The Phoenix Suns recently traded their superstar player, Kevin Durant, to the Houston Rockets in exchange for eight players (two current players, a first-round draft pick and five second-round draft picks). Trading one player in exchange for eight sounds like a lopsided deal, but it made sense to the coaches and owners who know how important it is to do whatever you can to form a great team.
In congregations, our worship styles, generational demographics and buildings may be the areas that garner much of a leader’s attention, but it’s the health of the leadership team that quietly shapes the vitality of the church.
Building healthier teams is not just about making our meetings more exciting or celebrating staff birthdays. This work is about the critical tasks of building trust, making space for creativity, fostering spiritual growth and encouraging accountability. Although not all churches have multiple full-time staff members, every church has teams. Some teams are boards and some teams are choirs. Whatever form they take, when teams are healthy, the whole congregation benefits and pastors thrive.
The best teams share similar values and commitments. We need to do more than show up to work in the same building. We must have a common understanding of what it means to be on the same team. Why are we here? What habits define the way we work together? What’s our definition of success? What practices shape how we deal with conflict?
Even healthy teams experience conflict and tension. The strongest teams learn how to handle disagreements with honesty and grace. When we build trust through intentional efforts, we discover that our team learns to work through conflict. Intentional effort involves building in time for personal check-ins, encouraging prayer and engaging one another off-site.
Building a healthy team culture is not optional. It’s essential. This work takes time, intention and grace, but the fruit is lasting: deeper trust, clearer vision and more satisfaction in ministry.
