Bonus Reading: Working Together

Working Together

The most demanding work often becomes a forge for life’s deepest friendships. Being coworkers through crises and transitions—along with the daily grind—creates a bond as close as family ties. I find this dynamic among those who spend hot days and cold nights caring together for the various and constant needs of a flock. Interestingly, the same Hebrew consonants can spell either “shepherd” or “friend.”¹ 

Though a shepherd’s life involves many solitary hours, a great deal of the work is shared. Since biblical times raising animals in the Middle East has traditionally been a family business. To subsist, a family might keep thirty to fifty sheep and goats and a small farm. With a flock of one hundred or more, pastoralists can generate a surplus of products for trade. However, these rewards only come as a result of hard work by every member in the family—male and female, young and old alike.² “Here lies a loose hierarchy based on age . . . yet in many ways the shepherds are all equal. [They] have to live, work, and breathe together. Cooperation spells survival.”³ 

I’ve seen children as young as six years old fully engaged in shepherding tasks. Hired help is integrated into the family team. The result is a remarkable synergy of collaborative effort, especially in the spring when the activities of shearing, birthing, milking, and moving all converge. 

In many cases the hired help actually become members of the extended family. They share in all the tasks and are provided for by the products of the flocks. Suhair, a man I met deep in the Negev, said his family name was given by the family his grandparents had worked for. I had heard of “fictive kinship” before. Here was a living example of this ancient tradition of virtual adoption. Their shared solidarity in common work merged their distinct families into a single identity. 

Herders in the Bible grew their family business by occasionally incorporating relatives and even worthy strangers. Jacob was merged into his uncle Laban’s family as a shepherd in Genesis 29. Moses joined a Midianite family with whom he had no shared lineage in Exodus 2. Joining the family meant sharing the work and rewards of shepherding. 

A spiritual parallel is found in God’s invitation to be both family and coworkers in his “family business.” Jesus defined his true family as those who kept his will. Pointing to his committed followers, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers” (Matthew 12:49). The apostle Paul shared the same camaraderie and family bond with his coworkers in his church-planting ministry.⁴ At the close of his letter to the Romans, in chapter 16, he commends “sister” Phoebe, who had been such a help to him and so many others. He greets Priscilla and Aquila, a couple who had “risked their lives” for him, and Mary, remembered for her hard work. Paul’s kin Andronicus and Junia had become fellow prisoners. Other “coworker[s] in Christ” include Urbanus, Tryphena, and Tryphosa. Stachys, like another hard worker Persis, is a “dear friend.” The list mentions thirty people by name with different designations, all of which reflect the intimacy and joy that result from laboring side by side in this world’s most significant work. 

The church is a single unit that “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16). Early in Paul’s epistle to the Philippians he encouraged the believers to exhibit unity in their work, to “stand firm in one spirit, striving as one soul in the faith” (1:27 AT). He was grieved when two of his Philippian colleagues were at odds with each other: “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also, help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement as well as the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” (4:2–3 NASB). Getting along was essential for the progress of the work. 

The biblical call to collegial co-laboring among such a diverse group of people is grounded in a belief that leaders are called to serve God’s flock together. They have the same Owner to whom they each give account. Peter exhorts fellow elders to “be shepherds of God’s flock. . . . And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:2, 4). 

My wife and I experienced the exhilaration and camaraderie that comes from starting a school together with like-minded folks. Many have had this experience with a church plant. The vision drives you to countless hours and unthinkable sacrifice. I remember a reporter asking me how much time Maureen and I had spent on average each week during the year before the school opened. 

Without much thought I said, “Maybe from ten to fifteen hours each.” 

She responded, “You’ve got to be kidding! It must be a lot more than that.” “Maybe,” I replied. “It’s just that no one’s counting.” 

Paul said, “I thank my God every time I remember you” (Philippians 1:3; see Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2). Let’s take some time to recall with gratitude the deep friendships that have been formed in our leadership contexts. Some were likely forged when the work was the hardest and the crises were the most urgent. Now we think of each of these individuals as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). 

In the shepherd’s family business, there is an appreciation for what each member is best suited to do. There are allowances for weaknesses and expectations for strengths. To what extent does this flexible family dynamic characterize our spiritual communities? What are the impediments to it? 

How is the team spirit these days? Do members feel like family? What are the external challenges or interpersonal threats to good working harmony? Sometimes our leadership experiences feel too much like a dysfunctional family. 

The effectiveness of leaders is often determined by how they mobilize a team of coworkers to share the same vision and passion for the work at hand. Three questions might help us assess whether or not we have a truly shared vision. First, is the burden we expect others to share consuming us first? Second, is the work shared enough so that others are not simply watching us do most of the labor? Finally, is it clear that joining us in self- sacrificial service is an expression of loyalty not so much to us personally but to the Chief Shepherd?

1. R‘h. 
2. See Genesis 24:13; 29:6; 37:2; Exodus 2:16; 1 Samuel 16:11; 17:15. 
3. Paul Rowinski, quoted in Frederick Baker, The Last Shepherds of the Abruzzi? (Hertfordshire: Baracca, 1989), 12. 
4. Paul’s notion of ministry was shaped by sharing. Using the Greek prefix syn, he referred to his epistle readers as fellow elders, fellow heirs, fellow servants, fellow prisoners, fellow workers, fellow slaves, fellow citizens, fellow soldiers, fellow partakers, and fellow members of the body.

Taken from The Good Shepherd: Forty Biblical Insights on Leading and Being Led © 2024 by Timothy S. Laniak.  Used by permission of Our Daily Bread Publishing, Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.  All rights reserved.