"From My Vision to our Vision: Finding Your Church's Vision in the People You Already Have" 2000, Leadership Journal


Intro – Russian story


A. Pioneering Mindset Shifts from We to I in American Culture


B. Impact on Your Church’s Calling


C. Discovering Vision as Body Life Process for Your Leadership Team


D. Practical Steps for Discovering God’s Calling as Ministry Team


1. Develop an intentional teambuilding process


2. Identify strengths, weaknesses, and needs of team members


3. Discovering Who We Are


Introduction

Turn your clock back to the mid 1990’s when I had the privilege of training Christian ministry teams from 70 U.S. mission agencies who were preparing to minister in the former Soviet Union. Their task was to train Russian schoolteachers to teach Christian moral ethics in the Russian public schools. During this incredible opportunity came an intriguing comment which would forever change the focus of my ministry with Christian leaders in the West.

One of our team leaders reported the following comment made by a newly converted Russian Christian. After spending time with American team members in his city, the Russian made this gracious but telling comment. “Why doesn’t your team [of American Christians] go home until they like each other and then come back and share the Gospel?” Ouch! It was the old “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear a word that you are saying” proverb coming back to haunt us.

This unfortunately was not an unusual response. Russians in nearly every city where we worked were stunned by the relational struggles on the American teams. We were the ones who came to share the Gospel, but our living out the Gospel left the Russians wondering and disappointed. Why?


Pioneering Mindset Shifts from We to I in American Culture

The culprit in this situation relates directly to the pioneering spirit that is so much a part of American culture. The rugged individualism that has spurred growth and creativity in so many different areas is also the reason that we do not know how to spell the word “team.” While we can boldly go where few others are willing, we do not know how to act when we get there!

Turn the clock back one hundred years to the pioneering homesteaders who risked all to build new lives in the wilderness, or speed ahead to the present and read any newspaper or magazine about the thriving internet start-up companies that are explosively affecting the economics of our culture. Both movements were driven by pioneers who portray American willingness to risk all and step out into new frontiers. But there is one telling difference between the turn of the last century and the turn of this century that is often missed. The world of the early 1900’s was more often driven by the word “we.” The new millennium is driven by the word “I.” From a values standpoint, individualism now has a much more important role than community in culture and in Christian contexts. While Generation X values are encouraging the return to community, it will be a long road back during this century.

Homesteaders in 1900 were committed to setting up new homes for their families in a community setting with other families who shared the same values. They really were in the process together. In 2000, while loyalty to company once dominated work values, it is now spurned in favor of the individual who leaves to make more money, find personal fulfillment, or move up the corporate ladder. This is the 'short ladder' described so well by Bill Thrall of Leadership Catalyst in their recently released The Ascent of a Leader.

Companies have become less focused the needs of the whole, and individuals are following the same path. Our world revolves around groups of individuals who happen to work or live in the same context with other individuals, each out to fulfill his or her own personal priorities. In fact, my definition of a new millennium ministry team is a group of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time – each doing his or her own thing!

The ramifications of this values shift are difficult to comprehend and they are profound. Marketing approaches that persist in promoting self-centeredness, entitlement, and dissatisfaction extend the emphasis on the “I” rather than the “we.” Our cultural values training through media continues to move us toward what I need as more important than what we need, toward what is important to me as a higher value than what is important for us. To use Tom Hanks’ words to mission control in the movie Apollo 13, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Need more convincing? Consider this illustration from the 1980’s. Two mountaineering teams, one American and one Canadian, at the base of K2, the second highest mountain in the world at 28,750 feet. Two men are talking about their respective teams, and the American complains that his team is breaking into cliques -- no one is getting along. If it does not improve, he and several others are planning on leaving the team. The Canadian coolly responds, "I don't know how you individualistic Americans ever get up a mountain together!"

For me, it took extensive leadership training in four other cultures to bring home this reality. And now, after eight years of work with over 500 teams from across Thirty-five denominations and twenty-plus mission agencies in North America, I have found less than five percent of these teams to be healthy. [See the exercise in the box to determine your team’s health.] We do indeed have a serious problem!


How is Your Team Tracking?

Which track is most accurate for your ministry or leadership team at present?

Team on Track Team Off Track

Open, accepting atmosphere. or Bored or stressed atmosphere.

Discussion, with all sharing. or A few dominate discussion.

Vision/Purpose is understood or Vision/purpose unclear or confusing,
by all players.

There is a general consensus or Actions are being taken without
about the purpose of our team. clear unity of purpose on the team.

Each player knows role and or Players unsure of their roles and.
acts accordingly. there is resulting tension.

Players listen to each other. or Players do not listen to each other.

Disagreements are okay and or Disagreements are left unresolved
common in team discussion. or are NOT okay.

Leader shares leadership or Leader always the "boss", with
functions according to need. no releasing of leading functions.

Players evaluate team's work or Criticism is embarrassing and creates
without personal attack. creates stress. Players fear clobbering.

