Synergy: The Multiplying Impact of Ministry Teams

By J. David Arnett

I hate to rake leaves. When unseasonably warm weather came to Missouri, I decided to use my riding mower to mulch the piles of crimson and golden leaves that cluttered my yard. The plan worked well until I began mowing the slope near the driveway. The mower lost traction on the wet leaves, slid sideways, and wedged itself into the neighbor’s fence. I tried to go forward, reverse, faster, and slower. I got off to push, pull, and kick the mower. Each attempt to free the metal beast made the situation worse. Humbly, I went into the house to ask my son for help. With the addition of his muscles, we quickly pushed the mower through the mounds of maple tree debris.

My problem was too difficult for one person. However, when a support person joined me, we accomplished the task with ease.

Team members working together to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual efforts is synergism. Long ago, the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote about synergy, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

The multiplying impact of synergy is a lesson the contemporary church must learn. Synergistic support teams are vital to the proper functioning of the church. The task of evangelizing the world and building effective churches is too complex for one person — no matter how visionary, gifted, and experienced a leader he may be.

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