[0:00]
Hi, my name's Peter Blanche. Welcome to our Reach Australia podcast. It's great that you're with us and you've pressed play on one of our resources from the National Conference. You're about to listen to Paul Harrington. He gave some delightful insights into team ministry. There are some delights and joys in team ministry. There are some hard struggles as well. He's going to dig deep theologically and practically to help us in team ministry. And this is part two. it's wonderful to be with you again tonight to look at God's word together can I just say that

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Sue and I have been greatly refreshed by being here with you very thankful for those who've organized the conference thankful for your fellowship in the gospel really has been a great shot in the arm and as we partner with you from all around Australia it's it's a it's a great joy for us all, isn't it? I'd love to pray for us as we come to reflect on God's word together, that God and his kindness will minister to our hearts and minister to our ministries. Let me pray.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you. You're a gracious God. You've brought us into your family, given us that privileged status of being your children. And Father, we ask that we'll always know the truth of your kindness to us and we know sometimes we enter into dark days tough days but father we pray that we'll continue to know your loving kindness even in those times

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even if we're just hanging on just by the skin of our teeth and father we pray that as we reflect on life as leaders among your people, you'll strengthen us for this task, for your glory and honour. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Can I say, for soon I, it has been a joy being involved in team leadership for over 30 years now and in the one spot. So we've been able to lay down deep roots. But like you, I know

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that leading a team and leading teams often has both joys and those quirky moments, times when things don't work out the way you intended. I was reflecting on the fact that one of my staff meetings, we gathered together and one of our junior staff decided to float a kite. And as I heard him do this, I thought this is more like a lead balloon than a kite. I wasn't too excited by But this staffman was born in a different generation to me.

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And I realised the need for a little bit of positive affirmation to this generation. So I said, that's a really interesting idea. And perhaps we could put it to one side just for the moment and possibly return to it at a future stage. I thought I'd definitely handled this. You know, I say that in a humble way. But, you know, I thought I'd, you know, sort of gotten where I needed to get to go. senior staff very kindly jumped in and said this. What you need to understand is that when Paul

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says that was an interesting idea, what he means is that is the dumbest idea he has ever heard, and we are never ever going to do that. I'm still friends with that senior pastor. In fact, our children married each other, which forces us really to be friendly. We all know the joys and the struggles of leading teams.

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You know what it's like when a team is functioning really well, where there's unity in the gospel together, where you delight in what God's done for you, where you've got each other's backs, the ideas flow around you're moving forward together there's trust, there's confidence people are loyal and if you're like me you know what it is to be in a draining team one where there's dysfunction one where there's lack of trust

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where you feel at times you're walking through quicksand on eggshells the difficulties that that involves when everyone comes to a room And they sit down, but within a matter of seconds, they've emotionally retreated to the corners, and you're not engaged. Now, I've been in and led teams that have been both like that, both ends of that spectrum. And tonight, you know, I thought I could fill you in on, you know,

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all the things that I've learnt over 30 years in ministry, you know, hot tips for leading teams, you know, on recruiting, you know, casting vision, getting alignment, probably not leading team meetings, but, you know, other things I could fill you in on. But instead, you know, I wanted to build on last night and talk to you as team leaders on how you lead with humble conviction and how you operate in that space. And what I want to do is come back to Philippians 1 and 2

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and I want to focus on four convictions, almost lenses that I want to put up for us to look at ministry through as we observe the apostle Paul. They're convictions that affect his behaviours and they reflect on how he goes about ministry. So why don't we flick to Philippians 1 and 2. There are four things I want to focus on and let's start with the fact that leaders are slaves. Now notice I didn't say leaders see

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as slaves leaders are slaves right christians are slaves that's the way the bible talks about it when we go to philippians chapter 2 verse 7 and we're told there that jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant literally form of a slave and in chapter 2 verse 8 it says he humbled himself it's reflexive remember he's doing it to himself it's not about power it's not about control, not about recognition, self-protection, anything like that. What Jesus

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does is he gives up his rights, he sacrifices himself on a cross to ransom rebels like you and like me. He serves, he pursues our interests above his own. And Paul the Apostle identifies himself as a slave as well. If you go back to the start of the chapter, verse 1 of chapter 1, Read there, Paul and Timothy, servants, it actually is slaves of Christ Jesus.

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He's not just the apostle, Timothy as well. When you go over to chapter 2, verse 17, Paul sees himself as a sacrificial drink offering, poured out on what the Philippians are doing at that point. He understands that ministry is about service and sacrifice. When you go to chapter 2, verses 19 to 21, It picks up on Timothy with the same language. Verse 22, he served with Paul, he slaved with Paul in the gospel.