Team meetings are open for or Creativity or honest expression of
ideas and appropriate sharing feelings is off limits. Feelings are
of feelings. thus hidden.
Totals

9-10 on left column = right on track....
7--8 on left column = time to address issues is now.
5-7 on left column = ask for help!......
4 or less = your team is in real trouble. Call your supervisor or shepherd.


The Impact on Your Church’s Calling

In dealing with the impact of individualism in the Church, one of the most affected areas is that of vision and calling. How does a leader discover God’s calling for his/her church or ministry? How does God speak to the church -- or to the pastor? Is it a solitary responsibility that the pastor fulfills, or a process revealed through the leadership and even key church members?

Most Christian literature I read today focuses primarily on the sense of calling found in the so-called visionary leader. The leader is to discover the vision or determine a clear sense of calling for the church and then communicate that vision to the leaders and then the church. It is quite similar to the model of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. He went up the mountain, found the vision from God in the form of the Ten Commandments and came back down the mountain. He then communicated the vision and challenged people to take appropriate action. I call it the Moses as C.E.O. model, a model which dominates the leadership landscape as we begin the new millennium.

This is truly a great model – for about 30% of the 2000+ pastors with whom I have worked. I kiddingly say that most pastors with whom I work go up the mountain to find the vision tablets, but the only tablets they can find [need!] are aspirin! The spiritually gifted leader is usually able to gain a clear sense of vision or calling from the Lord and communicate that vision in such a way that the congregation understands the vision. In other words, for the gifted leader, who is designed by God to be vision driven in the way he or she serves, this Moses as C.E.O. model is very effective.

The other 70% struggle in varying degrees with discovering the vision on their own. Though most do not have the spiritual gift of leadership, they are fully prepared by God with one or more equipping spiritual gifts to be able to prepare and release their saints for the work of ministry. But because they are not vision- driven, as is the spiritually-gifted leader, they often balk under the yoke of single-handedly discovering God’s vision for the church or the leadership team. They were not designed by God to carry the whole vision under their thinking caps!

Does this mean that God has made a mistake in designing only 30% of present church leaders to have the gift of leadership? I say no. Consider this important fact. The New Testament actually focuses much more on the issue of equipping and releasing others through one’s spiritual gifts than it does on leading as a visionary. There is very little direct emphasis on the strong visionary leader concept. Ephesians 4:11-16 not only focuses on variously gifted believers’ abilities to equip others, but also on the unity and maturity of the group rather than the individual. The only mention of the individual is that each plays his part (4:16). There is no reference to the leader and the appropriate imparting of the whole vision for the whole church. Maybe there is a reason. Perhaps God has designed this idea of discovering His calling for a church to be a body life process rather than an individual’s role.
I expect the business world will soon release research results affirming that the leader’s ability to effectively train and release a team is far more important to success than the visionary’s micro-management of a project from beginning to end. Maybe we have been majoring on the minors in our vision-driven model for leaders. Or maybe there is more than one way to “skin the cat.”

Discovering Vision as a Body Life Process for Leadership

Kent is a pastor in the Midwest. A pastor-teacher by gifting, he believed that God had called him to shepherd the flock in his mid-sized church in a small city. But Kent was living under the yoke of what I will call the vision block. While neither he nor the vast majority of his congregation (400 in worship) did not question his calling to lead the church, his elders challenged him to develop a more dominant leadership style. They had been reading the contemporary Christian literature on leadership, and thus were expecting their pastor to become that visionary leader portrayed as the premier biblical model.

But Kent did not fit that model. While he had a hard time discovering God’s clear calling for their church, he didn’t have a hard time discerning whether or not visionary ideas from others were from God. He listened well to others in leadership around him – particularly elders and staff – and was able to discern component pieces of God’s vision for their church shared by key players. He then put the pieces together and clearly communicated the vision biblically and sensitively to the congregation.

But Kent did not fit the Moses as C.E.O. model, as his elders often wanted. For years he lived under the yoke of not being adept at going up the mountain like Moses and discovering all of God’s vision. His leaders were saying they wanted more of the Moses model as well – remember, they had read the literature! He needed to lead out with the vision more forcefully. At the same time, Kent knew that he wanted and needed stronger leadership from those same leaders.

Through a pastor’s group of six men that I was leading in his city, Kent tearfully came to the realization that he could never meet the expectations of his leaders. He found new freedom in believing that God had indeed designed him to be just who was needed to lead his church. So Kent went to his board and said two things. First, “I cannot be who you want me to be as a visionary leader. If who I am is not sufficient for your purposes, then I will resign today.” Secondly, “But if you believe that God has called me to be your pastor, then we need to make some changes around here.”

The elders confirmed without question that he was their leader, and together they set out to establish a job description that would free Kent to lead through his primary gifts of pastoring, teaching, and discernment. The new model allowed him to incorporate several gifted leaders alongside to assist in specific leadership functions.

The results were and are astonishing. The church has more than doubled in attendance since that event three years ago, and the reasons relate directly to the change of heart in the senior pastor. No longer does he try to fulfill all the functions of a strong leader. While his leadership authority has not changed, he shares some of the leadership functions, and he continues to discern vision through and with the other key players. God speaks clearly through the players, and he is able to identify God’s direction for their church through the component pieces of the vision revealed through a number of key members in the church along in addition to the direction that God gives him personally.

