Basketball Church

On Tuesday my grandpa had a several bypass surgery (I’m not sure why there isn’t a specific number, but that’s what I keep being told…). Typically with this kind of surgery there is a 1-2% risk involved, but in my grandpa’s case the risk was much higher- 30%. This is because of several other health factors including fluid in the lungs and a varying blood pressure. He is doing very well, but still isn’t totally out of the woods. The doctors say he is doing better than expected, but it will probably be another 24 hours before they say he is in the clear from the surgery. So, today is in honor of my grandfather…

In case you don’t know, basketball has five main positions. Each of these positions is unique, and yet each position has some overlap with at least one of the other positions. The team can only be as good as the weakest position. For example- if the point guard doesn’t pass the ball well, the power forward’s job is pretty much useless. If the center can’t get to the basket, there is little the power forward can do to make up for it.

In ministry there are many different players/positions. There are people with administrative skills, people with socail skills, good planners, technologically knowledgeable people, and music people. (I know this is a way oversimplification…) You would expect to find some overlap in these different fields- a person with good planning skills probably also is pretty administratively adept. Frequently worship leaders are good at both music and technology. But can you imagine a church without even one of these players? The church would fall apart with good administration- much like a basketball team would be all over the place without a good PG. If no one was socially proficient, the work of all the other players would be useless because there would be no one coming to benefit from it, much like without a center making lay-ups the other positions wouldn’t be doing much of importance.

On a basketball team if one player starts to think too highly of himself the entire team will suffer. No matter how good that one player is, on his own he doesn’t stand a chance. In the church no matter how talented one person is, without a team supporting them they don’t stand a chance. Sure, for a little bit you might be albe to hang in there, but in the end you wind up with a devastating loss. The biggest difference between churches and basketball teams? The basketball team knows they are a team, and when one player decides to go off on his own, the team lets him know that isn’t okay. When a church person goes off on his own the church rarely steps in until the damage is already done.

You may wonder where the pastor is in all this. A few years ago, and perhaps still to a degree today, it was popular, at least in Reformed circles, to view the pastor as the coach. I have a lot of issues with this, but in this comparison that fits. The coaches job is to prepare the players for the game. To stand by them as they carry out their responisbilities. The team is only as good as the coach, but the coach is only as good as the team. In an effective ministry, the pastor trains and equips the congregation to carry out their responsibilities. But when they actually are out there, the coach is on the sidelines unable to do more than encourage.

Basketball church- a team that is completely interdependent where individuals success is team success and where individual failure is team failure. Perhaps our churches would be more the place they are supposed to be if we stopped being so individualistic and started to be more of a team.