"Team Ministy"
Pastor Glenn Newton 8-20-2000
TEXT: ECCLE. 4:9-10
ECC 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
This morning, I want to talk about us. Men, have your wives ever said that to you, “Hey, we need to talk about US.” You know what I have always found during those times? Usually we were talking about Me, not US!
So don’t get scared this morning when I say I want to talk about US. When I say We, I mean me and you, Pastor and congregation. I want to talk to you this morning on how I believe we are going to need to relate to one another if we are going to succeed in carrying out our great calling, does anyone know what our great calling is, our great cause as Christians? Of coarse you do, let me remind us this morning.
Matt. 28:18-20 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Our reason for being here is to Go to the church building, make sure the seats are comfortable, and make sure the music is just like we like it, and make sure the preacher doesn’t preach to long............ Isn’t that what it said?
Oh..... Let’s see, We are to Go, where? Out into the world, which for us is the greater Clarksville area or wherever we go really, and what are we to do? Make disciples. You mean they don’t come Pre-fabricated, already spiritual, already pre-cooked ready to serve?
Making Disciples is our job, it’s our command, it’s our cause, and let me share something with you, it’s not easy, but it’s worth every ounce of effort that we can put into it. Church, Jesus commanded his people to be disciple makers...........how are you doing? Or better yet, since were talking about us.........How are We doing?
Well I can tell you that we are not without Fruit, tonight in fact I have the privilege of baptizing some of our new disciples, I really wanted to say some of our new fruit, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate.
Church, our reason for being here is to Make Disciples, baptize them symbolizing their Faith in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then we are to Teach them to obey ALL that Christ taught.
Friends, can I tell you something? That’s a big job, and it’s not a easy job with so many distractions in our life trying to pry us away from our great cause.
So this morning I need to admit something to you as your Pastor, I can’t carry out this great Commission by myself, I need you, I need your help, I need your gifts that God has given you, I need your strengths to help me where I’m weak, I need my brother’s and sisters in Christ to stand united with me as we proclaim to our world, the surrounding Clarksville area, That Jesus Christ can give Hope, He can offer peace, and He can Forgive sins, He can take the broken pieces and make a person’s life whole again. That’s the message I want Clarksville to hear, the message of Hope, the Message of Holiness that says God can help us to be overcomers in this World, we are not a defeated foe, we are the victors through Christ who lives in us and through us! If you believe this, say Amen this morning!
This morning I can tell you this, we have a big job, and there’s no one of us here that has all the skills and the abilities to accomplish what God has for us, the fact is we need each other, .........WHAT WE NEED, WHAT I SAID IS, WHAT WE NEED IS A TEAM.
What we need is Teamwork, we need Team Chemistry, We need Team Players, who put the team in front of their own personal goals or agendas, We need a Team Effort. WHAT WE NEED IS A TEAM TO GET THE JOB DONE.
I guess I need to ask you.......... and it really is a serious question, in fact it’s one that I believe how we answer will determine how effective we are in fulfilling the Great Commission given to us by our Lord. The Question is -------- “WILL YOU BECOME A MEMBER OF THE NEW HOPE TEAM?” AGAIN THE QUESTION, “WILL YOU BECOME A MEMBER OF THE NEW HOPE TEAM?” You can answer yes, that would make me feel better.
But even better than that, really mean it, and make a commitment to our cause, to reach Clarksville for Christ and to share our message of Hope and Holiness.
It’s interesting in God’s Word, that the Greek word for describing the Pastor’s role can be translated as Coach into English. One way to describe the Pastor’s role is that of a coach, and that works well since we are putting together a Team.
It is interesting because growing up and even through High School and even as I ran from my call to preach into my freshman year of College, my desire was to be a High School or College Coach. I didn’t realize that that’s exactly what God had called me to do, just on a much more important playing field. I can tell you that I want to be the very best Pastor that I can be with God’s help and grace, and I realize that I have a long ways to go and a lot of things to learn, but I promise you one thing, I will get better, and God without a doubt is helping to better understand my role, and our relationship.
I promise you I will not lead you out of fear of what might happen, I will lead where God leads me because that’s where God’s blessings will be for our church.
Team New Hope, are you ready to start playing this game the way it’s supposed to be played? God’s going to give us the courage!
