Jesus spent the first 30 years of his earthly life in relative obscurity. That’s a bit curious considering his purpose was one of eternal proportions. The ratio seems off: just over 10 percent of his time spent on the main goal, the other 90 percent in childhood, adolescence, losing his parents when he snuck off to the temple, and an apprenticeship in carpentry.
While that approach is hard to wrap our heads around, when he began that final 10 percent of his life, his focus on and preparation for gathering his team was deliberate and intentional. Perhaps knowing that his ratio of ministry time to lifetime was limited drove him to prayerful consideration and an intentional care in choosing his disciples, in whose hands the future of this movement would be placed.
I am just sure that my Sunday school teacher and my backyard Bible club leader told me stories of Jesus going off by himself to a solitary place to pray. And following that time of prayer, probably days of prayer, Jesus returned with great clarity—names and addresses—and went to find his 12 disciples.
Imagine my surprise when, reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I saw in those first chapters a picture of Jesus walking down the street, glancing at seemingly random people, and saying “you … and you …. and, well, okay you too.” Matthew records, “As Jesus was walking … he saw two brothers” and said, “Come, follow me.” Mark, Luke, and John pretty much tell the same story. Either I misunderstood the stories I was told in childhood or I was sold a saccharine story with little resemblance to reality.
The narrative in the first chapter of Mark and John, and in the fourth and fifth chapters of Matthew and Luke respectively, is not Jesus going to job fairs of the Ivy League rabbinical schools, but to the contrary, walking the streets to converse with fishermen mending their nets and tax collectors—men who had been passed over when it came to graduate religious training.
And at least in these chapters, there is no record of periods of prayer or clarity coming in the form of names magically given by God. Just a story, in each of the Gospels, of Jesus walking, glancing, pointing, and calling.
Putting aside the flannelgraph fantasy, let’s consider the question “What Did Jesus Do?”
Maybe Jesus selected a group of ordinary, unremarkable people, so that their transformation, because of him, would be undeniable.
Perhaps Jesus, understanding that everyone would expect him to develop his team out of the cream of the crop, was trying to help us understand that his gospel transforms everyone.
Years later, in an attempt to explain the remarkable power, courage, and preaching effectiveness of Peter and John, Luke writes in Acts 4, “People were astonished because these were unschooled, ordinary men.”
Maybe Jesus selected a group of ordinary, unremarkable people, so that their transformation, because of him, would be undeniable.
What are we to make of this approach to team selection?
Don’t underestimate anyone.
While no one would suggest that you ignore talent and competency and character, the Bible is full of ordinary people doing extraordinary things because of what God did through them. The common denominator is not their abilities; it’s their relationship with God. Acts 4:13 goes on to say, “People were astonished because these were unschooled, ordinary men who had been with Jesus.” We are blinded and misled by the outer trappings of success: resumes, bank accounts, job titles, and physical appearance. But those are not the filters Jesus used to choose.
One of the churches I consulted with a few years back had an impressive leadership team. Working with them over the months convinced me that they had been on a search for the best of the best. Nothing wrong with that.
One member of that team stood out, but not in the way you might think. On first impression, he did not seem nearly as impressive as the rest of the group. He was probably in the slower reading group in his elementary school years and not the captain of any athletic team. But the longer I worked with them, the more he stood out. His quiet effectiveness, razor-sharp discernment, and piercing wisdom were nothing short of extraordinary. The senior pastor, over time, revealed to me that this man was the “glue” of the team.
“I almost dismissed him when he applied for this job,” the pastor said. “But the longer I interviewed him, the more I began to sense a depth of character and strength of leadership that I nearly overlooked. He’s been with us for six years, and I cannot imagine this team without him.”
Jesus did something else remarkable in the selection of his team. Something that flies in the face of the much-touted mentality, “I’ve been doing ministry too long to work with anyone that I don’t have great chemistry with!”
