I am not sure when it happened, but when someone did finally put a basketball in my hands, it never left. And, to make it even better, I grew up in the Jordan – Bird era of good basketball. These players, and others, made it fun to watch and inspiring to play. They had this flow to their game, to their ‘no look passes’, timing it just perfectly.
Fast forward thru Kobe and into LeBron and the game has changed. I feel like I’m watching a bunch of strangers play a game of pick up- street ball. There’s no flow, there’s no system or plan and everyone is out to show off and be the best. It’s no longer enjoyable to watch these one man shows.
For my non-basketball fans, forgive the sports analogy on teamwork. And, no spoiler alerts on “The Last Dance”, I’m waiting to binge it soon!
I look at missions the same way I look at the former basketball era. Smooth flowing plays, with everyone on the same page that lead to national championships. My dream is to see churches with this same smooth flowing system that the entire church is rallying on to the final championship game. It’s everyone’s game, it’s everyone’s win, it’s everyone’s baby!
Don’t get me wrong, LeBron is an amazing player – and off the court seems to have a huge heart – but he doesn’t play well with his team. He fails to use the others on the team to make the team look good and to make the team win, not just him. This is where I see our churches; in this new era of missions. Let the missionary do the work, forget the others in the church and we will call it a win for the whole church.
How do we move back into the team era of missions where the missionary is part of the team, not the only player on the team?
How do we unify the vision of both the church and the missionary to The Church?
How do we rally the entire church to get in the game?
These are the questions we wrestle with when we talk about being a partnership church.
-What type of church are you?
-Do you play well with your missionaries; working together to accomplish the greater – unified vision with the whole team in the game?
-Do you say you are a team but let the missionary do all the work?