Listen to our passage again, in a different translation, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”
Let me tell you a secret about Pastor’s and why they move around so much. They get burned out. They feel that when they fall down, when they fail, there’s no one there to pick them up, there’s no lonelier place than to try your best, fail, and no one there to encourage you to keep trying. A Team never lets one of its players fall down without going to pick them up and encouraging them to try again and get back into the action.
Thats the Kind of Team I want To Build with Team New Hope, nobody falls without being lifted up; nobody fails without a teammate there to assure them that’s part of playing the game, and nobody quits because everyone feels like they belong. That’s what I see Team New Hope becoming, will you join me? Will you fight for the cause? Will you pick up your brother when you see him hurting? Will you be committed to your team members and your coach and come to Team meetings? Team New Hope -- Were going to make a difference!
Stan Toler says, “Churches should be much more than Sunday morning “entertainment center’s” for lukewarm saints. They should be “training centers” where people learn how to win the lost for Christ. They should be growing by adding souls to the Kingdom.”
Roberta Hestenes said in Fuller Theological Seminary’s The Pastor’s Update, “Many churches are structured for maintenance rather than for empowering ministry among all God’s people. We must reexamine our structures so that the new can come into being while preserving the essentials of our faith.”
I agree with both of these statements, Jesus lived out these statements in his ministry. Jesus didn’t spend his whole ministry inside the Temple walls, he spent the majority of his time with His Team, Training them for ministry. He took them outside the walls of the Temple to where the people were and demonstrated and modeled compassionate ministry so his Team would know how to do the same when he was gone. He trained them, hands on, not in a classroom.
What we are beginning on Wednesday night is hands on Training on Caring for our own Team Members and also our prospects and those we hope to win to our Team. It’s your opportunity to get off the proverbial bench and actually play. When you spend time in Prayer for your fellow Team members, God will not only pour out his grace into their lives, but He will change you through prayer. When you take time and the effort to write to your own Team members and to our prospects with our Note-care, God will use those words of encouragement and uplift for His Glory, and you never know how one little card could change the outcome in someone’s life. Note-Care is great training in how to express our love for one another. Wed. night will be a night of training, and a time when Team New Hope becomes a better team because we will witness each other working for the same Purpose, the same Goals, and we will be encouraged by what God will do through our faithfulness to Care.
Friends, We need each other, nobody can do it alone, we need to buy into this Team Ministry. Let me close with a good illustration why you should never try and do the job alone.
If we don’t learn this lesson of Team Ministry and we just try to do it alone, we could end up like the bricklayer who wrote the following letter to an insurance company to explain his injuries:
Insert
Closing:
I want you to know this morning, that I am finished trying to do it alone. When I say that I’m not saying that you didn’t do anything, because the vast majority of our church folks work very hard in different areas. \
What I am saying is that we are going to focus on Team Ministry, you and me, coming together with a clear Cause, with a focused Plan, and a Determined Will to accomplish our task.
I’m calling you to Join Team New Hope. God has great plans for us, He’s the owner, and now it’s our responsibility to respond. I am going to give you a few ways you can respond and Join this New Hope Team.
1st. - We are first Christian, so the first thing is you must Give your Heart and Life to Jesus Christ. Put your Faith in Him, make a commitment to Grow in your Faith by reading the Word of God, by Praying to Him, and by coming to church when the doors are open so you can Learn, and be taught the teachings of Christ, and so you can have fellowship with fellow believers. This is mandatory to be a Member of Team New Hope.
2nd - Commit to support Team New Hope in every way. Pray for your teammates, for your Coach, give of your talents to the team, you have talents that we need to be successful, give of your time for the team, it takes time to plan and be prepared for ministry, and give of your resources. It takes finances to allow Team New Hope to operate. It will take finances for us to reach the lost, make a commitment and don’t forget that commitment. Part of being a good team member is not quitting when things get tough, but fighting all that much more for victory.
3rd - Not everything the Team does, you may not agree with it, but as a Team player understanding that the Team is more important than any individual player, I challenge you to support the Team with 100% effort even when you would rather do something different. Great Teams learn to sacrifice personal preference for Team unity and victory.
Will you Join? Will you be a part of Team New Hope? The team is forming, we have a good group of players here, it’s just a matter of time and training before we see the victories.
Team, It’s time to run, it’s time to get in the game. Remember this week the cause, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
It hasn’t changed for 2,000 years, let’s pull together let God Transform this church into a great Team. Close
