the Message Bible said, "Be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common."

So building a great team takes effort on your part as a team member to do what is right. Let's put it this way: you must have a healthy life to build a great team. That word healthy comes from the word holy. A healthy (holy) team will influence a congregation in many ways.

As the pastor of the church it is your responsibility to make sure your team members have healthy lives. Meet with them individually and be real with them about their team responsibilities, but also their personal lives. Make time for your team members to do fun things together outside of the office. When you have a healthy team around you, the greater the peace of God will be with you and even a greater anointing will be upon you.

MOIH International
All rights reserved. Used by permission.