This is called body life vision, and it is real! I wish you could see the release on the face of hundreds of pastors I have watched who suddenly realized that they did not always have to be the sole originator of God’s calling for their church.

Take note of two distinctive and non-mosaic biblical models. First, Nehemiah is a strong leader who got a clear vision from God for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He received a sense of vision and then worked it out through a participatory, grassroots approach in cooperation with each leader and family along the wall. Second, Acts 6 reveals a different body life model in the raising up of the Stephen and six others to serve tables. No single leader appears to have envisioned who do this. The apostles asked that it prayerfully be done and the seven were identified. No one leader stated God’s vision for raising up leadership nor did one leader prayerfully call out the new deacons. It was a body life process led by the Spirit through a group of key players. Leadership was a shared function through which the Spirit worked.

Which of these models is more biblical? Both are equally valid scriptural models for discerning God’s call for a church or ministry situation. And both strategically incorporate other members of the body of Christ.

The interesting question for our discussion is this: which model do we find ourselves pursuing today in the church? Clearly it is the first modelxx, the strong, visionary leader model. We follow the model that the business world has chosen. It is a great idea – for those 30% of the leaders. Developing a vision for a church is not just a solitary activity, but a responsibility of leadership to discover through the body of Christ. Doing so will not only affirm the importance of more than just the leader but also reveal more profoundly that which God has prepared for a church. As he has prepared a church to fulfill His purposes, he has equally prepared each player to play his or her part in carrying out that vision (1 Corinthians 12:18).

Practical Steps for Discovering God’s Calling as a Ministry Team

How do we pursue God’s vision as a ministry team in the local church? What are the primary tools for discovering God’s calling for your ministry with those people whom God has given you? How do you discover God’s body life plan through a team whose definition is this: a group of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, doing his or her own thing?

The most strategic plan of action in finding God’s call is to first incorporate the vision discovery process into a larger plan of teambuilding. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” (Marcel Proust). Team players who think “I” first must discover anew the role of the team concept in their thinking. A team made up of individuals must re-learn that “who I am affects who we are.” This relearning is a process, not an event, and thus teambuilding becomes a priority as leaders search for the vision for the whole church.

Define team and establish a teambuilding process. What is the make-up of your team? A ministry team is defined differently in nearly every ministry setting. Some churches will include pastor and elders or deacons. Other large churches will involve senior pastor and paid program staff. Still others will include pastors, elders, and any church member who leads a ministry. As you define your leadership team, it must include those players who set the course for ministry in your context. It involves those people whose minds and hearts must share the vision to which God has called the church and will likely play a role in fulfilling that calling in their area.

Most ministry teams are driven more by agenda than relationship, so we must intentionally build unity of vision and purpose among team members. Unity is not something that you accidentally find – it is something you actively work toward. Jesus revealed its primacy in John 17:20-24 when he prayed not only for unity among the disciples but also among us who will later believe in His name. This plan for unity in the body of Jesus Christ cost Jesus his life (Philippians 2:1-11). That is why the body of Jesus Christ, with each part a member, is more important than any individual member.

Step 1: Develop an intentional process…to help each player more clearly identify who he or she is in Christ. I use a workbook of assessments I have developed called Discovering Your Ministry Identity, to be completed by each team member. It is a set of seven simple assessments through which each person identifies his spiritual gifts (a three-pronged approach to assessing gifts including input from others), ministry burden or passion, team style, personal values, and “principle priorities” (which of five key leadership functions are strongest in you?). This process begins the deeper sequence of asking “Who am I in Christ?” in a step by step manner.

This multiple assessment approach not only removes the likelihood of oversimplified answers or projecting gifts that a person does not have, but also gives leaders the opportunity to look more deeply at themselves. Having worked with 8000+ Christian leaders over the past ten years, I would estimate that between 60 and 70 per cent of those leaders did not have a clear sense of who they are in Christ. They first believed that God called them to serve and then started carrying out assigned job descriptions. Seldom do leaders go through an intentional process to discover the distinctives of who they are in Christ. I have found a multiple assessment process to be extremely helpful for even the strongest of leaders in identifying who they are and who they are NOT. It also prepares them for the critical team question: “How does who I am affect who we are?”

Step 2: Help each player identify not only their strengths but also their weaknesses and needs. When does Christian community really occur? Does it happen when you realize your strengths and communicate those to your team members? No, community usually happens when your weaknesses are revealed and your teammates have to decide whether or not they will still receive you openly. It happens when you and others have to make a decision to allow grace to be an active part of your relationship.

Because of this, each team member’s understanding and sharing of personal weaknesses is essential. It is not simply a nice thing for Christians to do together. It is the most important step in building a ministry team. The weaknesses are already inherent in each player, so why not provide a safe context where they can be shared? Rather than allowing weaknesses to become the source for sarcastic humor , identify and share them along the way so that grace becomes an active part of the relationships. The sharing of weaknesses identifies neediness in each of us regardless of what we have or how we look or who we know.

