Many years ago, when I looked at the promises in the Bible concerning Israel, the church, the Messianic remnant and the End Times, I came to the conclusion that no one is strong, wise or righteous enough to fulfill them. If God was calling us to be involved, we had to work together as a team. If we could not develop teamwork, we could not fulfill our destiny.
It's never easy to work in a team. A team involves other people, and people have problems. They bring their weaknesses, their differences of opinions, their pride, fears, stubbornness, frustrations and so on. People come with their baggage and their garbage.
Once, I distributed to our staff pieces of a children's jigsaw puzzle. We had to slide our pieces into the center of the table to make them fit together. The separated pieces had no meaning, but when connected, the picture was seen.
Each piece had curves going inward and curves going outward. We interpreted the inward curves as our weaknesses or needs, and the outward curves as our talents or strong points. The inward curves—our weaknesses—were what enabled the pieces to fit together. To form a whole picture, the key is for each one to recognize his need for the other. We can allow our weaknesses to pull us together where often our strengths push us apart.
Joint Ownership
I serve in senior leadership at Revive Israel, Tikkun, Ahavat Yeshua and Tiferet Yeshua. Thank God, each team is bearing much fruit by His grace. I feel very aware of my own weaknesses and often am not sure of what I contribute. Each team is made up of gifted, talented and motivated people in their own right.
If there is anything that I feel we have done right, it is to cause a feeling of teamwork and joint ownership. In each of these groups, it is apparent that there is interaction and give-and-take in the team. This in itself provides a sense of safety for the other people involved. Nothing is dependent on just one person.
I summarize our teamwork goals in a simple three-step guideline:
- Your Success
- Our Togetherness
- Generational Transfer
The first priority is to desire the success of the others involved. The attitude should be: "If I can help you succeed, then I have done my job."
The second priority is maintaining the unity of the team. Everyone has to sacrifice of himself in order to keep the togetherness. Yielding is the price of unity.
The third area involves training and transfer. Not only are the goals of the kingdom of God too big for any one person, but they are too big for any one generation. Transferring roles and positions goes in both directions: "up and out" for the elders, and "down and in" for the younger ones.
The transition is like a family in which the child then becomes the parent, and the parent becomes the grandparent. The authority is moved gradually away from the elder to the younger, but the elder remains in a place of influence and honor.
I hope these principles of teamwork and covenantal relationships will help you bear much fruit in every sphere of life (John 15:5, 8, 16). 
Asher Intrater is the founder and apostolic leader of Revive Israel Ministries and oversees Ahavat Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem and Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv. Asher was one of the founders of Tikkun International with Dan Juster and Eitan Shishkoff and serves on the board of the Messianic Alliance of Israel and Aglow International. He and his wife and full-time partner in ministry, Betty, have a passion for personal prayer and devotion, local evangelism and discipleship in Hebrew and unity of the body of believers worldwide.
This article originally appeared at reviveisrael.org.
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