Strategic Networking for Kingdom Growth

Introduction: The "Great Commission" Jesus delivered to his disciples on the eve of his ascension still rings in the hearts of his people today. "I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth," he said. "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20 NLT). This is the heart and soul of our calling as Christian believers. It is the key to success in every aspect of every Christian's experience. It is the driving element of vibrant life for every church.

Networking for the Kingdom: The present era of our society can legitimately be labeled "The Age of the Network." More than at any other time in the history of humanity, our world is linked together by countless lines of communication and relationships. Both individually and corporately, we have ties to everything and everybody. John Donne's 17^th century proclamation that "no man is an island, entire of itself" was a revolutionary concept in Renaissance England, but today his poetry seems almost prophetic. Connectivity is the real watchword for today.

A Structure of Mutual Support and Encouragement: In Teamnet Ministries, five main teams focus on five core arenas of church life: Worship, Fellowship, Ministry, Evangelism, and Discipleship. The teams are each supported in their work by the Spiritual Gifts Support Team (formerly known as the Human Resources Council (HRC)) and the Administrative Officers. Each team also has opportunity to encourage and support programs and activities conducted by any or all of the other teams. Team leaders/facilitators are encouraged to share upcoming events and other plans at each Church Board meeting, thereby providing opportunity for all the other teams to contribute to everyone else's success. Working together for a common purpose creates synergy and enthusiasm.

The Primacy of Worship: The bottom line of the Great Commission is to "make disciples." However, the purpose of discipleship, and subsequently fellowship, ministry, and evangelism, is to multiply the worship, praise, honor, and glory that we as created beings bring to our Creator God. Worship is what the church is about. The commodity we carry is hope, and through the gospel of hope souls without hope can be drawn to God and find their life in Him. We must continuously strive for inspiring worship services, which both edify and encourage every person present at every service to connect with the Living Source of life.

Networking Teams

I first discovered the idea of networking teams while on a long train journey from Portland, Oregon to Cincinnati, Ohio during Christmas week, 1994. To pass the time I bought a book I thought looked interesting. The contents of that book revolutionized my understanding of effective organizations in today's world. The core concepts formed the structure on which we would eventually develop Teamnet Ministries. The book was The Age of the Network: Organizing Principles for the 21st Century by Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, Oliver Wight Publications, Inc., 1994.

In The Age of the Network, Lipnack and Stamps proposed a new type of organization, what they called a "teamnet." The idea is that while teams are the best way to get anything done, a network of teams working together creates a nearly unstopable force. They coined the term "teamnet" to capsulize their idea.

As I read the book, I got more and more excited. I could see a church organized around this principle, coupled with the biblical doctrine of spiritual gifts, and administered by visionary leaders rather than status quo managers. Old-fashioned committees that normally talk more than act could be replaced by lean, focused teams composed of dedicated, passionate church members driven Holy Spirit inspiration. At the next Nominating Committee season in the church I was then pastoring (Hamlet, Ohio) I presented some of the ideas that had been rattling around in my mind since reading Lipnack and Stamps' book. One thing led to another, and eventually the intial organizational structure of Teamnet Ministries began to take shape. In time, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the project, which I defended in 1998, and graduated in June of that year from Andrews University with my D.Min. degree.

Since then, five churches that I have pastored have decided to try the Teamnet Ministries experiment, with varying degrees of success. Some have continued, while others have gone back to a more traditional method of filling church offices. Teamnet Ministries continues to be a work in progress as needed refinements are recognized and corrections are made.

This blog is open for input from people who have experienced working with Teamnet Ministries, for those who want to learn about it, and for those who believe in the potential of a church organized as a network of ministry teams working together for the purpose of God in the earth. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Teamwork - The Heart of Everything

Think about it. Nothing happens anywhere in the known Universe outside of some kind of relationship. Even the physical cosmos is governed by the relationships of heavenly bodies balanced by gravity and centrifugal force. In other words, everything that is contributes to the way things are. As John Donne said, "No man is an island." We all make a difference, one way or another.

Synergy is the product of two or more entities working together for a common purpose. Synergy accomplishes more that the sum of what each individual could achieve alone. Ducks and geese fly farther together in formation than if they all flew separately. Teaming up for a common cause makes everyone in a team more successful. Teamwork works, because that is the way creation works best.

It seems to me, then, that teams and teamwork should be the most natural organizational structure for the church. Hence: Teamnet Ministries. The whole doctrine of Spiritual Gifts is built around this concept. God gives different gifts to different people to use in concert with everyone else's gifts to accomplish His purposes through the church -- the body of Christ on earth. See Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; and Ephesians 4.

In another post I'll talk about using our gifts as priests in the priesthood of all believers.

Purpose-Driven Teams Create Mission Statements

In the previous post I referenced Rick Warren's book Purpose-Driven Church, with a link to the PD website. Teamnet Ministries uses the purpose-driven concept, but drives it down even further into the organization of the local church by creating purpose-driven teams for conducting the mission of the church. As I noted before, each team is created to concentrate on a specific arena of church life. After the team is formed (more on that later), the very first action the team members must work on is to formulate their own "mission statement," aka "statement of purpose."

I have found that this exercise does more to bond the individual members of the team more quickly than just about anything else. The process is every bit as important as the final product. In other words, the resulting mission statement itself is a good thing, but the time, energy, and combined efforts of the team members is actually what forms the foundation for their effectiveness as a team.

Full Steam Ahead! is a great little book by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, that gives valuable insight into the components of a mission statement. You can easily order it from www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, or your local bookstore.

A Quick Introduction to Teamnet Ministries

Teamnet Ministries is about trying to find a way to organize a local church for widespread involvement and broad cooperation among the people who really are the church: the individual members. I am completely convinced that the vast majority of church members really do want their membership to be meaningful and fulfilling, and they want to serve their fellow members with the gifts God has given them. Everyone wants to believe that his/her contribution makes a difference. Unless, of course, they've become so discouraged for whatever reason that they just don't care anymore. That's another story. But most church attendees/members are there for more than just the music or the potluck dinners.

Teamnet Ministries tries to address this need by organizing church life into five major arenas: Worship; Fellowship; Ministry; Evangelism; and Discipleship. If you're famaliar with Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Church (learn about it at http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/AboutUs/WhatIsPD/What+is+PD.htm.) you will immediately recognize where these came from. In Teamnet Ministries, each arena of church life is served by a team of people who are especially gifted or passionate about that specific ministry. Team leaders network with each other, and lead the teams first in discovering their purpose, then developing plans and excuting them to reach toward their goals.

I'll have more to say about how this works in future posts. Meanwhile, you can still jump over to www.teamnetministries.com to explore further. I've still got quite a lot of work to do over there, but all in good time . . . . I promise!