Jesus Boot Camp: Collaboration → Allies Praise

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collaboration: to work jointly with others
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Have you been to a quilting bee, Dear Reader? I haven’t, but I’ve seen the incredible work they produce. Just the idea of gathering and working toward a beautiful purpose with like-minded women is inspiring.

It’s easy to visualize those idyllic scenes of quilting or barn-raising in the “good old days”. Chances are, in reality, they probably weren’t always idyllic models where dynamics were concerned .

Perhaps you’ve sat through a staff meeting that droned on and on, or where the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Even volunteer meetings, you know like church and school and Scouts where all the adults are supposed to know how to play nice, can be tedious.

Really, Dear Reader? Do the kids we’re trying to fund raise for to put in new playground equipment actually care if the swings are blue or green? What if all those meetings started with prayer?

“When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
Matthew 18:19-20 MSG

Take a bunch of rough and tumble fishermen, add a tax collector, political activist, and maybe a couple of tradesmen. What could these guys have in common?

Their differences didn’t bother Jesus. He loved these guys, Dear Reader, and literally placed the future of the world in their hands.

Look closely at the second sentence of the passage above. “…when…you are together because of me…” Collaboration works best when Christ is in the center. I think Jesus wants us to lean into each other while we’re leaning into Him. The amazing thing is that it makes us stronger, not weaker.

Dear Reader, I am so preaching to myself here! Can we begin to imagine what we could do for the Kingdom and its glory if we were consistently on the same page? Just think of the equipping and empowering that could be accomplished if we collaborated in Jesus’s name.

How have you collaborated with brothers and sisters in Christ lately, Dear Reader? What gave you more satisfaction, reaching the goal or collaborating with fellow believers?