Do you understand how synergy can impact renewal? 

Every four seconds there is new movement.  A new piece appears; another step must be completed.  Each person on the assembly line has a unique task to perform in order to complete the project.  Before long you are not even thinking about what you must do.  You are “working together,” but not so much with the people around you.  Your hands begin to work together and move in rhythm with the machinery. 

I am beginning to have a better understanding of those who struggle with the meaninglessness of their employment, especially if the task they perform has more to do with cosmetics than functionality. Now I know that, for the sake of sanity, you learn to keep the big picture in mind… the paycheck that provides for the family.

There is an important principal involved.  It also points to the importance of working together.  The operative word is synergy; i.e., the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The word comes from a Greek word meaning “working together”.  Each individual task on the assembly line – divided into four-second segments – is important for the creation of the final product.  But the final product is greater than all of the smaller units combined if they are not properly assembled.

“God arranged the members in the body”

The Synergy of the Body!

All of this has helped me understand the importance of working together in the church for both growth and renewal.  Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul…

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ… For the body does not consist of one member but of many… But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” (ESV, 1 Corinthians 12:12–20.

When we try to do it on our own, we fail to take advantage of the gifts and talents of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  When we separate ourselves from the body, we lose the synergy that produces “life more abundant.”  The gear that is not a part of the machine is no longer functional.  The human eye is amazing, but if the eye is not a part of a living organism it will soon dry up and cease to function.

It is past time for many of us to find our place and remain connected to a body of believers.  That is how to be all that God has created us to be.  Not only life, but growth and renewal require that we are part in a body that is focused on “one another.”  Notice this emphasis in Hebrews – “…let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (10:24-25)

Start working together for renewal, for growth, and for encouragement!