Many of us would rather settle for achieving less, than put up with “people-problems.” But fulfilling a great dream usually means having a great team. And great teams are made up of people with strengths – and weaknesses. God seldom calls us to do the job alone; He calls others to stand with us. So, do you know who belongs in your life? Jesus chose twelve disciples to help Him fulfill His mission on earth. One of them doubted Him, one denied Him and one betrayed Him. Yet He called them, knowing what they were – and could become.

After listing hardships that would make your worst day look like “a walk in the park,” Paul writes, “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of…all the churches” (2Co 11:28 NIV). How did Paul evangelize Asia, guide the church and write half the New Testament? Through a team; he introduces them in Romans 16. Let’s look at one of his team-building secrets.

It’s called: Love. If you don’t genuinely care about people they’ll sense it and they won’t stay with you. If you’ve a high turnover in your relationships, that could be your problem. Even your best team members will go through times that affect their performance. Jeremiah got so stressed out that he wanted to quit the ministry and go into the hotel business (See Jer 9:2). Paul advised his right-hand man Timothy to “use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1Ti 5:23 NIV). Here’s a helpful prescription for the stress that goes with people-problems. Write it down on a piece of card and read it regularly. “Love cares more for others than for self.”

The success of the New Testament church was driven by two things:

(1) A sound scriptural foundation.

(2) A sense of belonging.

On good teams, players extend trust to one another. Initially it’s a risk because your trust can be violated and you can get hurt. At the same time they are giving trust, each team member must conduct themselves in such a way as to earn the trust of others by holding themselves to a high standard. When everyone gives freely and bonds of trust develop and are tested over time, they begin to have faith in one another. They believe that the people next to them will act with consistency, keep commitments, maintain confidences and support each other. The stronger their sense of belonging becomes, the greater their potential to work together.
All teams have disagreements. The leader of one mega-church writes, “Let’s not pretend we never disagree. We’re dealing with 16,000 people and the stakes are high. Let’s not have people hiding their concerns to protect a false notion of unity. Let’s face the disagreement and deal with it in a good way.

The mark of community is not the absence of conflict, it’s the presence of a reconciling spirit. I can have a rough-and-tumble meeting with someone, but because we’re committed to each other we can leave, slapping each other on the back, saying, ‘I’m glad we’re still on the same team.’” Those who built the New Testament church overcame moral and financial problems, doctrinal differences and prejudice. How? Through “a reconciling spirit.” As a result, they are credited with “turning the world upside down” (See Ac 17:6).

An important key to building a strong team is being open to new and different ideas. One of your greatest dangers as you become older (or more successful) is that your thinking can become institutionalized – which is just another word for “fossilized.”

To remain successful you must create an environment in which the free exchange of information and ideas takes place. If people had not been permitted to try things we’d still be traveling by horse and carriage, dining by candlelight, and dying a lot earlier from preventable diseases. It’s said that knowledge is doubling every five to ten years. That lets us know how much we didn’t know – when we thought we knew it all.
“Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.” We must honor what we’ve learned by building on it, but we never stop asking, “Is there a better way?” Champions don’t ease up because they’re ahead of the competition; they’re still accelerating as they cross the finish line. The competition keeps you sharp. You need them.

Irish singer Bono said something worth noting: “I would be terrified to be on my own as a solo singer…I surround myself with…a band, a family of very spunky kids, and a wife who’s smarter than anyone…you’re only as good as the arguments you get. So maybe the reason why the band hasn’t split up is that people might get this: even though I’m only one quarter of U2, I’m more than I could be if I was one whole of something else.” Solomon put it this way: “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens…his friend”.