The Jesus Team
Spiritual Leadership Team Series
Jesus came to change the world. He didn’t try to do it alone.
He had more power, more wisdom, more talent, more ability than any before or since he walked the earth. And yet, as magnificently capable as he was, he knew he needed others to join him. His first act of mission? He built a team.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-18
Yes, he called people to follow him, to become “fishers of men.” Not as individuals, however, but as a team. Over the next three years this group of future leaders would walk, learn, witness, eat, drink, suffer, sing, laugh, cry, serve, sin, repent and grow together.
These were not the “Ivy League” hires, either. A most unlikely lot to go on a world-changing mission. This is how the religious elite viewed them:
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13
That tells me it’s less about individual talent and more about the desire to follow Jesus and the collective will to invest in relationships and partner on mission. That means it can be any of us, all of us, if we choose the same path as they did.
There are over two-hundred references to “the disciples” in the four gospels, far exceeding references to any one of them by name. Jesus was close to all of them, but closest to Peter, James and John. From the Mount of Transfiguration to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spent his most vulnerable, most transformative moments with this close circle.
Women played a central role as well. “The twelve were with him, and also some women…” And not just a few; v3 cites “many others,” including some who were helping to support his ministry. (Luke 8:1-3) The first to encounter the risen Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, were also the first to share the good news of his resurrection.
Jesus once again shows us the way. How did he lead? He built a team—a deeply connected, relational, diverse, collaborative, at times messy, but ultimately impactful, spiritual leadership team. If we want to have a Jesus-like impact on the world today, we too must be effective team-builders and good team-players.
Look around. Who are you walking with? If you cannot name your team, you do not have a team. Find one, or build one. Nothing changes the world like a Jesus team.
