Team, from the old English, family, company, band. From the Old Frisian line of descent. From the PIE root duek- meaning to lead. aqueduct; conduce; conducive; conduct; conductor; conduit; educate; education; introduce; introduction; produce; production; team (n.); tie
In today's world, team is used so often. In video games you join teams in combat or adventure in order to do something bigger than you can do on your own. In the work place, you join a team, again, to be able to do something bigger and better than a single person could. In marriage, it is often called teamwork as the man and woman unite and become one family. Sports have teams, horses have teams, even fans of stupid books about shiny vampire have teams.
As you read above team is family, team is a band of brothers and sisters, it is to lead, and that last bit I feel is too often forgotten in this day and age. Every team needs a single leader, one who brings the individuals together to be one assembly. Like a conductor of an orchestra, they take each part of the machine and build something that becomes so much more than the parts. But today it seems multiple people try to lead the same thing, bringing about a divide that often times is not able to mend. We are all striving to make a name, be the center, to lead, even when our character is not that of leader, but a follower, or an aid. Being a follower is not a bad thing, often times it is the followers who make the biggest impact for the team.
Sometimes you might be called to be a leader, but not of a large team, maybe you specialize with a handful of people and still take direction from the leader of the whole. Sometimes the Team needs to be made up of smaller cells to accomplish what a larger group could not.
I have been pretty lucky, for the most part, to be part of a team who do work together and help each other be better at my job. When all is working well in our team, we do very good, we hit sales targets, we succeed in all our goals, it sometimes we have hiccups that crack the solidness of our group. Not too often but those cracks that appear, when mended and healed, like bones strengthen the rest of us and we are better still.
But when I think of teams, I do not always think of church. I should be thinking this, and probably one of the first thoughts I have, because the definition of team fits exactly what the church should be. We introduce, educate, lead and produce family. We are one unit, working together, much like a body to spread Jesus to the whole world.
Family, as the church is often called, is what we should be, but we are and best we are a blend family, dysfunctional occasionally , and at worst, a broken home. We fight among ourselves to be leaders, for control, and refuse to work together, to unite strengths of the many to make a single powerhouse.
A company, as the church is often seen by the masses, because some focus on money, raising money to do things they want, forgetting that if God wants us to do it, the money will be taken care of. Some view us as selling the gospel to the needy. Being compared to a company is not a bad thing always, we just need to watch which part.
Duek... What's that mean? Well above I quoted it meaning line of descent. And that part, though not really in the current word team, is the most essential part of the root. And a root it is, like a tree our roots leads us back to a line of descent back to the creator of everything. Adopted or not, we are part of the family of God. Regardless of denomination or the differences between Catholic and Protestant, if we are true followers of Christ, we are one family, one team, and one line of descent back to Jesus.
Jesus is also part of our team, so that we can go into the darkest places because there is a lot of good to be done there. He is our conductor and leader, he makes beautiful music with each of us, despite us being broken instruments. And he will make us into so much more, if only we allow him to work and lead us in all we do.
