Family AND Team

I heard an interesting viewpoint this weekend. A family is not inherently a team.

Hmm. 

Sometimes at work, often in church, and most of the time at home, you hear people say to each other that we are family. And often, we really are. We care for each other above and beyond transactional matters. 

It matters to me when my colleagues and cell group members (and of course my actual family members) go through illnesses or family issues or work challenges. I root for their success at presentations and projects and relationships. I care about what they care about, even if it has little direct impact on my own life.

In a way, a family is sort of an amalgam of people who support each other in pursuit of each member's personal goals. For example, as a father, I support my children in their academic, career and ministry goals. But where they go to school, the grades they get, and the careers and ministries they build - they're really their goals, not mine. 

Ditto for my role as a church leader and in the office. I pray, support and cheer on my friends and colleagues in realising their personal goals in life, family and work. We're quite like family in that sense.

But, as I heard it being intriguingly asked this weekend - does all of the foregoing make us a team?

A family which works out together might reasonably say, we're exercising to stay active, keep fit. We work out and bond together and that in itself can be called success, and but the sporting purpose is a personal one. 

In contrast, no successful professional sports team would have players whose goal is merely to stay active and keep fit. Unlike a family, a team cannot succeed as a mere amalgam of personal goals. It has to have a common goal, and its members have to train and move in unity towards that common goal.

It's possible to have a team whose players focus on their personal goals. But those teams do not succeed. The teams which do succeed, on the other hand, tend to have members who are committed to their common goal, with personalities willing to take on smaller or less glamorous roles for the team to win. We see this all the time in professional sports. 

Stephen Curry, widely renowned as best basketball shooter of all time, won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award twice in a row in 2015 and 2016. When the team didn't win the championship in 2016, even though Curry was voted unanimously as MVP, the team brought in another star - Kevin Durant. Stephen Curry chose to step back, ceded the glamour of scoring to Durant, and the team steamrolled its way to the next two years' championships.  

Another player, Kyrie Irving, played alongside the all-time great Lebron James with the Cleveland Cavaliers around the same time. Irving was a legitimate star, but James was a far superior player. Yet James ceded the glamour of taking the game winning shot to Irving, and they won the championship in 2016.

But Irving was keen to be "the man" on his own team, and engineered his way to a trade to the Boston Celtics, and later to the Brooklyn Nets and Dallas Mavericks. None of those teams came close to winning the championship while he was there, and arguably became worse!

I think it's safe to assume that workplace groups which are real teams also have a much higher chance of success. When colleagues aren't solely focused on their personal success, and are willing to commit and submit to a common goal, to make others succeed... well, success is then much more likely.

And then, you know, interestingly, personal goals get met as a consequence of team success. We learn, we grow, we reap the rewards as a team and as individuals. 

What about the church? We are family. That's true, and that's incredibly important. But to be a church which is both a family and a team - that church needs members whose goals are not merely "don't backslide", "be good", or "have a blessed life". Those are reasonable personal goals, which we support each other in, as family. But to be a team, we need to train, sacrifice and move in unity towards a higher, common goal.

So what does our church life look like? What is our purpose when we follow Christ?

Is it to fulfil our personal goals? To be happy, blessed and fulfilled? 

Or is it to fulfil Christ's common purpose for the church? To go out to the nations, to preach to the lost, to serve the poor, to love each other.

Are we hopping from church to church, ministry to ministry, hoping to find a place that meets our personal goals, interests and preferences? 

Or are we choosing to commit and submit to a higher purpose?

We are family. But if we are also a team - oh, then He will do great things through us. And all the other stuff will fall into place!

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. 

Matthew 6:31-33