Your Church is Your Team

In his “Pyramid of Success,” NCAA basketball coaching great John Wooden included qualities needed to succeed at anything.

The three in the middle of the lowest level, the foundation, are all related: friendship, loyalty and cooperation. A few rows above is team spirit. Wooden, arguably the greatest D-I basketball coach ever, knew that success requires a team. He once said, “The main ingredient in stardom is the rest of the team.” If your sport is individual, like tennis or golf, you need coaches, trainers, etc. Other sports need teammates who play a role.

But the main ingredient is the rest of the team.

As a believer of Jesus, one of the things you need is a body of believers to connect with. In short, you need a church family. A church family provides accountability, companionship, encouragement, training and joy. Paul shared that all believers are connected through the Holy Spirit, and we “who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:5) Once in Christ, we are given spiritual gifts that are to be used to minister to one another and share the Gospel with the world.

Every person in sports needs people to help them succeed, whether a coach or athlete. Every person, whether they think it or not, needs community, and for the Christian, the first place to find it is the Church.

If you are part of a local church, dig deeper and serve there. If you are not, pray and start looking. Do not attempt to walk this life alone.