I ask three critical questions throughout my assessment process. The first is where are you powerful? Our spiritual gifts reveal more than where we are good at doing certain ministry functions. They identify where we are powerful. While in Kazakhstan last April 1999, I discovered that the Kazaks have 20 words for sheep and but no comparable words for the phrase spiritual gift! In determining a new way to talk about spiritual gifts, I told the Kazaks that spiritual gifts are where God is uniquely powerful in each one of us. God is less interested in our being “good” at something – He desires that we be powerful in the Spirit. Thus spiritual gifts are where the power of God is revealed in our lives.

The second and third questions are the particularly important for American Christians. Question number two is “What are your weaknesses?” When this question is addressed, and deeper, confidential sharing takes place, unity can become real among team members. Without it, your team is unlikely to move beyond functional relationships that complete tasks well. The turning point of nearly every teambuilding seminar is when people begin to share their weaknesses. Real Christian community begins to surface at the point of shared vulnerability, usually modeled first by the leader. When Joe admits one of his glaring weaknesses openly, Sally suddenly realizes that he is human and was indeed aware of that shortcoming that she had already noticed [and even laughed about sarcastically with others]. We take away ammunition from others who are likely to put us down when we are not open about weaknesses.

The third question, “Who do you need?”, is as important as the second. American Christians tend to ask “What am I good at? Where am I weak, and to which seminar can I go to improve in my weak areas? We tend to think individualistically about how we can get better at what we do. We seldom think in terms of how God has designed us to need others.

Three of the assessment exercises in my workbook Discovering Your Ministry Identity raise the above questions as a natural part of the assessing process to reveal that:: 1. Your spiritual gifts make you strong in certain ways, but leave you wanting in other needy areas. 2. Your team style means you are strong here but weak over there. Who do you need to make you stronger overall? 3. Regarding your strong leadership functions, “What are you good?” and “Who do you need?” Each question is equally important, though we seldom ask the second.

When Bill, a senior pastor on the west coast, came to freely admit his weaknesses to his team of 12, it not only allowed Bill to be human for the first time – a revolutionary concept! It also opened the door, through Bill’s modeling, for team members to stop hiding behind their strengths and honestly admit their neediness to one another. Community happened that day for that powerful team (as seen by others) of needy Christians (what was really true) who had never before felt free to acknowledge their weaknesses. They were hired for their ministry expertise, and had learned to play the “impressing game” well. Now the walls came down and a real unity was discovered.

An essential side note: confidentiality is absolutely essential in this type of sharing process, or certain liabilities will become a subject for discussion around the coffee machine. Honoring and cherishing each other in our weaknesses allows grace to dominate and growth to become a shared priority. Secondly, at some point someone will misuse something you share about yourself. I encourage you to accept this as part of the process and to move ahead knowing that such may still happen. It does not give us license to pull back and hide. In your team setting, you may consider to ask people to sign a confidentiality agreement – a way to meaningfully address this serious issue.

Step 3: Discovering who WE are. This step is the pivotal team step for discovering God’s calling. It is the movement from “I” to “we.” It asks the question “Who are we?” and takes into account all that has been shared by the individuals who make up the team. If, as Network International’s Bruce Bugbee says, God has brought the right people to the right place at the right time for the right reasons, then understanding who WE are becomes a central piece of the puzzle for discovering God’s vision for ministry.

Before leading into the vision segment of the teambuilding process, I always introduce a ministry team concept that I call the body life design team. Before we can address vision issues together, we need to make certain that we are committed and called to be together! How does who I am affect who we are?

This four word phrase, body life design team, represents three building blocks that need to be in place for each team member as they approach the team vision. These become the foundation to resolve any significance struggles, role issues or unity problems that may come before the team. If a leadership team is to discover why and for what purposes God has called them together, these building blocks of the team foundation must be firmly in place.

Building Block number One is the concept of body life. Body life for the Christian leader in this context means that he or she is absolutely significant. Jesus’ death on the cross has settled any and all issues of significance – that is, issues of what makes me important or special or unique. In Christ, each of us becomes truly unique -- unique is such a way that none of us will ever be more significant than we are right now, at this very moment! There is no ministry role or prestigious award or increase in salary that will make any of us more significant or special. Our significance has been settled at the cross. It is finished!

Building Block number Two is the idea of design. Each member of the team has already been designed by God, with each part of the Trinity actually having a part in that process (Corinthians 12:18, Ephesians 4:7, and 1 Corinthians 12:11). Each of us has a blueprint design within us of how we function most powerfully in ministry, of how we will work most effectively alongside others. Once I understand that my significance has been settled at the cross, then role definition becomes a process of finding my function alongside others on my team.

The problem for many in ministry is that they confuse number one and number two. If the significance issues are not settled in a person’s life, then searching for role usually becomes the place where one searches for their significance. In other words, if our significance issues are settled in Christ, then our team becomes the playground where we discover our primary functions alongside others.

