Book critique of Doing Church as a Team by Wayne Cordeiro

Cordeiro-Doing Church as a Team

By the very nature of culture and humanity, humans tend to be group animals -- they thrive in groups, coalesce into groups, indeed, the very process of moving from hunter-gatherer to cities was part of a group behavior. Within this essay we will first look at group normative behavior, intergroup communication and leadership, and finally the way in which group behaviors influence individuation and specific responses to that group's culture.

Group norms are defined as a set of internal rulings that are followed by the group members in order to increase the overall efficiency of the group's activity. These norms usually refer to the members' behavior towards themselves, their hierarchical superior and group outsiders, as well as to their approach and attitude towards the work they are expected to perform. Norms determine the way in which groups solve problems, make decisions and do their work. They influence interactions between members and between the group and the facilitator. Norms reflect the group's culture of shared values. The norms differ from one group to another; however, there are typically sets of commonly used rules. These refer to: taboo subjects, open expression of feelings, interrupting or challenging the tutor, volunteering one's services, avoiding conflict, length and frequency of contributions. Additionally, group norms tend to cluster around four types of activity: participation, decision making, mutual aid, and affective expressions.

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro is the founder of the New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii. This organization is known as one of the ten most innovative churches in America, and boasts attendance of over 10,000 per week. Pastor Cordeiro has written several books, among which Doing Church as a Team focuses on the responsibilities of both leadership and team building for all members of the spiritual community, not just those ordained. Indeed, the central focus is to epitomize the teachings of Jesus and then Paul in helping to spread the Gospel of love to the masses and to allow them to have the opportunity to become saved through the Word of God.

Leadership and team building, for Cordeiro, are about forming a set of principles that guide a way of being throughout one's life. Because there are no perfect people, there will always be a need for leadership mentoring and group dynamics. We are social beings, and as such, must continue to strive for people coming to the word of Christ in every action in which we participate -- from a trip to the grocery store to our formal work within the structure of the church. Further, this role of leadership is not focused only on being a caretaker of those already convinced about the salvation of Jesus and the veracity of Christianity. Instead, it is the more difficult and challenging path that allows one to reach out to those who are not convinced, who have fallen off the path toward goodness or salvation, or those who have yet to see that they, too, can benefit from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.