EDITORIAL
Transformation | Derwin Gray
The great football teams I played on, whether in high school, college or the NFL, had one thing in common: a winning culture. Before a team wins a game, elite winning cultural behaviors are ingrained into the players. This process is cultivated in offseason training, film study and practice.
I’ve heard it said that a team does not rise to the level of the moment. Teams rise to the level of their preparation, and their preparation is rooted in their cultural DNA. Losing teams, especially in the NFL, do not lack talent; they lack a winning culture. Winning teams have winning habits. Losing teams have losing habits. This happens in the church as well. Churches that do not reach their redemptive potential often have a dysfunctional culture.
I define culture as the behaviors of individuals within a church staff that create accountability and momentum toward fulfilling the mission of the church, or “alignment to the assignment.” At the church I serve, the winning culture we want to cultivate is tied to the acronym CULTURE:
• Clear is kind. We are working toward all our staff learning to communicate with clarity. A lack of clarity creates confusion.
• Unconditionally loving. We are working toward loving each other sacrificially as Jesus has loved us.
• Looks to build others up. We are working toward looking at every opportunity to build each other up through our words and actions. When one staff member succeeds, we all succeed.
• Truthful. We are working toward creating an environment of truth telling. We want to speak the truth in love because we are sons and daughter of God in Christ. Lies are the foundation for dysfunction, and lying is a characteristic of the Devil.
• Uncommon accountability. We are working toward being Holy Spirit-empowered people of integrity (holiness). Unholy staff members are cancerous to church staff and the church.
• Resolves conflict. We are working toward learning how to be great at resolving conflict. When working with people, conflict is inevitable. However, conflict resolution and peace through the gospel are possible.
• Excellence. We are working toward ministry excellence in every ministry of the church for the sake of the gospel and glory of God.
The culture we want to cultivate in our staff leads to behaviors that make our staff good people. A winning church culture should be a disciple-making conduit. The consequences of an unhealthy church culture are too high a price. An unhealthy culture will cause talented staff to underperform and gifted people to leave staff, and it will lead to conflict and sin.
How to Create a Winning Culture
• Imitate. As leaders, define what the culture is, and live it. As Paul wrote, “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). We are calling those we lead to imitate us because our intimacy with Jesus is leading us to Christlike formation.
• Initiate. Culture can’t just be words on paper. The staff must be living it out. Culture must be taught consistently in a variety of ways. We find creative ways to inculcate our culture from staff team skits that teach the culture to using a teaching curriculum.
• Invest. You must invest resources in equipping staff to be culture-reflectors. For example, we have brought in leadership expert Steve Cuss and New Testament theologian N.T. Wright. We are constantly thinking of ways to invest in our staff. Investing in your staff will pay eternal dividends. A healthy, humble, holy staff is a powerful force of gospel-goodness.
• Involvement. I can’t overstate the importance of having HR play a significant role in helping to create a winning culture. HR implements onboarding, the staff handbook and accountability through ministry performance reviews. HR helps with coaching and correction.
Ministry leaders, for the sake of the gospel, may we cultivate winning culture in our local churches so the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37–39) and Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20) can be fulfilled in a flourishing, Christ-exalting way in the churches we serve.