If significance issues are not settled in one or more individuals on your team, then the team context becomes the battleground where those issues are fought out. It becomes the place where Jack tries to prove his worth and value by overworking. Or where he tears down Susan because she has similar skills and he is afraid that she might try to take his position. It is where Lindsay tries to impress others with gifts she does not have so as to gain a position she believes will prove her personal significance and worth to the senior pastor.

If your and my significance is settled at the cross, then finding out where each of us function most powerfully allows for us to even share ministry responsibilities. Why? Because there is nothing left to prove. The only issue remaining is good stewardship of who you are in the context of serving with the other players on your team. Sometimes it means you can release an area of serving to a younger brother or sister in Christ who obviously can share in and even extend your ministry. Other times it means that you purposely equip and release others so that you can give away your role to them. That is a primary way that the body of Christ multiplies its ministry, as each one plays his part (Ephesians 4:16b).

That brings us to Building Block Number Three: “Team” means that each player actively works for unity. Unity is never an accident. It is a choice and a process.
Philippians 2 unity is where I try to speak the truth in love. It is where I actively try to stop gossip about a co-worker, whether I would choose him/her as a personal friend or not. It is where I consider your interests as more important than mine. The model for this unity is Philippians 2:5-11, where Jesus humbled himself and took the form of a man, even to the point of death. He asks us to seek unity, with his own model, so that the Body of Christ might be raised up to fulfill its Kingdom purposes. He knew it would not happen if done on human strength, and so he humbled himself to the point of death. We now have the power – His power in our weakness – t o become one in Him. It is a choice.

If any one of these three building blocks is not set firmly in place, then the resulting conflicts will make it either difficult or impossible to come together. It will make it even more difficult to discover God’s calling for your church or ministry for the short term or the long run.

How do you discover what is on the heart of each of your key players? You might ask them! If you ask a person what is on her heart, and she thinks you really want to know, she will tell you. The problem is that we seldom ask! That is what often happens with a top-down leadership model. The leader shares the vision and then everyone else figures out how they fit into that vision. There is no section in the discussion where everyone gets the chance to share his or her vision. Actually it really is not even a discussion: the leader talks, the people listen and act accordingly. If the leader is not a gifted leader, then the lack of clarity and frustration only increase.

At the eight year mark of working full time with churches and Christian mission agencies, of one thing I am convinced. Too many leaders have too many visions and too few relationships to clearly understand – much less communicate – a clear sense of calling for a specific local church. Most of those same leaders never ask key players what drives their ministry passions, or how they would fulfill God’s call for their church.

What if you asked people what was on their hearts before you shared your heart and vision? One of my assessments, Your Ministry Burdens or Passions, is aimed at that very issue. I have discovered that most Christians, whether in a leadership position or not, have something or someone on their hearts in which they will invest their very lives. But the issue remains that most leaders do not ask others what drives them. Since many think that they are supposed to be the visionary, they go on searching for the answers and seldom consider asking others a part of the process.

In the teambuilding format, each player first shares what he or she listed as their ministry burden or passion. Many times, after several have shared their hearts, one or two will say this. “I wrote down this area, but, after hearing others, I now realize that this is really what drives my heart in ministry. It is this that I live for and to which I would give my life.” Since most Christians are not used to being asked about this, it takes most some time to adapt to thinking in this manner. But when they catch the concept, they really start sharing!

After each player shares his or her ministry burden or passion, then the leader gets to share his/her vision. Doing it in this order is essential. Why? In some situations, if the leader shares first, others will feel constrained to relate their burden to what the leader shares. The real value of this exercise is to hear the heart before the leader shares, because God may speak clearly about the church’s overall vision through the sharing of these unbiased heart callings.

God does indeed give some level of vision and calling to pastors and leaders, but He also speaks to the vision through the hearts of all the players. Often God reveals intricate component pieces of the vision through things shared. Seldom does a leader have all the details worked out. If that leader listens well, he will discover specifics he would have never thought of – and he may even hear strategic pieces of the big picture vision on which he had no previous clarity. Leaders, are you listening?

In Conclusion

I will never forget that Sunday evening. I was working with a church in the Southwest, and we were focusing that evening on this idea of ministry burden or passion. After sharing about Paul’s burden for the Gentiles in Romans 15, I asked people to share what was on each of their hearts. With no warning or preparation time, each of the 42 people present shared one thing –even the more quiet people shared freely! And, as each one shared, the tenor of the room became more and more exciting. People knew I wanted to hear their hearts, and so that is what they shared. Last in the line of sharing was the pastor. I had asked him in advance to prepare something specific to share about his vision for the church. His response after listening the heart visions of the people? He got tears in his eyes and said, “I have nothing to share. You all have just shared every significant piece of the burden God has put on my heart!”

What if you found a way to free your people to share their hearts? What if you validated each of your people as having a ministry burden or passion, and helped them to discover what that might look like in each of their lives? What if you treated your leadership team as players already prepared by God to be strategic in His design for your church? Would you listen better? Would you look for opportunities to listen?

Believe that God has prepared the players to be strategic. Learn to listen to their hearts in addition to searching out your own heart vision. Listen to your leaders and take counsel from the things on their hearts as well as your own. Sometimes God will be speaking.

