I am not an athlete. The closest thing to sports I participate in is shooting pool and bowling. I do appreciate the incredible skills and abilities that athletes have. But I nevertheless find it difficult to relate to the athletic terminology we use to describe leadership in the church.
For example, we talk about “leadership teams” or “ministry teams;” we gather leaders for “huddles.” Our small group ministries often have “coaches.” Mountain climbing and running track are our most popular images for describing church leadership.
There’s good biblical reason for all this. In 1 Corinthians 9, after all, Paul uses the metaphor of running a race and winning a prize. But some people—like me—find it difficult to identify with athletic metaphors.
Team terminology isn’t bad, and most people understand it. But it’s interesting how using a sports metaphor brings a certain feel to what we do. Most sports teams have a manager. So in a church context, is the manager the senior pastor? But the senior pastor is not on the sidelines like the manager in professional sports. More often the senior pastor functions as the pitcher or quarterback who is very much at the center of the team and in the spotlight.
We may call a staff a “team,” but if there is a strong leader, the staff is really just support for the senior pastor. In other words, just because we say we are a team doesn’t mean we our efforts are equally valued.
There are a lot of artists and musicians in our church. When we were writing out ministry descriptions, they questioned the word “teams.” They didn’t appreciate the associations of the word with cheerleaders, uniforms, and competition. We searched the New Testament for alternatives and discovered metaphors such as “body” used for groups of people, or “disciples” used for followers of Christ.
Nowhere did we find team terminology used to describe human beings. (There was a passage that talked about a team of horses, but that was it.) We tried to imagine Jesus calling his disciples a “team” or referring to himself as the “coach.” We rewrote Mark 14:12—”Jesus’ disciple team asked him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?'” And John 16:29—”Then Jesus’ disciple team said …”
As you can tell, it doesn’t seem to work.
Would Jesus use the team metaphor today? It’s hard to say. But if we have some who don’t resonate with sports metaphors, what’s the best alternative?
We didn’t want to use business metaphors, as many do, with their “boards” or “task forces” or the business/ athletics hybrid “executive teams.” To many of us that seemed even more unappealing than sports terms.
So we tried gardening, family, and music metaphors. None felt right.
We ended up using “palette” to describe the group of people who design the weekend worship gatherings. It seemed apt: on an artist’s palette are many colors mixed in different ways to create something beautiful. That seemed to fit for one group, but we couldn’t think of any others. So after lots of discussion, we reluctantly still use “team” terminology.
Perhaps one day we will think of some other metaphors for leadership. In the meantime, if you don’t resonate with sports terms, take comfort in knowing you aren’t alone. Not everyone watches ESPN or reads the sports page. Some of us turn to the newpaper’s lifestyle or entertainment sections. Not everyone knows the names of professional athletes that often appear in sermons illustrations.
No, not everyone is excited by competition or athletic rivalry. But for now we’re stuck with the “team” to describe Christian ministry—at least until a more artistic person creates an alternative.
Dan Kimball is the pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California.
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