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Timothy serves the interest of Jesus for the good of those he cares for. Friends, those who are in Christ are slaves, purchased, purchased with the price of Jesus' blood and brought into relationship with God. and if you are a slave then you live to serve the lord jesus in ministry and his interests alone now can i speak into a room of vocational pastors or people who are married into that or people who

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are thinking about that or people who are serving in ministry in different ways but i particularly want to talk to those of you who are in vocational ministry here's what i've observed that's changed I hear a lot more talk about self-care and boundaries and protecting our days off and families being the first congregation. Now let me say, I get it.

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You're trying to correct the workaholic imbalances of ministers of my generation. You know, the boomers. and there is an issue with that I think. I remember when one of my children was going through university, one of my sons, I felt like he probably, Christian young man, wasn't being as faithful as he should have been in his studies. So we had this sort of father-son rah-rah talk while he was doing his studies and at the end of it he said, good talk dad, good talk dad.

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and then I saw him reflecting and this is what he then said to me you know dad maybe when I get a bit older I'll be driven like you are what an interesting comment eh? can I say there are issues to address in ministry that's why I'm so pleased that Valerie is with us tonight so we can reflect on health when it comes to thinking about ministry

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But we do need to recognize that we are in a cultural moment. And the cultural moment is one of significant self-focus. It's the individualism and the self-determination that sort of is endemic in our world. As believers, can I say the big issue we need to be thinking about is how we as leaders and our households magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.

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now let me say that will involve self-care it must because if you want to magnify the lord jesus christ you need to make sure you're in a position to do it don't you but you understand the goal of it is not me it is the lord jesus and living in service of him and therefore being healthy in the way in which i do it and you've got to work at it In my situation, if I run too hard, so not as I go through this, right, if I run too hard,

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I get sort of grumpy and short with people. And I find it really hard to emotionally engage. So the big tell for me is I'll be around church after Sunday, really tired, get into a conversation with somebody, and I'll find it hard to maintain focus and eye contact. I'll be talking to someone about something serious and then I'll drift off, you know, and I'll then remember and come back, you know, and sort of, or still be sitting beside me nudging me, you know, sort of focus.

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And then, you know, the person I'm talking to, I'll say, yeah, how was your week? And I'll say, oh, it was a bit tough. My husband died on Tuesday. And I'll say, oh, that's nice, you know. You know, it's just, that's actually not that helpful, I've found. Friends, our identity is slave. It's not the only way we're described, obviously, in the Bible. But we are to remember that that is the case.

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We serve for the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, we serve others and not ourselves. And therefore, we do need to work out how to take proper care of ourselves to go the distance and to keep going. first thing identify as a slave second thing I want to pick up on is that humble leaders they think in terms of teams partnership now not being paid to say this by the sponsors okay this

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I know that's the theme of the week but you pick it up as you go through this letter of Paul's in such a profound way even in isolation in prison that's a situation possibly for five years Paul sees ministry in highly relational terms it's quite extraordinary so Paul is thankful for his partnership in the gospel with the Philippians you pick it up in verse 3 of chapter 1 I thank my God in all my remembering of you then in verse 5 because of your partnership in the gospel now

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it's the Greek word the koinonia word but it's not you know the fellowship idea but it's not talking about coffee and danishes after church and the image is one of more of a business partnership people pulling in all nighter to get the deal over the line and paul knows the strain that it is to engage in ministry and to have to work hard he knows that the philippians now verse 27 he talks about the way in which they strive side by side for the faith of the gospel they're

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working incredibly hard together to get to the finish line you know the partnership idea is so strong i was talking to a pastor about a week and a half ago and asking him how it was going and he said he sort of worked out that he was doing far too much himself you know doing lots of different tasks and hadn't really got around to building teams that he made this observation he said but I've worked out that by doing that,

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even though it's easier in some ways and simpler for the size of the church he was in, but he said, what I'm doing is stealing from the congregation because I'm robbing them of the opportunity to serve Jesus in these ways. Good observation, I thought. But teams aren't just business arrangements. they're more like family partnerships or family businesses. Paul sees the Philippians in these terms.

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And remember they're a fair way away at this point. They're not in his backyard. They're a long way away in Philippi. He's in Rome. Listen to how he talks about them. Verse 3. I give thanks to God for you. Verse 4. He prays with joy because of them. Verse 7. I have you in my heart. Verse 8. I long for all of you with the affection of Christ. Now, can I ask, does your team and your church know that you hold them in your heart,

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that you have a deep affection for them in partnership in the gospel together? I'm part of a breakfast group, Meets Once a Fortnight. They're all at least 10 years older than me. So it's a group where I'm totally accountable, right? They owe me nothing. And that's a really healthy thing for me to be a part of. One of the guys was saying that his wife said to him this, I wish you told me more often that you love me.