It is called the body of Christ. In the area of discovering God’ s calling for your church or ministry, treat it as such.
 

Ten Years After:
The Cell is STILL the Best Place to Discover and Use Spiritual Gifts
Cell Church Journal, 2001

Ten years ago, after reading Ralph Neighbour’s book, Where Do We Go from Here, I was convinced that the best place to discover your gifts is in the cell setting. Body life released in the body being built up and multiplied. It just made so much sense.

Now, ten years later, after watching and participating in body life ministry in hundreds of different settings in eight different cultures, experience has revealed the same result. Without question, spiritual gifts are best discovered in a place where ministry among the players is shared and where the great commission is fulfilled through strategic relational investment. Sounds like cell ministry to me!

1 Peter 4:10-11 will set the tone for affirming cell ministry value. Picture your cell as the place this biblical reality is lived out.

Each one should use whatever gift he [or she] has received to serve others, as faithful managers of the grace of God in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should speak as if he were speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Gifts were Given to Serve and Build up Others in Body Life

Each one should use whatever gift he [or she] has received to serve others… Training Christian leaders in eight cultures has revealed some disheartening realities for me about the West, most specifically the United States. The most disturbing, while not news to many of us, is the challenge of individualism. I call this the “glorification of the I.” While God designed us to be a “we,” so many American Christians cannot get past the “I.” Whether it is narcissism, where I am the center of my universe; or entitlement, where I deserve whatever it is that I want; or dissatisfaction, where I am not happy with what I have or with my friends or with who I am. Whichever form of self-indulgence affects Americans and American believers, the reality is still the same. What “I want” appears to be more important that what the group needs.

But God gave gifts first so that believers could serve one another in the Body of Christ. That is quite different than the individual being glorified or self-actualized! The reality is that you and I are organically interwoven into the Body, now living to serve others whom God has given us in a local setting. Helping believers come together and live this out in a culture where the individual is glorified is a tall order.

Russians may have struggled under communism, but when a Russian comes to Christ, one thing he understands almost automatically is the concept of “we.” The group is more important than the individual. He knows that when a brother or sister is in need, you help – because that is what Jesus said. And since he knows what it is to be in need, he helps, even at great cost. On a number of occasions, Russians who have absolutely nothing materially have shared with me in ways that I seldom see in my own wealthy culture. They, the rookie Christians, constantly teach me new lessons about body life and serving one another in committed relationships.

God’s context for our growth and ministry of spiritual gifts is in the context of relationships, the so-called We. When the I comes to serve the We, the group becomes a team process of shared relationship rather than a group of individuals each trying to meet their individual needs.

Cells are designed for building up one another. We need help in the transformation of the “I” concept to the “we” lifestyle, and cell life provides the perfect setting for building up one another. Can you think of a more powerful way to serve one another than to encourage each other with each one’s spiritual gifts? Cell ministry is the natural place for gifts to be released for the sake of one another! Edification of the body is the fancy name – dynamic, life-changing encouragement is the practical result.

While training church planters in Kazakhstan in Central Asia two years ago, I learned a new distinction about spiritual gifts. Kazaks have twenty words for sheep but no word for “supernatural,” which made talking about spiritual gifts very difficult! So I had to formulate a new way to talk about spiritual gifts.

I came up with this: spiritual gifts are where God is powerful in you! As I began to use this illustration daily with the Kazaks, my whole training approach to spiritual gifts was transformed. Spiritual gifts are not where we are good or even talented –- they are where we are powerful. It is where the power of God is revealed in our lives in specific ways on a day to day basis. There may be many things I do well, but only two or three where I am dynamic in the Spirit on a regular basis.

So then, if my gifts are where I am powerful, when I use my gifts to serve you in our cell group, the power of the Spirit is revealed relationally as we build up one another and share the Word of God together. The power of God is revealed! Words of wisdom from Sam reveal breakthrough answers to Sally’s painful dilemma. La Chantel’s teaching insight from Scripture brings clarity to the parents’ disciplining of their children. John’s gift of mercy creates a safety net for Jose and Marti to weep freely about their loss. Spiritual gifted believers build cell life supernaturally because they are all designed to fulfull organic, body life functions.

This is cell life at it’s finest. This is distinctly different from the model where one leader dominates the teaching and the leading and the building up. That actually may be a selfish or for self-satisfaction style strongly influenced by culture. The cell grows and “…builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16). Such is the aim of effective, intentional cell life. Each part doing its powerful part breeds life-giving ministry one to another!

Gifts were Given to Reveal God’s grace in its various forms… Faithful Investors

Peter continues: …as faithful managers of the grace of God in its various forms. You and I were saved by grace – it is not you OR your works – it is the gift of God. We are now the ones called to reveal his grace to the world. The question is, how do we do that? And what is it about cell life that could enhance this process?

