Church PLANT Manual

Session 1: Prepare • 19

defeated. Effective teams have a clear vision of what they are working, learning, or playing toward. Without clarity of purpose and vision, people have a difficult time in any endeavor. II. Belonging For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? (1 Cor. 12:14-17). Much can be said of 1 Corinthians 12:11-27 and how it speaks to the nature of teams and the nature of the church. In verses 14-17 Paul speaks to the sense of belonging. In almost ridiculous fashion, the foot and ear claim they aren’t part of the body. In the same way, it is ridiculous when parts of the church or parts of your team say, ‘I’m not part of the team”. Yet all too often that is exactly how some teammates feel. Not knowing how a teammate belongs within the team will lead to disengagement and the potential loss of that teammate. III. Valuing Diverse Gifts 1 Corinthians 12:11-27, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:9-11, and Romans 12:3-8 all talk about having different gifts and how important the different gifts are for building up the body. They also address the need for those gifts to be valued and coordinated so that everyone uses their gifts in such a way that the entire team benefits. Likewise, a church plant team needs different gifts and talents. It is important to value those gifts that are different from yours and coordinate those