The Value of a Team

What is one piece of advice you wish you would have heard before you planted your church?

Lately I have been asking church planters this question and overwhelmingly I have been receiving answers like,

“Don’t do it alone.”

“Make sure that you have a committed team.”

“Get a great team before planting.”

“Have a team who is committed to the same mission as you.”

As a church planter your life is full of many surprises and unforeseen challenges and the truth is … you need a team! God didn’t design us to do ministry alone.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”

Throughout the book of Acts, church planting was done by teams.

The Antioch church commissioned Barnabas and Saul as a daughter church planting team. Throughout his ministry, Paul also partnered with John, Mark, Silas, Timothy, Luke and others to plant dynamic churches throughout Asia and Europe.

A team will bring you support, encouragement, accountability, and companionship … and through your team God will produce great results!

In 2017, Jon Neitzell, the pastor of River View Church, received a vision to plant a network of churches along the St. Croix River Valley which separates Minnesota from Wisconsin.

Along with the vision God gave to Jon, he has been developing a network and a team of key leaders that form an organization called the River Valley Fellowship of Ministries (www.rvfm.com).

After five years, Jon’s team has planted three churches in the region. They have two more churches which will be planted in the next couple of months. They also have three regional small groups that are gathering which will eventually become churches.

Every Wednesday, Jon and his team gather to pray for the River Valley region and the Lord is moving in powerful ways. God is working through their team to build the framework of a church planting movement and they now have the momentum and the resources to expand the kingdom of God through church plants.

Jon’s team has been an incredible blessing to him and the entire River Valley region.

How is your team doing? 

What will you do this week to encourage and strengthen your team?

I challenge you to intentionally do something today to build and empower your team. It will be a worthy investment of your time!