Why We Should Have a Team Perspective In Leadership and Ministry

The Book of Ecclesiastes gives some excellent insight into living and leading with purpose and vision.

In Ecclesiastes 4, we find a verse pertaining to working within a team.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” (4:9-10)

To be sure, being on a team is hard work and there are losses from time to time. We’ve all had our fair share of challenges, and failed our team on occasion.

Nevertheless, if we’ve spent any time in defeat, it means we’re growing and experiencing the above verses lived out. If we’re learning from these losses, they can become beneficial experiences.

What if we’re doing a very good job at learning from our defeats? What if we’ve been trying to sustain our ministry without outside help and/or accountability? What if we had a team to begin with, but we slipped into a boss-like state and they’ve moved on to other opportunities?

Getting back up to Ecclesiastes 4.

We should be mindful of the second half of verse 10. It holds a haunting promise to those of us who ignore a team perspective:

“But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” (Ec. 4:10b)

Regardless of the challenges we might face, we need to keep people around us for encouragement and to share the load. Moreover, to speak into our lives and keep us accountable.

Depending on our situation, it may be time for us to find and submit to a coach or mentor. It may be time to rethink some of our boss-like behaviours, in order to obtain some key players. It may be time to accept some faults and ask past key players for their forgiveness, in order to bring them back to the team.

All of these, are steps toward growth and gaining a team perspective, in the hopes of attaining more wins.

Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts:

How has keeping a team perspective assisted your business or ministry?