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To which he said, I told you I loved you when we got married. If I change my mind, I'll let you know. Can I say, I'm not recommending this. I don't think this is great marriage advice. But some Christian leaders operate with that principle. They don't actually take the time to let the people around them know

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that they treasure them in terms of their partnership in the gospel. I have the great joy and privilege of working with extraordinary people who love the Lord Jesus Christ. And a number of them are here for this conference, but some of them aren't. They've stayed back and they're laboring the Lord. I have the joy of partnering with Sue, who's just an extraordinary woman who loves the Lord.

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do you tell the people around you of your great joy that you partner together in the gospel paul also promotes other leaders he takes it a step further when you get to the second half of chapter two we didn't have it read but paul puts two gospel partners up in the spotlight it's Timothy and Epaphroditus so with Timothy verse 20 of chapter 2 he says I've got no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare

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verse 22 he has served with me in the gospel you come to Epaphroditus verse 25 my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need verse 29 receive him in the Lord and honour such men for the work of Christ. Friends, humble team leaders secure people and they promote other people who embody gospel ministry

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and are confident to do that. Now, it's not flattery, it's not manipulation or trying to, you know, push people into things you want to get them to do. It is promoting people in godliness and faithfulness. That's what he's doing. If you promote people who are gifted and promote them because of their giftedness, then you produce all the wrong responses in those people.

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You make them self-centered and self-focused. Same if you actually just promote the success that they achieve. You make that the wrong focus in ministry. the test of humility is where the people will use whatever gifts they have for the glory of god and for the good of the people that they're serving if they do you promote that and extol those sort of people you see humble people they know that ministry is partnership striving together

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with deep affection and involves the promotion of godly examples. Here's the third thing. Humble leaders rely on God. That is, they have a confidence in the sovereignty of God. Come with me back to chapter 1, verse 12. Paul the Apostle there says, I want you to know, brothers, that what's happened to me really has served to advance the gospel. Now, what's happened to him?

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he's in a Roman prison, maybe been there for five years. It's the ultimate lockdown. And for an itinerant church planter and evangelist, this must have been just hell, you know. It's like taking a wheat farmer from western New South Wales and placing him in a core cubicle in western Sydney, you know. Like, it would be just a terrible thing to have done. But look at the way he frames his experience. Chapter 1, verse 13. As a result, it's become clear throughout the whole palace guard

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everyone else that I'm in chains for Christ. Now think about the alternative ways he could have approached this. He could have just vented against the religious leaders that had a vendetta for him. He could have complained about the slow wheels of the Roman legal system that have just left him in prison for this sort of time. He could have just been daydreaming about what he was going to do when he got out of lockdown and got free once more. He could have done all those things. can i ask how do you react as a leader when there are block goals

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how do you find you handle that sort of situation how do you manage it when people get in the way of your good gospel plans when people who should know better get in the way of your good gospel plans you know people in leadership are close to you look at the way processes. Verse 13. He says, my imprisonment is for Christ.

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He has the strongest conviction that God has sovereignly overruled and ordered circumstances in his life so that he could preach Christ. leaders we must strive hard to lead in gospel enterprise but we also need to remember that god's in charge of his world not just remember it put it into practice in the way we live in ministry the way we treat the

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people around us especially when things go off the rails i became the senior minister at uh holy trinity back in 1993 which i know was still before some of you were born okay in 1994 we had the opportunity to purchase a block of land right next to our church right in the middle of town and you know the plan was to build a facility pretty similar to this actually on that block of land and we plan to do that within five to ten years so we hope to have

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that finished about 20 years ago. We have had six solid attempts at bringing off that plan over the last 30 years, and none have made it over the line. And let me say, that's been a tad frustrating. Last year, we signed an agreement for the development of the site.

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30 years after I was there when we bought the block of land. But you know, I can now see why it's taken so long. Over the last 20 years, we've been able to plant now 13 churches all around Adelaide and South Australia. And our thinking's changed about what we needed in the centre of town to actually support the work of that gospel. We have a different development plan that we've signed up to.