Not only were we saved by grace but now we have become stewards of His grace with the portions of grace we have received. Come again? We have been saved by God’s grace and now, amazingly, we become the ones who show His grace to a lost world.
But He did not just tell us to be good stewards of His grace – He gave each of us portions of His grace, spiritual gifts. His touch saves us and now, with portions of His touch in each of us, we touch others. And we touch others so much more broadly and powerfully when we do it together through our cell groups. The hand of God with many fingers reaching out touches so powerfully and yet so gently!

Cell life is defined best as the place where God’s grace in each player is revealed in their relationships. God has prepared things here as well! He has given each of us an “oikos,” a network of relationships including extended family, friends and associates just as He planned. As the New Testament Christian lived out his faith in his oikos, or network of relationships, so are each of us called to be faithful stewards of our relationships . In fact, in 1 Peter 4:10 Peter actually uses the word oikonomos, which litrally means “relationship manager” in the Greek. We are called to be faithful stewards of those whom God gives us.

Here’s God’s remarkable plan for humankind simplified into your cell group setting:

He pours out His grace on our lives unto salvation.

He then gives each of us a portion of His grace so that
together we can build one another up AND
reveal that grace to the world of lost souls.

Finally, He gives each of us relationships with non-Christians
and fallen away Christians, challenging us to be good stewards
of those strategic relationships by investing our grace gifts.

I cannot save the world, but I can invest who I am where I am…and cell life and cell multiplication is where we can live it out in our daily lives.

Cell Ministry is Body Evangelism: Investing in Your Oikos Relationships!

Peter Wagner, one of my most valued mentors over the years, was the first to coin a phrase so important to cell life at this point. Body Evangelism was the phrase and by it Peter meant the Body of Christ evangelizes most powerfully when all the players are using their gifts in the context of their relationships. Cell ministry fits perfectly with what Peter envisioned at this point: every believer investing his gifts in the lives of those whom God has given him. That is still the only way the world will ever be reached with the Gospel.

Christians are likely to remain afraid of the “E” word, fearful of having to act like Billy Graham or Benny Hinn. But God’s grace gives opportunity for evangelism to have many faces – as each of us uses our gifts, where God has made each of us powerful, investing in the lives of those whom God has already given us. I call it investing your spiritual gifts in your network of relationships.

That’s right: be an investment broker! Invest in whom God has given you at home or next door or at work or school or the grocery store or workout class! Invest what? My gifts, because that’s the only place I am powerful on a consistent basis. I make a poor evangelist but I make a powerful encourager! Whenever I encourage people through who I am in Christ, people usually start sharing their heart issues openly. Why? Because of the power of God revealed in me through my gifts!

But don’t do it the American way – that is, as an individual doing your own thing. Do it cell style, where you are bound together with other believers , investing your combination of gifts in your oikos network of relationships. Do it cell style, where multiplication means more lives touched and new Christians drawn in and built up. Many fingers reach so much farther and more powerfully than one finger. Get a grip on this cell principle and watch God touch and change lives…and eventually birth new cells because so many Christians are learning to be good stewards of their Oikos relationships!

I remember clearly my all time favorite combination of cell players investing in non-Christians. It was the group with Peter and Debi, my wife Julie, Ken, Inga, and several others. Ken quietly served powerfully alongside Julie’s gift of hospitality at our “Oikos Nights.” They set the scene while Inga, Debi and I encouraged our invited friends, family and casual associates. Peter was the evangelist and worked the room like few I have ever known. We were a sight to behold as we invested in those whom God had given.

Individually each of us was unique and had much to offer. Together, though, we reveal the grace of God in its many forms time and time again. Together we can do so much more than the sum of the individual parts because of the organic unity and power that comes through the combination of spiritual gifts shared. Revealing His grace through His players is one thing God’s Spirit does best!

A Place Where God Lives…

We may have just come to the most important part of using your gifts in the context of cell life. Consider Ephesians 2:22 – “And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”

The cell actually gives you a regular and ongoing setting where God can live and move and have his way in building you up and thrusting you out. The cell context gives you a dynamic place where the Spirit of God can regularly break in and speak to your hearts and minds! God has a place to corporately reveal His purposes for each believer attempting to be a good steward of God’s grace in their relationships. Sometimes He will ecstatically speak with a firm hand on a hard issue. Other times He will mercifully touch and heal through words or a miracle. Who can know the mind of God?

After all these years, I will take the cell as the most powerful place to discover and use my spiritual gifts. No question about it. Learn to be WHO you are WHERE you are TOGETHER…organic cell life at its powerful, multiplying best!

"The Harvest is Plentiful but the Laborers are Arguing"
1998

Picture an American team and a Canadian team at the base of K2, the second highest mountain in the world at 28,750 feet. Two men are talking about their respective teams, and the American complains that his team is breaking into cliques -- no one is getting along with the others. If it does not improve, he and several others are planning on leaving the team. The Canadian coolly responds, "I don't know how you individualistic Americans ever get up a mountain together!"

Healthy teams in individualistic cultures. Do American Christians know how to spell the word "team"? Do we understand the value and necessity of teambuilding, or, by default, are we committed to "teamshredding"? As the corporate world commonly uses team language and pursues effective teamwork, it appears that the corporate executive has greater insight to building strong teams than does the Christian leader!

