The Evangel Dean Basic Training Resource Handbook

S EMINARS • 29

S EMINAR 3 Evangel Emphasizes Team Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

I. Why Does Evangel Use Teams?

A. Definitions: why we require teams at Evangel, not just lone Church Planters

1. Definition of team: “A number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest” as in a football team ; “a number of persons associated in some joint action” as in a team of advisers 2. Definition of teamwork: “The cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause”

B. Biblical and theological reasons

1. The example of Jesus the Church Planter

See points in “Building the Team for Success: Principles of Effective Team Play” ( Ripe for Harvest, pp. 169−184; Planting Churches among the City’s Poor: An Anthology of Urban Church Planting Resources , Vol. 2, pp. 79−93).

Jesus’ use of the disciples, the seventy-two, and his sending out two by two (at least two; spouse key)

2. The example of Paul the Church Planter 1

a. As a bi-vocational church planter Paul relied heavily on teams.

(1) More than eighty of his teammates are mentioned by name in Acts and Paul’s letters. “Given the numerous and varied contributions of Paul’s fellow ministers to his mission, it is clear they were an essential factor in

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1 Don L. Davis, “Paul’s Team Members: Companions, Laborers, and Fellow Workers,” in Planting Churches among the City’s Poor: An Anthology of Urban Church Planting Resources, Vol. 1. Wichita, KS: TUMI Press, 2015. pp. 260−262.