A competition is an event where people get together to see who is the best at something. Someone who takes part in a competition enters in as a competitor and each competitor competes against each other! With that said, why do so many churches feel the need to compete against each other and to take it one step deeper; why do so many church folk (partitioners and ministry leaders included) compete each against each other within the same walls of their own church of body!

Some of you don’t think this is a prevalent issue in the body, but it is and trust me this has been an ongoing issue since the birth of Cain and Able!

We can choose to dub it as competition, but when you peel that mask off it’s nothing more than jealously and envy!

Paul addressed this spirit in I Corinthians 12:25-27 and the Message paraphrase nailed his disposition spot on:

“The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”: apostles prophets teachers miracle workers healers helpers organizers those who pray in tongues. But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called “important” parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.”

While the Bible does not forbid competition, it does forbid the heart and attitudes that so many have when they do compete. The Scripture is clear that we are to do all things for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The church need less competition and more collaboration. The church needs teamwork not teams that work against each other! Attracting Christians from other churches and not reaching people who far from God is like a farmer moving grain from one silo to another. The farmer may think he’s getting something done, but he’s only wasting energy instead of using it to harvest more crops (Matthew 9:35-38). As it stands the church has never been about us versus us, rather it has always been about us versus ‘principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Ephesians 6:12).

The best way for the ‘global’ Church to grow is to work together to reach people far from God and teach them to follow Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20).