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more people out into the rest of the city and actually to create a stream of funding to support that particular work. But here's the thing you don't always know how God's exercising his sovereign kindness. Now I don't want to be trite and think that you always will but can I say he always is. He's always sovereignly overruling. And over 30 years, can I say more than any other theological truth,

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this is the practical one that I've grown in, that conviction that God rules his world. And when things have gone off the rails, and I found this more as time has gone on, I don't think it's just that I'm getting old, but more as time has gone on, I felt distinctly relaxed about the fact that things have just not gone the way. I thought they would, or I'd planned for them to. There's a security in knowing

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that you don't have to run the world and that God's already got that in hand. It's a really good thing to keep growing in. So when the wheels fall off, Can I ask, how do you react? How do you treat the people around you when they fall off? They're just good questions that will test out your theology. Paul is confident in God's sovereign hand,

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even in the most trying situation. Fourth thing I want to talk about before I wrap up. Humble leaders are, in a strange way, not distracted by conflict. And they don't make conflict about them. Can I say that the hardest thing I've found in ministry over the last 30 years is when I have a serious conflict with brothers and sisters in Christ.

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That most things, I don't sweat. That one, I sweat. I really find it hard. And the closer people are to me, the more sharply I feel it. I remember one day the Archbishop of Adelaide, I won't tell you which one, I've served before, invited me into his, well, he didn't invite me, he summons me into his office after we'd planted a church.

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And then he sort of led with this statement. He said he thought I was an egotistical, narcissistic, power-hungry empire builder who just wanted to control things. Now, my friends will tell you I'm quite intuitive, so I perceived that he was angry with me. But it actually didn't concern me too much.

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you know I wasn't that close to the archbishop and we were slightly less close after that conversation but you know there have been other situations where I felt it so so deeply I can think of one staff member who felt I had deceived him in some way and the fracturing of that relationship and trying to put that back together again I think of another staff member who I felt it was time to move into a new ministry

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and he was just so angry at me and felt I wasn't caring for him and his family a lay person that I work with closely a friend but you know we were so polar opposite in our approach to things we're driving each other nuts and and it was affecting our relationship and it was just so hard. Now I agonised over all those things. They're the things that I lose sleep over and I struggle with.

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Anger, hurt, frustration. Do you find those things hard? Yeah, I assume you do. How do you find it when people criticise you? how do you find it if you're married into ministry and people criticize your spouse? When I talk to Sue, she says that's one of the hardest things. She feels so disempowered from being able to sort anything out.

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Those tensions, those relational things that are so hard. I want you to notice that Paul, he's in tension with people in Rome. there are believers chapter 1 verse 15 some are preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry verse 17 we're told we're told why they proclaim Christ at a selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment now remember that they're not heretics they've got

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the right gospel, they've just got ungodly motivation. And I want you to notice here that Paul is completely in the right. He's totally spot on. So when you're under attack, what is your go-to response? Do you get defensive? Self-justifying? Refute the thing that's being said about you? do you own the attack you know the best form of defense is offense do you get angry at the

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injustice you stew you spit the dummy uh do you worry about you know the situation or what people will think of you do you fear the consequences of what might happen if what they're saying gets out do you isolate the people who are creating the trouble just push them further and further to the edge. What do you do? Look at the way Paul just towers over his critics.

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Chapter 1, verse 18. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed. And that I rejoice. You know, I think Paul felt it. I think he must have felt it. But you know, it's not about us.

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It's not about our reputations. Our name is Christ magnified. That's what it's about. It's tricky to get this right, actually. Sometimes you do need to correct the record. Normally, though, it'll not be for your own name. It'll be because you don't want anything to interfere with the further proclamation of the gospel. If you don't sort it out, there might be problems down the track. But, you know, so often what I've found in these situations

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is they don't get resolved. Not completely. And they just sit there and you have to live with it. And you can keep stewing on it. But what we've got to do is keep focusing on what we've been called to do. to proclaim the gospel and magnify the Lord. So when you're in conflict, what do you do? Do you find you make it about yourself?

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I think that's actually so human. Friends, we're to make it about the promotion of the gospel. Can I just, it's a bit of a sideline thing, but can I just talk about the way in which this affects about the way you speak about other staff and members of your congregation? When you get to chapter 2, verse 14, Paul says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. At this point, he's picking up on the wilderness grumbling

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when God's people are complaining against Moses and it's really a complaint against God. do you find yourself whinging about the people that god has given you i had a meeting with one of my senior staff a few years ago and i was just having a bit of a grumble about one of the other staff people that we serve alongside and he said to me

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very courageously you know to his boss he said i i think you're being ungodly in the way in which you're talking about that staff member and he was spot on absolutely spot on gently bravely corrected me and pulled me up let me talk to those of you again who are in leadership particularly vocational ministry how do you speak about those who are staffed? How do you speak about your fellow leaders in the congregation?

