Collaboration can be defined as “the art of helping people work together to accomplish a commonly owned goal or vision in a way that promotes equal ownership and equal contribution.”

According to David J. Gyertson, “collaboration is rooted in the kingdom principle of Spirit-directed and Scripture-anchored unity—a condition for God’s fullest blessings and provision.”

God’s work is too large, complex, and important for it to be dependent upon a single entity. We have seen in the past the dangers that happen when a single individual, group, or movement thinks it can do all of God’s work alone. Thus, collaboration is needed as it creates the context for accountability as well as for mutual support.

Collaboration is essential to a healthy church life. Here are five reasons why, according to Ricky Njoto of Erista:

1. Through collaboration, church members are able to use their different gifts. The church is the body of Christ and its members have different functions within the body. Each member brings into the church their spiritual gifts that are to be used in serving one another and for the advancement of the church. With collaboration, different people with different gifts come together for a purpose.
2. In collaboration, people are served and can serve. In an ideal church, the members serve each other and are served under the guidance of Christ. With collaboration, a serving community is created and nurtured.
3. Collaboration provides the opportunity for the different church offices to work together. Pastors, prophets, teachers, and evangelists are not supposed to work on their own in the building of the church. They should collaborate, which means they should all work together and support each other.
4. Collaboration confirms why the organizational structure that the Bible models works. We are not God, and we cannot do everything. Thus the creation of an organizational structure that allows each member to contribute, work together, and collaborate.
5. One-person leadership style doesn’t work. When a church relies only on the leader’s name/reputation and skill, it almost always fails. The Bible models collaboration as this kind of church structure nurtures accountability with each other.

Problems and challenges are ubiquitous within and outside the church community. In order to navigate these challenges, collaboration is needed among the members of the church. According to Jim Kitchens, taking a collaborative approach to issues invites a wider array of voices, perspectives, and spiritual gifts into the conversation and gives the members an opportunity to share and learn from other member’s experiences. Collaboration creates a space where people can be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in serving the church.

Knowing the importance of collaboration in the church setting, how can churches create a collaborative culture? By implementing the following key features:

• Transparency

First, a church with a collaborative culture are transparent. This means that every member of the church is granted insight as to the church’s goals, decision-making process, as well as its operation. To work together effectively, the church’s goals are heard and shared, and everyone is clear about how they will be working to achieve those goals.

• Honest and open communication

In a collaborative culture, the communication channels are clear, open, and transparent. Church members are free to share ideas, knowledge, and/or information without fear or ridicule.

• Trust-filled relationships

Collaboration flows out of trust-filled relationships. In a trust-filled relationship, respect and love is mutually given and received and is held together not by rules but by honor.

Church leaders have an important role in building collaboration within and among faith communities. So what should leaders be doing to build a collaborative culture? Here are some of them:

• Practice what you preach and seek other’s help and opinion. Leaders can’t tell their church members to work together and support each other and then ignore their own directive. Church members need to see their leaders not acting singularly, making decisions on their own. If church leaders are not seeking out others, they undermine the collaborative culture they are trying to create.
• Step back from excessive supervision and control and let other members have more leeway. By doing this, church leaders are empowering their members to collaborate and work toward the common goal.
• Reward teamwork. To discourage individualistic efforts and encourage more collaboration, praise and reward team efforts. Also, celebrate people’s achievements as this helps them realize that their task and responsibilities are important to the whole church.
• Model vulnerability. When leaders show their vulnerability and show their genuine selves, they foster trust and empathy in the group as it communicates to the them that they can be trusted. Thus, an environment of trust and open communication is created, which fosters collaboration and cooperation.

Collaboration may or may not come together and help accomplish God’s work, but it is worth connecting authentically with others and building collaborative relationships as this keeps the church open to God’s divine orchestration.

Sources:

Kitchens, Jim. “Opening Ourselves to the Spirit: Collaboration within the Life of a Congregation.”

Last modified May 8, 2022. https://chchurches.org/opening-ourselves-to-the-spirit-collaboration-within-the-life-of-a-congregation/.

Njoto, Ricky. “5 Reasons Why Collaboration Is Good for Good Church Management.”

Accessed June 30, 2022. 4https://erista.io/en/blog/reasons-collaboration-is-good-for-church-management.

Pastor Resources. “Three Ways to Make Collaborative Leadership Effective in Your Ministry, Community, or Business.”

Accessed June 30, 2024. https://pastorresources.com/effective-collaborative-leadership/.