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We’ve been talking about what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

Today let’s finish it out with the one I skipped: moving from a competition culture to a collaboration culture.

The opposite of collaboration could be competition; it also could be independence. For whatever reason, churches don’t like to collaborate. “If we collaborate on Vacation Bible School, the neighborhood kids might end up in his church rather than mine! Plus, how do I know that all of “their” teachers have their theology right?”

Maybe we don’t trust the Lord of the Church to send people to the churches he wants them in. And maybe we’re overly concerned with the “map” instead of the “compass,” as I wrote recently.

I don’t know the answers, but I suspect there should be more collaboration than independence and competition. Maybe this little video could be instructive. It’s only 30 seconds: please take a look with the sound up!

Five men forming a human pile driving machine. Here are a few things that I saw:

• Collaboration is absolutely required. The task would be impossible by one person in their setting.
• They collaborated with joy! Singing synchronized their efforts and also lightened the burden of what looks like a dreary task.
• They chose not to worry about a lot of things we (or at least OSHA!) would be concerned about: no hard hats, no steel-toed work boots, no safety supervisors. Just guys doing the job. 

We need more workers! When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, NIV)

We need more workers working together! A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)