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How do you speak about the people that God has entrusted to you? Do not grumble. Do not grumble. Let me wrap things up. If I was going to give you one recruiting tip, this is the practical tip. Here's the thing that I actually have found over the years I've focused more and more on. When I'm recruiting people in a ministry, you always look for godliness.

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You know, you're clearly theological alignment. I reckon the next one that I look for is self-awareness. Because I figure if you're recruiting people who know themselves, they're going to be in really good shape to know how to work with other people and particularly to build teams because they know how to complement themselves so they'll get what goes on. Can I ask you to be just to spend a moment thinking about self-awareness with me. Do you know

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who you are? That is do you know when you're likely to drift into selfish ambition? Where egocentric concerns are likely just to slowly take over. Where you'll become self-promoting and drift into protective behaviours. You know what I'm talking about? When ministry becomes more about you than it does about Jesus. Do you know when that happens for you? Maybe you like to be liked.

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Well, if that's you, you'll tend to avoid conflict. avoid correcting people who are slipping into sin because you don't like the idea of getting into conflict with them. You'll smooth over the rough edges of the gospel. Maybe you're an honour person who's big on respect and you want to avoid shame at all costs. So what happens when something goes wrong? You've probably got to throw someone else under the bus. You'll likely shift blame.

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Can I say that godly leaders, good leaders, they always take hits for the team. They'll deal with the issues with team members, but they'll always stand in the breach when that's warranted. Maybe you love being in control. You hate failure. You're probably a bit of a perfectionist. And if that's you, can I say this conference has probably been absolutely hell for you, right? Absolutely hell.

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Because you would prefer to do rather than delegate. You'll be low on training. And probably people will just be a little bit intimidated by you because they don't think they can ever do it quite as well as you do it. And there'll be a ceiling on what can happen in ministry. Maybe you're someone who loves the spotlight, but you won't want anyone else to have it. Maybe you're someone who hates the spotlight, stepping up when you should. That is your self-interest and self-protection

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will keep you back. Maybe you dream of building a big ministry. But who for? For Jesus or for you? And when you're building that big ministry, how do the people around you feel? They feel you're just driving them. Is it all about what they can do for you in building that ministry? Do they feel used? Or maybe you're content with a small ministry. But again, is it for Jesus or for you?

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Your comfort or Jesus' glory? Can I just, as I close, ask you to do two things. Can I ask you to keep thinking about the way you operate in ministry? My conviction is that the behaviours we manifest in ministry are often the tells for our convictions. If you're trying to work out the points at which you have selfish ambition, that's the place to start.

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Think about when you're operating in ungodly ways and what's going on that causes that to happen. But can I honestly say most of us need others to hold up mirrors for us so we can see how we're functioning and operating in ministry. So can I really encourage you to get people you trust, people who will be honest with you, to give you feedback so you can hear and listen to what's going on.

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So you can work out where your behaviours, your patterns, are actually holding back the team or the church or ministry from pressing on and magnifying Jesus. So over the years, Sue has been my primary mirror at that point. Not the only one, but a really critical one. She's spoken honestly into my life. If you're married to someone in ministry, that's a great role to have. It's a brilliant thing to have someone who loves you who'll still give you feedback on what's going on.

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It might be key leaders that you have. It might be someone outside of that circle. It doesn't really matter, but it's really good to hold yourself accountable and connected as you think about ministry. Okay, I've given you some homework. Can I pray for you? Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we see in the Apostle Paul quite an extraordinary model of a pastor who is self-aware, but coupled to total conviction about wanting to see the Lord Jesus magnified.

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Father, we pray for ourselves. There will be leaders among your people. You understand that we've been brought at a price to serve the king of the universe. And Father, that we'll understand what it means that you've actually put us into a body when it comes to serving. And that you'll help us to reflect deeply on your sovereign goodness and grace in ministry and in life and in salvation

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and creation in everything. And Heavenly Father, we pray, because we know it will happen, it does happen, we're caught in conflict all the time in different ways. Father, we pray that you'll help us not to make it about ourselves, but again, to think through how we make it about the Lord Jesus Christ and the good of the people that we're ministering to and wanting to see grow more in the image

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Father work in our hearts work in our minds shape us for your glory and your honour and we pray it in Jesus name Amen consult. We are a network of churches and we love seeing all churches thrive. And a church consult

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is where members of the Reach Australia network come to your church. They look closely at your ministries in your local context to help you get the traction the gospel needs in your place. If you are interested in a church consult head across to the Reach Australia website