This article shares 6 concepts of why a team is necessary and what it takes to have a successful team. The article Teamwork Basics offers up some of the practical skills required to work in a team.

1. Anything Great Requires More Than 1 Person

To get your inheritance, destiny, prophetic promises you will never do it by yourself. You will never even do it by yourself and God. It’s humbling to think you will never succeed by yourself. You will not even mature by yourself.

In America, we love the concept of the Lone Ranger hero, but it doesn’t happen outside of the movies. Fight the thought that you are the hero arriving on the scene to save the world. God won’t let you! He made us and requires us to be interdependent. Because of this interdependency we have to find who we are to be joined with!

There is Power in Partnership

“When two of you will agree together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of Me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.” Matthew 18:18-19 (The Message)

Jesus always sent his disciples out in pairs. There is a principle here of teamwork that Jesus knew about that we often ignore.

“Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. {10} If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble. … {12} A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 12 (NLT)

“You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together, we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa

”It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi

2. You Have a Place Where You Add the Most Value

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

No one person has all the gifts and talents. Your pastor, small group leader, fellow employee needs you. Without you there will be things that go lacking. God made us so that we are not complete within ourselves. This is a built-in mechanism that keeps us dependent on God and interdependent with one another.

“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5 NLT)

1 Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

God wants you to Know His Will

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (NIV)

Pray and ask God for where you should be. You will find it!

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14 (NIV)

Be honest with yourself about your gifts and callings. Don’t covet someone else’s gift. Work out of your strength. Don’t put yourself on a higher or lower level than you are. Ask those around you that you trust for their feedback as to your gifts and calling.

3. 3 Things Required to be In Ministry

Calling, 2. Anointing, 3. Connection

Each of us has a calling from God. This calling can be in ministry, business, family, arts & entertainment, sports, government, etc. When we find our calling and walk with God in it, He gives us an anointing to do the job. Anointing is His grace and favor to do something. But calling and anointing is not enough.

We must also look also for who to do our calling with and where to do it. Connection to who and where is vital. God calls us not just to a task but to a task with someone in a certain place.

You could be called and the most anointed person but if you are in the wrong place it will not work well.

For instance, Paul was called to the gentiles in Asia Minor and southeastern Europe – not the Jews – not even the gentiles in Egypt.

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. Acts 9:15 (NIV)

4. Protect the Unity of the Group Over Your Own Goals

The kingdom is advanced by people working together. As a result, the Devil wants to destroy your group. The more effective you are, the more opportunities for division and offense.

“We should try to live at peace and help each other have a strong faith.” Romans 14:19 (CEV)

We must value people more than our project or our opinion! We must always share our opinions, but we need to not put our opinions before people’s feelings and the goals of the group.

Submit Individual Will to Greater Purpose. You must engage in what the team is doing and not just work on what interests you. Take the initiative and help make things happen with an attitude of “What contribution can I make to help the team achieve success?”

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships” – Michael Jordan

5. There Can Only Be One Vision on Each Team

Put the kingdom of God before our individual kingdom. We have to learn the difference between the two to be a good team member.

Multiple visions will produce division. Lay down your vision for the vision of the team set by the team leader.

It’s alright to talk about, debate, and discuss the decisions to be made. But once a decision has been made the debate ends. From that point on loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.

We are unified because there is a bigger vision – the vision of the team.

You will NEVER agree 100%. You don’t have too. You only need to agree on the basics.

It is important to remember that if there is a disagreement God will use the team leader to decide the final direction to go. He is not chosen because he is necessarily the best. Moses couldn’t even talk well but God chose him to lead the Israelites. As a Westerner it’s hard to believe that God doesn’t lead by democracy, but He doesn’t.

Leaders aren’t chosen by boards. The board recognizes who God is calling. Anointing rests on a man.

This takes great maturity and discernment. But it is so important to discern our motives in why we do what we do. Are we trying to build up our name, goals, and ambition or are we laying them down to further God’s name and goals? This is why we need to surround ourselves with other strong leaders who can help us discern our motives.

Matt. 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

You Will Be Tested with Division. Always. Divisions starts with gossip, rumors, not assuming the best, whispers, etc. Avoid this talk.

Submission is NOT a Bad One but a God Word. Submission is the way of God. Everybody Submits. The God head submits to one another.

