Building an Apostolic Team How did Jesus and Paul model apostolic team- building? Viv Grigg, June 2006

Team-building Jesus-Style (summary)  The Usness of God  The first church was a mission team  Called to be with him, to know him, Not just a work team, but a caring community  Love God and do the Symbolic Earn the right to lead  Recruitment Phase – and he chose twelve  Building Phase – creating a team culture  Advantages/Disadvantages of a team

The Usness of God  God is a community There is equality of nature in the godhead and differentiation of roles There is authority within the equality  The Son given work by the Father (John 5:36)  The Son sent by the Father  The Father entrusts judgement to the Son (John 5:22)  The Son given authority by the Father (John 5:36) Community requires communication (John 5: 19) Community requires friendship (John 5:19)

The First Church was an Apostolic Team  Mark 3:14  Jesus defined who the team were  Jesus defined the team goals  First recruited to learn character – to be with him  Then to mission – to be sent out to preach  Build around the apostolic The apostle initiates, gets the breaktrhoughs, structures, multiplies, networks The prophet precedes the apostle, layig out the vision, the theology, the values The apostle recruits, trains, anoints, appoints

4 Kinds of Teams in Churchplanting  The Pioneer Team  The Evangelistic Team  The Developing Pastoral Team  The wider network in which the pioneer lives

Earning the Right to Lead  Listen to God and do the Symbolic e.g. Gideon, David and Goliath  Follow your anointing E.g. Gideon  Wait for the Timing of God Fight the bears, learn to throw the stone, from a ling, Jesus waited 30 years, bury yourself in quietness to write a vision  Work Hard It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first fruits (2 Tim 2:6)

Recruitment Phase  He waited 18 months Social events Public Ministry God Chooses (John 17:6) Fat People Faithful Available Teachable

Building Phase  People follow those who love and serve  E.g. finding Paul How you serve the leaast shows your heart  Clear Structure creates security The goals The basis of commitment The division of labour  Build the team around divine encounter

The Exercise of Authority  The Primary Basis of Authority From God (apostolic, prophetic) – but let others call us prophet or apostle, we do not appoint ourselves From people (pastoral, teaching) From the structure (administrator) Understand the differing gronds for authority The Limitations of Authority We are not Christ People are accountable to at least 6 authorities at one time and must balance them We can lead to the level that people give us authority Dealing with Sin