The world no longer prizes unity. There is an incentive in the media, politics and elsewhere to divide. Arguing instead of agreeing is a great way to increase ratings or position yourself in the polls. In the Church, however, disunity is destructive.

When a team works and acts in unity, it’s a lot easier to move the ball down the field. Unity is a key component to fulfilling the vision God has given you. When each person on your team works in their own way for a common good, nothing can stand in the way.

But unity is not uniformity. Everyone needs to be on the same page, but they don’t all have to be the same to accomplish that. In fact, real unity is bringing people with different backgrounds, experiences, tastes and personalities together on the same team. Unity is about everyone having the same goal but their own individual roles.

This week, I want to give you some practical ways to increase unity on your ministry team. Unity is more than a good idea or a philosophy. It’s a practice that you engage in. It starts at the top with the leader and then trickles down through relationship. When you put action behind your intention of unity, your team can work better together.

What Would Jesus Pray?

During Jesus’ last night before facing the cross, our Lord met with His disciples, showing His great love by serving them and washing their feet before saying a final prayer over them. We all know the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” But if you could pray like Jesus, what would you pray? In John 17, we can find out for ourselves.

Jesus’ prayer is a prayer of protection — not just from the powers of evil and the world, but also from an internal threat. He first prays against any disunity. “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11).

This prayer reveals five very practical ways we can work unity out in our lives and through our staff teams.

1. Celebrate together. Unity is an outgrowth of the Holy Spirit in each us. So is joy. As a fruit of the Spirit, joy should be present in every believer’s life. As ministers, we should take the lead on this. When we celebrate together, we not only express the desire of the Holy Spirit, we unify ourselves.

Jesus prayed it this way: “I say these things … so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them” (John 17:13). The full measure of joy is not found in celebrating alone. It’s not about focusing on my own wins or my own achievements. That’s a half measure. To gain the full measure of joy, we have to include one another in our celebration.

We won’t always see eye to eye, but we can still have unity.

2. Fight a common enemy. In John 17:14-15, Jesus says that the world will hate us. But more dangerous than that is the “evil one,” Satan. He has hated us from the very beginning. He hates the plan of God for the world. And he hates what we stand for. If we ever hope to fight tough, we must first understand that we’re all on the same team.

Any disunity is a foothold for the devil. We must open our eyes to how disagreements can lead to harboring ill will toward others. That anger can lead to bitterness, talking behind one another’s backs, envy and jealousy. But unity puts us on the same sideline together.

3. Keep your focus on Jesus. As believers, we have a common grace, common belief, common mission and common destination. Every one of these is grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ. No matter who you are, what you look like or sound like, who your favorite sports team or celebrity chef is, if you are part of God’s Church, then you serve the same One I do: Jesus.

We can choose to look at what makes us unique from other churches or other ministers. We can choose to focus on our differences. Or we can choose to focus on Jesus, the Person who unifies all of us.

4. Help others win. In Jesus’ prayer, He prays that our unity will grow, being brought to completion (John 17:23). He looks forward in time to those who will join the Church from every tongue, tribe and nation. As the Church expands, so does our unity.

We do that by helping one another win. What is good for those right beside you in ministry is good for you, too. Instead of laying down boundary lines for our own little kingdoms, let’s knock down walls and work for other people’s successes as well.

5. We go together. Jesus’ final prayer was a launching pad for the Church. In Matthew 28:19, He gave us all the commission to build the Church He laid the foundation for by going into all the world and making disciples. But He never intended for us to go alone.

Unity can be contagious. As we show the world the unity we have as believers, they will want to join along with us. As we go together, we will draw people to Jesus. And that’s the bottom line.

Our church staffs and ministry teams can be full of personality and potential conflict. But they can also be powerhouses. I’m sure we can all share stories of times when staff members didn’t get along or when arguments broke out.

We won’t always see eye to eye, but we can still have unity. Jesus is the binding ingredient. Let’s get back to working together. Because working together is better than working alone. We get to celebrate, win over a common enemy, worship Jesus and watch others gain victory. What can be better than that?

See also Leading with Unity, Part 1: Principles of Unity