TEAMS, NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS

TEAMS, NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS

One day I had a dream, in that dream I was fishing with a fishing rod, I would cast out my line and reel it in, sometimes I would catch a fish and at other times a piece of junk, this continued for a little while then I woke up. As I thought about the dream, it would seem as if the Holy Spirit was saying to me ‘Son, you have to change the way you are fishing for men, you have to do it the bible way, you have to create networks’.

NETWORKS

So I began to study the fishermen of the bible and I noticed that they never used fishing rods, they used nets and they never worked alone, when they cast their nets into the sea, the spread nets ensured that a greater amount of fish than they could have been caught by a rod.

 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

Luke 5:1-11 NKJV

The rod would represent a single ministry, church or individual, the net would represent a greater number of churches/ministries and people coming together to spread a huge gospel net over an area for the sake of the gospel.

This led me to adopt the ‘network’ pattern of evangelism in our crusades and evangelistic meetings.

So what is a network?

A network is a group of people or organizations coming together for the purpose of collaborating to accomplish a specific purpose.

In a network the individual strands are connected by common goals, objectives or vision, in this case evangelism or revival based meetings would be a classic example of such common goals, while Christ and God’s kingdom would be the great example of a common vision.

Networks imply unity of purpose as well as hard work, after it is net work, in today’s world network marketing is a classic example of how the system works, in network marketing, the better you are able to help members of your network succeed, the greater your success. Now they do it for temporal and earthly reward but the same principle can be applied for eternal and spiritual rewards.

If you read Luke 5: 1-7, you would find a beautiful story that illustrates the beauty and practicality of networks.

In our ministry we facilitate and create networks of organisations and believers around the vision the Lord has committed into our hands. The great evangelistic ministries of the last Century understood the importance of creating giant net works for world evangelism, for example it was said the Billy Graham always insisted that a prerequisite for holding his crusades in any city was the Church coming together to form a giant gospel net to throw over the city.

We believe that Churches, ministries and organizations in a city or locality should be able come to come together from time to time to create huge net-works for the purposes of evangelism, prayer or any such kingdom minded project. The inability f the Church to do this is the greatest manifestation of the selfish, self centered and personal kingdom minded

Networks are very important for a variety of reasons

1. They create points of unity of focus and action
2. They multiply resources, talents and of course results by leveraging on the scale of numbers of the networking partners
3. They create points of healing and strength for individual members of the network through their coming together in service and love.

In this last days I believe that the Lord is going to cause huge formal and informal networks to be formed as the need arises for the ministry of the end times, thus ensuring that no part of the harvest is left to waste.

Networks often present some challenges because it often calls for some loss of individual identity for the benefit of the cause or purpose for which the net work exists, one of the things that destroy networks is the desire for pre eminence by one or more of its members.

Imagine if you will a fisher man casting his net into the sea but there is a gaping hole in one side, he’s going to catch little or nothing. Successful networks require mutual respect, love, trust and recognition of the unique attributes and abilities which each ‘strand’ contributes to the net.

Groups like the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, The Christian Association of Nigeria etc are supposed to be networks of independent ministries and churches coming together for a common vision, but do we see them as such? Is the vision clear? Have we subscribed to the vision? This network means that there should be constant flow of life from one part to the other, all being nourished by the head.

The whole body of Christ is a network of ministries and churches working together much like the human body for the well being of the body.

TEAMS

Teams are similar to networks but differ in a number of ways. They would be more cohesive than networks, more defined and with stronger hierarchical connections. Teams may function within networks to accomplish specific assignments within the larger vision.

So what is a team?

A team would be a group of people working together within a prescribed system, in a team there would be a hierarchy of supporting assignments and roles usually under the authority or direction of one who is the team leader.

Jesus formed a team of disciples to fulfil the vision which he was entrusted to by God, he taught and trained his team members until they had caught the vision , then he began to release them to do as he had done.

The gospels reveal how Jesus selected and formed his team, every true visionary from Jesus must understand that this is God’s way, He is not in the business of ‘I can do it by myself’ . Jesus went up the mountain and called those that he would and they came to him (Mark 3: 13 – 19), of course we know that much prayer was a part of the process because only God knows the heart of all men, today you and I are on team Jesus, he called us just as he called the first disciples and if he still tarries will call others after us.

