The Twelve Teams of Life Bridge (Part 1)

I was just listening to my favorite version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” again to get me into the season.  I think I enjoy it because I used to be in an acapella singing group many years ago with my dad.  I also think I enjoy it because their version seems a bit ADHD, but really pulls a lot of fun references together into one Christmas song.  In the end, it makes beautiful (and fun) music.

It also got me thinking about Life Bridge and the new vision God is building for us and our future together.  The vision will be built like the Body of Christ as described in Ephesians 4:11-16.  It will consist of teams of people working together toward a specific purpose.  Those teams will be connected to one another in such a way that one team will leave off where another team picks up.  The combined purpose of these “teams of teams” will be “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13 [NIV]).

There is no way to know how many teams we will eventually have by the time that we are empowering one million to walk together with God, but there is a set number of “core” teams that we will begin by implementing: Twelve.  I could say that the idea came from a desire to be Biblical and match up with the twelve tribes of Israel or the twelve Apostles.  I could also say I was having fun and matching up with the twelve days of Christmas.  The reality is that this just happened to be the number of teams that worked out when the essential functions were mapped out.  So, we will begin with twelve.

Over the next several weeks, we will examine these twelve teams, their general purpose, and how they will fit together with one another.  As we build each team around these purposes, we will see how God want’s us to work together to empower one more to walk together with God.  And even though it may look a little ADHD at times, we will make beautiful music together that glorifies God as each one of us does our part. “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16 [NIV]).