Really? Jesus, on purpose, put these people on his team:
Brothers. Relatives? Many leaders today would balk. But Jesus had two sets of brothers on the team. First, Peter and Andrew. Andrew saw Jesus first. He told Peter about Jesus, and yet pretty quickly, Peter eclipses Andrew in terms of attention and “air time” in the Gospels. Second, James and John. They were not just brothers, but brothers with the nickname “Sons of Thunder”—a nice way of saying they had anger management issues.
Thomas. Referred to early on as one who was plagued with doubts and a skeptical nature, he brought a kind of negativity with him.
Simon. He was a zealot, of a political party that was determined to see the overthrow of the Roman Empire and the re-establishment of Israel as an independent nation. Most likely he joined the group with the belief that Jesus’ mission was similar to his.
Matthew. Sure, the tax collector would be listed right next to the zealot. These guys would not have liked each other. Their political views could not have been more divergent. They no doubt had great disdain and mistrust between them. They probably hated each other.
And then there was Judas. Conniving. Conspiratorial. More concerned about money than Jesus’ mission.
This was not a team that, at first glance, would inspire confidence. Peter failed—a lot. And very publicly. Jesus seemed to constantly reprimand him. There was rivalry between Peter and John. Matthew and Simon were diametrically opposed politically and, most likely, temperamentally. We’re talking oil and water, gas and flame.
And these were the people Jesus picked … on purpose.
Team is a spiritual formation endeavor.
Why in the world did Jesus not pick more mature people? I’ll let you answer that. I’ll let you consider: if your name had been on Jesus’ list, what character flaw would you bring to the table? Jesus used teaching, conflict, and difficult conversations to spiritually form his team. He was relentless in shaping them, getting to the root issues under their sin and stretching them into the future leaders of the kingdom of God.
Discipleship, not behavior modification, is our call as leaders of teams.
As a team leader, do you spend more time wishing something was different in each of your people, wishing you had different people, or do you really engage in the difficult, humbling, and long-term work of disciple-making? Jesus made choices that would form a team of disparate people who could barely get along. Maybe that’s oddly comforting to you as you look at your team.
This approach moves us away from both a passive posture toward difficult people on our team and the frustration that our people have infuriating and frustrating issues to deal with. We do not overlook their flaws but rather, like Jesus, engage. Team leaders will start deep conversations, allow grace and truth to do their work over time, lean in to conflict, take breaks in between to allow the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do, and re-engage. Discipleship, not behavior modification, is our call as leaders of teams.
I’d encourage you to take 20 minutes this week to write down the names of each of your team members. Next to each name, list the difficult conversation you have been avoiding. Work to build trust with them, and move toward that conversation, over time, with the humility that realizes this is a two-way street.
Team is the only way to solve issues of great complexity.
In years past, many of the greatest advances in physics were made by individuals. Marie Curie and Albert Einstein, for instance, made historical contributions through their work, largely on an individual level. The 2013 confirmation of the Higgs boson particle, however, was the result of a team effort over many years. The complexity at this level necessitated a kind of learning synergy that is only possible when a group of people bring a brilliantly coordinated effort to bear.
So let’s go back to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus was clear on the eternal implications of his final three and a half years. Inaugurating the kingdom of God on earth was a complex task indeed, and one of the very first things he did was to gather a team.
If anyone could say, “I could do this a lot better if I just did it myself,” that would be Jesus, right? Instead he walked and glanced and pointed and called.
Apparently the work of leadership in the kingdom of God is orchestrating a team of disparate, immature people who don’t get along, and catalyzing that team beyond the skills of any one person. That leads to a kind of disproportionate impact in the world that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus.
Nancy Ortberg is a founding partner of TeamWorx2, a business and leadership consulting firm that works with businesses, schools, nonprofits, and churches to address issues of organizational effectiveness and teamwork. She is also the chief executive officer of TBC (Transforming the Bay with Christ) in the Bay Area of California.
