Have you ever been a member of a sports team?  

If you have, then you would understand the importance of teamwork.  

My favourite team sport is soccer–in Scotland we call it football.

Through experience, I’ve learned that to be successful on the field and to win the game, I need all my teammates showing up and fulfilling their respective roles.

If we become shorthanded, then the competition exploits that vulnerability and the burden for winning the game falls on the remaining players.

Inevitably, if this trend continues the resolve turns to apathy and their apathy to complete disengagement.

Complete engagement or being “all in” is crucial to winning the game.

Being all in is even more important for team synergy when we consider our respective volunteer outreach teams. Again, through experience I’ve learned that to be successful and achieve our common goal, I need all my volunteer teammates showing up and fulfilling their respective roles.

In the mission field – like the sports field – being all in is non-negotiable and necessary to achieving team success. If the team becomes consistently short-handed, the enemy exploits the engaging teammates who bear the responsibility of achieving the team’s goal.

The resolve of engaging teammates evolves into apathy and then again into complete disengagement.

Jesus reminds us that we are God’s team of labourers, so we need to get in the game. Pray for one another, encourage one another, and be accountable to one another. Let’s faithfully labour together, celebrate the journey and the successes together.

Now, are you all in?