Perhaps you have heard the phrase ‘management teams’ it is all about Together Everybody Achieving More. Every successful enterprise has been built on powerful teams, so learn to build teams and leverage on the abilities of others within the team.

Paul the apostle was a very successful apostle but a huge part of His success was connected to his ability to connect with people co opt them into the vision and empower them to succeed.

He was always on the look out for potential team members, people that God had prepared or purposed to be a part of the great vision entrusted by God to him, these people may not have known their part in the vision, but no matter it was Paul’s job to help them see it and connect with it.

In Acts 16: 1 – 3, we see the apostle reaching out and bringing the young Timothy on board his ministry team, He may have had no experience but Paul was willing to mentor him just like Jesus did with his disciples.

Team formation is the most crucial aspect of fulfilling ministry, make no mistake about it, if the vision is from God then your team members are all over the place, it is your duty to find them, connect them to the vision and disciple them. It is their destiny and yours.

Church leadership is about team building, team leaders must empower their teams with the knowledge and resources thy need to succeed.

Church leaders who don’t know how to build teams and create systems will find themselves stranded in their quest to do what Jesus has called them to do. Jesus is the ultimate team builder. (Mark 3: 12 -13)

Imperatives for team formation

Teams are only as effective as the systems they create to fulfil their core mandate.

It is important for team leaders and members to understand the following

1. The importance of submitting to team lines of authority AND responsibility
2. Team members must understand the vision and the reason for the existence of the team; it must be clearly communicated by the team leader or vision bearer.
3. Team members must completely be consumed with and identify with the team vision as communicated by the Team Leader who holds the vision in trust for Jesus
4. Team members must clearly assume their responsibilities within the team, recognising that with authority comes responsibility.
5. Team members must understand that they are not in competition with other members of the team, so they must look out for and support the other team members.
6. They must realise that authority flows at different levels so while we rejoice in our equality as brethren we should be humble to recognise those with greater authority than ours and submit to it.
7. Team leaders should learn to delegate authority along with responsibility corresponding to what each team member is expected to perform.
8. Teams should understand the need for mutual appreciation and respect, team leaders are not ‘gods’ but simply first amongst equals and must not lord it over team members

Teams are generally much smaller than networks, occur within homogenous groupings, that is within an organisation or body, and often demand more technical or specific responsibilities from its members. The demand on loyalty within a team is often greater and more pronounced than within much larger networks where there is greater degree of independent action.

Teams can often exist at different levels within an organisation, for example the leadership of a ministry and the leadership of sub units within that same organisation or ministry.

SYSTEMS

Systems are lines of related activities connected within a given structure or team to fulfil specific functions, for example within a car you would have the electrical system, the fuel system and so on.

In a human body we can talk about the digestive system, made up of different body parts which work together to fulfil the digestive process of the human body. It was Sam Adeyemi who said, creating systems enables the visioner to leverage on the unique talents and abilities of the members of his team.

Learning to identify critical systems essential to fulfilling the team vision and the enabling such systems is critical for lasting success, growth and effective ministry over the long run.

As a team leader you must create lines or systems, to ensure that even in your absence the work of the ministry still continues, you should design a flow chart a diagram that shows interconnected activities ) that shows the lines of linkages or systems within your organisation. You may say but we are still very small, but you are a man of vision, create the chart, and then fill it in as the group or team grows and as God brings in the people to take up the spaces.

I believe that an organisation will only grow as big as the vision in the heart of the visioner, so grow the vision, Jesus was talking about reaching the whole world when at that time they had not even reached Jerusalem!

For example you can have administration, publications, media, marketing, training etc this forms the big team, then within each sub unit you can create further systems which ultimately are connected to the main system. This is how the human body works and we are the body of Christ.

Having a system means that everybody knows who he or she is connected to directly and who they report to or who reports to them, the big thing here is not who is superior to the other but what functions connect to the other.

Systems are important; understanding this principle in a business world can jack profits up by increasing productivity. When organisations are still small, then some people will have to wear different caps at once but when the group gets bigger, share the work round, remember what the bible says; two are better than one because they have a better reward for their labour.

The responsibility of taking the message of the kingdom is to be taken with a high sense of responsibility and business mindedness.

The gospel is a product and God has entrusted us with this product, it is our business to make it available in every place and at every time in its original quality and flavour.