We submit to Jesus by taking up our cross daily. There is something in humans that we don’t want to submit. That is the part of us that has to be renewed. That is why it says dailytake up your cross. Even senior leaders have to submit to Jesus that is the head.

The Senior Leader doesn’t get to decide either – He has to do what the Head says – or He will get in trouble.

Each person in the ministry will spend time serving the vision God gave another.It’s part of your passage. I have never none someone with the anointing of God on your life that didn’t! It’s part of your character training.

Expect it! Mine time of serving another man’s vision from God was 8 years as an associate pastor. If you don’t, you are promoting yourself instead of God. If you don’t, don’t expect others to serve you. Usually the longer time of this preparation the greater the calling.

An example of this is Joseph of the Bible. He was sold into slavery at 17. He then spent 11 Years in Potiphar’s house as a servant. He was then falsely accused and spent 2 years in prison.  He finally served the Pharaoh after 13 years of preparation.

It was 15 years between King David’s anointing as King before he became king. It was another 7 years before he became king over all Israel.

But What if people don’t recognize my calling? Shouldn’t I promote myself? It is not man that finds you but God! King David was found by Samuel even when David’s father wouldn’t tell the prophet about him. He can find you.

It is really about trust. Do you trust God? It’s not fun feeling helpless. I can guarantee you by my own experience of being a Christian for over 40 years that if you are doing your best to follow God you are not behind His timeline or missing His will! You can trust God to do right by you!

He wants to see you as a man of God more than you want to be a man of God. Good fathers always want to see their sons or daughters excel. God is a good father!

If you can’t follow the leader’s visionyou need to ask why. There will be things that your leader does that you wouldn’t do. Of course! Follow them anyway. It’s good for you. It creates humility in you.

There will come a time when you are to leave the ministry and start your own. Leave Well! It is God’s will to leave with a Son’s blessing! Don’t do the divide thing. It’s not God.

Do not ever hurt the ministry, team, or business you were a part of. Usually you are to go somewhere else unless your ministry is very different and won’t compete. If you don’t leave well, you sow seeds for it to happen to you. DON’T ever take anyone with you unless the place you are leaving is sowing them to you.

Why so strong? This is what the Devil did in Heaven to the Father God. If you don’t leave well, you are operating in the same spirit the Devil started His kingdom in.

When I left the ministry that I was associate pastor at I resigned and stay at the church for 2 years doing nothing. Then I moved to another city 3.5 hours away to start Relationship Church.

We need to get a HATRED for division. Division happened in Heaven, it happened in the garden of Eden! Make sure you don’t operate in that spirit. Don’t ever justify it.

David would not take the throne from King Saul even though he was anointed to be king! He waited for God to give him the position. We must do the same. If it is God, you don’t need to fight for your position.

Timing is Important. Just because you are called, and anointed, doesn’t mean the time is right.

You have to be called, anointed, and be in the right time. Most people miss the right time. Be more patient than be in a hurry. Hurrying almost always causes problems.

Don’t Create an Ishmael by Getting in an Hurry. Let me also give you some advice of some one that has walked with God for some time, you can rush yourself, but you will not rush God. So, don’t try. It ends up a mess. Again, remember the mess Abraham made with Ishamel? He got a son, but God still did not give him a son until He was ready. Let God grow you to the point where He wants you to be before He gives you the promise.

Many times, the delay in getting the promise is so that we can become a person that can correctly handle the promise when it comes. Blessing at the wrong time can actually be a disaster. If God hasn’t given it to you yet it is because you are not ready or something else is not ready

You can rest assured God will get you where He wants you when He wants you there. You can rest assured God will give to you what He wants to give to you when He wants you to have it. You will just have to trust God that for some unknown reason to you He doesn’t want you to have it now. I know this statement is hard, but do you trust God?

Don’t Ever Promote Yourself!If you have to promote yourself, it is not God. If you promote yourself to something, then you will have to keep yourself there.

God has had division done to Him many times including the first division in His heaven and in the Garden of Eden. He does not ever bless division. Get with His vision and join what He is doing, and you will not have to divide to start something.

6. Be a Servant

You can only lead to the degree you are willing to serve. Don’t ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. There is no job below you.

Routinely do non-public tasks in church, team, or business. We need this to keep from getting proud.

There is no job that you are too important for.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: … but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Philippians 2:3-5, 7

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

If you are a leader let your goal be to improve everybody to their best even if they become better than you. This is the heart of a true servant.