As I have worked with hundreds of church and mission agency leadership teams, I have found fewer than five per cent are what I would call healthy teams. It does not seem to matter what kind of team or staff or group. Each struggles with building unity and working through a vision-sharing process within their team.

In helping to train and send more than 200 American teams (1500 Christians) into the former Soviet Union over the past five years through the CoMission movement, I have learned how individualistic we are. These teams, made up of Christians from churches just like yours, could not get along! It was not an uncommon experience for Russians to come to our team leaders and say, "You have come to bring the Gospel, but your people cannot even get along with each other!" The harvest is plentiful, but....

Why such conflict? Consider first this stunning quote in a June 30, 1997, Business Week article on advertising aimed at children in the U.S.: "The 400 ads a day seek to create in children narcissism [self-centeredness], entitlement ['I deserve'], and dissatisfaction." I suggest that these three "qualities" permeate the church as well and dramatically affect ministry teams.

Example? While a seeker-oriented focus enables more effective outreach for a "user friendly" church, that attitude may backfire when seeking to bring unity to a diverse ministry team in the same fellowship. Users who are self-centered are not often team-oriented when they do not get what they want.

The "I deserve" attitude lends to church hopping because of the perception that better worship or a stronger kid's program is something that "I deserve". It seems to be particularly deserved if a couple has a problem in their present church (i.e. dissatisfaction) --they head for greener pastures! What impact does that same entitlement attitude have when a leadership team is seeking consensus on a difficult issue?

Note several additional reasons. The first is conflict in personal values between team members. On our CoMission teams, this was the number one source of team division. Problems usually had little to do with owning the overall vision, but rather occurred when a significant personal value of a teammate was not given priority. For example, what if a single person highly values privacy at home, while her new roommate needs to talk her way through life? As these two move into the same apartment in a new ministry and new country, there are problems on day two! Such values issues tend to bleed into team process and ultimately affect team unity. A body life principle is clear: who I AM affects who WE ARE.
Another major feeder of disunity is when people seek to fulfill their personal significance through a ministry role. When any of us mixes the search for significance with role definition, trouble lurks around the next team corner! Since our culture encourages us to "move up the ladder of success" to validate our significance, what happens when another person on my team blocks my desire for a certain role?

The biggest issue, though, is what I call "misfiring ministry identity". A person's ministry identity is his/her spiritual gifts, the supernatural "how" that God has prepared in each of us, and ministry burden or passion, the "who, what, or where" we desire to invest our spiritual gifts. Misfiring on either of these two significant facets of God's design can create a loss of fruit, a diminished sense of joy, or both. The impact on team process is dramatic.

Many Christian leaders are misfiring! In working with 5000 Christian leaders over the past five years, I estimate that no less than 50% are "filling roles" rather than fulfilling their ministry identities. So many are caught up in trying to execute their job descriptions, often to the denial of who they are in Christ. Rather than freeing people to play their God-designed parts, we pinhole them to exercise certain functions. When a Christian spends more than half of his time outside of ministry identity areas, effective team ministry diminishes radically. Such people are then chastised for not fulfilling portions of their job description with no acknowledgment of the "misfiring ministry identity" issue.

How can we build strong teams? First, establish a teambuilding assessment process where each team member clearly discerns his or her spiritual gifts, burden or passion, and team style. You may add other components here. In my teambuilding seminars, I have use a values assessment tool (for reasons noted above), a spiritual fitness tool, and a leadership strengths and needs exercise.

After the assessment portion has been completed, give team members the opportunity to interact on how each person's ministry identity affects the way he or she serves on the team. For example, I note a real difference between equipping spiritual gifts (more verbal in usage) and supporting gifts (more action-oriented). When some leaders realize they have a combination of these two functional categories of gifts, they suddenly realize why they have a hard time releasing certain team functions to others. Knowing this is essential for both the team leader and each teammate! So many people accept results of gifts surveys, etc. without ever discerning their accuracy. Team process provides a window for such interaction.

Thirdly, provide safe settings for teams to share what liabilities they bring to the team. Most teams NEVER learn how to openly share weaknesses. We tend to focus exclusively on strengths...and never admit our liabilities to one another even in a safe environment. When such open sharing happens by design in the teambuilding seminars I lead, it is often the turning point where community deepens and people acknowledge their need for others. While the handling of such sharing is very sensitive, it is not an optional piece of team process.

Finally, it is imperative that teams learn what I call "doing vision together". So many leaders do not understand two issues here. The first is that helping team members carry through with a leader's vision is really a three step process: understanding the vision clearly, owning the vision, and implementing the vision. Few leaders are capable of enabling all three components. Secondly, until a leader values the importance of listening the hearts of team members, he (she) will never catch some of the specific, practical ways God intends to work out the vision through those very players! I give opportunity for each of the players to share what already on their hearts before letting the leader share the big picture vision. That way the leader hears how the players may fulfill the very vision he will share.

The harvest is indeed plentiful. Are your laborers arguing? Better do a team check-up!