In 2015, the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship – their first title in exactly 40 years. Even a casual basketball fan will recognize the Warriors’ headline talent from that year: court-leader Steph Curry; enforcer Draymond Green; and sharp-shooter Klay Thompson. But if you asked Coach Steve Kerr, or anyone from that roster, about the key to victory, they would all tell you: Strength in Numbers.
Curry, Green, and Thompson may have gotten the headlines, but the 2015 Warriors didn’t win it all because of just three guys. Kerr led his team to embrace this philosophy: everyone has a role – and every role matters. He said, “Everybody matters. That’s the idea. That everybody’s collective effort matters and if everybody’s dialed in, we can get a lot of work done.”
Because of this, Coach Kerr gave significant playing time to guys who you probably have never heard of: Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa – just to name a few. Each member of the team knew their role, and the other members of the team validated it as important. Yes, Curry was going to get his shots; Draymond was going to grab his rebounds; but each member recognized their responsibility – and rose to the occasion. In fact, for the first time in NBA history, a bench player – Andre Iguodala – won the NBA Finals MVP. Why? Strength in numbers. When it comes to the local church, we would do well to observe these lessons – especially when these ideas originated in Scripture!
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor. 12:27).
“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Rom. 12:5).
Of course, at a theological level we know this is true. We’ve probably taught through these texts a time or two. But functionally, what we believe is revealed in what we do. And if we’re honest, sometimes we believe that in order for any ministry to be accomplished, we’re going to have to get it done. Perhaps we’d never be that brazen to articulate these thoughts out loud! But our praxis may reveal exactly what we think about the other members in the Body.
In contrast, the principle that arises out of the Scripture is this: whatever God is going to do in the world, he will do through all of Christ’s people. Immediately some people from your local church may have just passed across the viewfinder of your mind. ALL of Christ’s people? Maybe I can agree with MOST of Christ’s people, or perhaps only MANY of Christ’s people – but not ALL.
But God’s purposes are clear: the whole Body is necessary, essential, and important. Some members are more visible, others are behind the scenes. And yet, everyone has a role – and every role is important. If our aim is missio Dei, do we really think that we can accomplish this task with a handful of skilled preachers? Is it really God’s design that the task of world evangelization would be the preoccupation of a few apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – while the rest of the Body looks on in awe and cheers them on?
In Acts 8, when persecution breaks out in Jerusalem (as a result of Stephen’s martyrdom), Luke records an interesting observation: “And all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1b). The Apostles stayed home. We can admire them for “holding down the ship” and not wavering in the face of persecution. But everyone else – i.e., the non-Apostles – were scattered. Then Luke tells us: “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, while the “ordinary” disciples – the rest of the Body – were scattered into Judea and Samaria, and as they went they preached the Word. They took the Gospel on the road! I am not here questioning the decision of the Apostles to hunker down in Jerusalem; I am only highlighting the reality that it was the rest of the Body, not the leadership, that God used to fulfill Jesus’ promise in Acts 1:8, when he said, “You will be my witnesses…in Judea and Samaria.” Whatever God is going to do in the world, he will do through all of Christ’s people.
This is likely a corrective for us in our everyday leadership within the Church. It is so easy for us to share the deceptions of Corinth: that success is measured by the personality you follow (1 Corinthians 1:12ff) and it’s the superstars who are really getting the job done (see Paul’s words about “super-apostles” in 2 Corinthians 10-12). And so often, we engender that kind of personality attachment in our people by placing the pastor (or pastors, or elders) at the center of the local church, and all the activity flows through them. But it’s hard to see this as anything other than turning the senior pastor into the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament High Priest: all ministry goes through him.
But in order to give every man, woman, and child a clear and compelling Gospel encounter, it certainly is going to require more than just the pastors, more than the golden tongues, more than the Instagram-famous. It’s going to take each disciple of Jesus joining God on his mission. It’s going to take each disciple of Jesus owning their own sphere of influence – the people they encounter daily where they live, work, learn, and play. It’s going to take each disciple of Jesus, with their unique representation of the Spirit-gifts, living out the Gospel and talking out the Gospel. And as leaders within the local church, it is our responsibility to empower each disciple to recognize their role – and tell them that it matters. Because whatever God is going to do in the world, he is going to do it through all of Christ’s people. There is strength in numbers.
