Biblical Leadership Principles by Rev Dr Don Moore Executive Director Canadian Christian Business Federation
Photo Credit: Anna Samoylova Unsplash

Don Bennett was the first amputee to climb Mt. Rainier. His testimony is simple – if you try such a feat with only one leg, “you can’t do it alone.” That makes a lot of sense! Therefore, not just anyone qualified for his team; instead, only those who wanted to and could climb a 14,410-foot peak!

Successful businesses require effective teamwork that can only be the result of intentional team building. Teams take a lot of hard work to form, develop, support, and celebrate. Then, they can either “pull together or pull apart!” Together is a delight but apart is devastating. One of the most important teams ever assembled was formed by Jesus. This was evidenced in His 12 chosen disciples. Let’s take a look at three factors that made Jesus’ team so efficient and effective.

1. Team Selection Selecting the right team members can be difficult. That’s why Christ’s example is so powerful, as He devoted Himself to prayer before deciding on his team. “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” Luke 6:12-13

Christ knew the challenges that His team would face so needed His Father’s wisdom in making strategic choices. However, He only needed 12 out a large pool of disciples that were following Him to become part of His inner circle.

His choices were indeed “odd,” for, besides mostly fishermen, he also chose Matthew, a hated tax collector and Simon the Zealot, who was politically an opposite to Matthew. Based on their strengths, though, Christ knew how each would contribute to the other members of the team and their overall potential success. Thus, diversity can serve as a real asset when selecting and building a team.

How prayerful and strategic are you when selecting new team members?

2. Team Synergy
It’s one thing to select the members for a team carefully but quite another to have them learn to work effectively together. You want the team's combined efforts to be 1+1= 3, 4 or 5, not just 2!

The Holy Spirit turned this group of men, characterized by confusion, infighting and self-interest, into a genuinely synergistic team. Their action together increased the effectiveness of each member of the team.

Jesus invested hours and hours of training and hands-on experiences to shape, and to mold His team into a tightly knit unit. He taught them how to combine their strengths to help one another grow. He challenged them to grow in their areas of weakness, so they were able to preach and have the authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3:14-15). However, He also knew clearly how to weed out a Judas from the team.

Such a diversified team may be tougher to lead, but training lions is more exciting than feeding goldfish!

In what ways are you investing in your team(s) development so synergistically they are accomplishing more than they could individually?

3. Team Success
The team of Twelve that Christ built was very successful. The church they led exploded out of Jerusalem, around the world and across two thousand years of history.

Their success was driven by the belief in their purpose and the faith in their leader. Together, they learned to value and respect one another as they strove for a common goal.

Christ took the opportunity to affirm His team as He did with Peter: “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you . . . for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-20)

Then, He honoured Peter by expressing his confidence in the disciple’s future key role in leading His church. Peter went on to develop a team of men and women who were to storm the Roman Empire with the gospel.

How do you affirm your team members who are effective in striving for the purpose and goals set before them?

In conclusion, when building a team, prayerfully make individual selections that will contribute towards team synergy and produce the success needed to accomplish your goals. That is ultimately what Christ did, and His team literally changed the world, including each of us!

Don Moore
Executive Director Canadian Christian Business Federation
Don strongly believes that people are our nation’s most valuable asset. His Listen-Learn-Lead” approach to leadership has made him highly effective in executive roles in a variety of organizations with local, regional, national, and international reach.

An entrepreneurial thinker and strategist, Don built a grassroots movement of denominational and ministry leaders committed to evangelism with The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and led a National Consultation in Ottawa.