Two things that we know the Lord especially loves are unity and diversity. The Lord loves diversity so much that He even makes every snowflake different. No two trees are alike. Every leaf is different from every other leaf on the planet. He made every human being different from every other human being. The Lord's creativity and love of diversity is prevalent throughout His creation. It is therefore understandable that these two would be blended into a fundamental principle of how He will rule in His kingdom. Unity in diversity is a basic principle of His government.

The Lord also loves unity. If you knew you only had a few hours left to live, your prayers would certainly be focused on the most important issues of your heart. The Lord spent His last night on the earth praying, and the dominant theme of that prayer was the unity of His people.

The words "unity" and "diversity" put together form the word "university." The original purpose of the university was to bring together into unity the study of all the different subjects and disciplines. True unity is a unity of diversity, not a unity of conformity. To seek this and maintain it is a noble cause, and is the basis of kingdom government. Authority exercised in one realm can have consequences in many others. Just as the different tribes all had their own inheritance, they also had to maintain a relationship to all of the other tribes and keep in their hearts their vision for being one nation. We must do the same.

Aaron, the high priest, carried the stones of all of the tribes over his heart on the breastplate. If we are going to walk in the high calling of God, we, too, must keep all of God's people on our hearts, not just our own tribe, church, or movement. This does not mean that we do not have a great and specific vision for our own tribe, but we must always keep the others on our hearts as well and be considerate of the others in our actions.

For the original twelve apostles to function together, they had to have tremendous humility and consideration for the others. This remains a foundation of true spiritual authority. As we are told in James 4:6, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." One of the most basic characteristics of one who is truly humble is that they are teachable, like a little child. Those with true humility recognize that they only see in part and know in part, so they are always open for the parts that must come from others.

For the very foundation of that government, it would be hard to imagine a more diverse group than the twelve apostles being chosen and called to work together. Without understanding the Lord's devotion to diversity in all that He does, we will not understand a very basic characteristic of His nature or His kingdom.

On the Lord's team He had different apostles with different gifts. Peter was an extraordinary evangelist. John was more prophetic. James was more pastoral. Others emerged as great teachers and missionaries. Together, their individual strengths would help the others' weaknesses and vice versa.

The first century leadership of the church was also a relay in which the dynamic leadership changed as was needed. Peter began on the Day of Pentecost, but after the evangelism was well-established, the dynamic leadership passed off to James, the pastoral one, which was obviously the strength that was then needed to establish all of the new converts.

Later, after the church was dispersed abroad from its base in Jerusalem, it appears that Paul was the defacto dynamic leader of the body of Christ at the time. His teaching, especially on the New Covenant grace versus law, etc., was desperately needed at that time, and it was right that the focus should be upon him. Then, after the passing of the others, John, the prophetic one, emerged as the dynamic leader, whose revelation message would help prepare the faithful ones for the generations to come.

Years ago when I inquired of the Lord about how to have a movement that would not stop moving until it had grown up into the fullness of Christ, He gave me a simple, but surprising answer. He said that to do this, we would have to use the wisdom of the geese. I then studied geese to see what this might mean, and I quickly understood it. Geese fly in a formation in which they all draft behind one another, which reduces the effort required for flying 20 to 35 percent. Because of this, they can fly much farther than if they did not fly in formation.

Likewise, there is a formation that the Lord has called each of us to be in—the local church. Christian growth in every way will be far slower and more difficult when we try to do it alone than when we are rightly connected to His body. In fact, it is quite clear in the New Testament that full maturity simply is not possible without a vital local church life. This includes knowing our ministries and spiritual gifts, and functioning in them in harmony with the other ministries and gifts in the local church—flying in formation.

True local church life is going to be difficult at best. It is hard to get along with other people, but it is essential for true Christian maturity, and is in fact much easier than trying to do it alone. I have heard quite a few people say that they love the Lord, but just don't like His people. The Scriptures are clear that this is not possible, as we read in I John 4:20-21:
 

A truth that not many want to hear is that the harder the relationships are in the local church, the faster and easier it is to mature in Christ. Love is the essence of maturity in Christ, and if we cannot love those whom we are going to spend eternity with, we are not going the right way, at best. So flying in formation is crucial or we will be left far behind in true Christian maturity.

We must also consider that in such a formation, someone will have to be in the lead. That goose is obviously not able to draft behind the others, and therefore will tire at a rate of 20 to 35 percent faster than those following. Therefore, for the whole formation not to bog down because the leader is tired, we must learn to change leadership regularly. This is in fact what the first century church did, transferring the point position from Peter to James to Paul to John, then to different ones who are called "the early church fathers."

This really should be done not just with the leadership position of the local church, but every position. If your children's ministry, worship, home groups, evangelism, teaching, or any other ministry in the church starts to plateau or stop making progress, you may want to consider giving that leader a break and letting him or her draft behind someone else for awhile.

Of course, many will consider that a demotion or a failure, especially if they are territorial or have their spiritual identity wrapped up in their ministry. This will usually need to be delicately negotiated, but it is as essential for that leader's spiritual health as it is the church's. Every time we have implemented this, it has not only enabled the specific ministry to accelerate its progress again, but enabled the leader to receive rest and begin to advance in their own personal growth again. After a rest, he or she will be ready for leadership again.

We need to also consider that just because a church or ministry which is a part of the church plateaus, this does not necessarily mean a leadership change is required to get it going again. There are times of rest, just as the pillar of cloud would sometimes stop for a period of time to allow Israel to rest. There are times of pruning in which churches or ministries are cut back so that they could bear more fruit in the future. All of these things need to be weighed, but if there is a true team leadership in the church and in the ministries, then switching leadership from time to time will be a positive experience for all. As one on our ministry team who was a former NBA player said, "When someone gets the hot hand, every great team will quickly recognize it and feed them the ball."   

Also, just because one passes off the point position of leadership to another permanently, this does not mean that they do not continue to be leaders. In fact, they can become even more fruitful in their ministry if they are not in a point position of leadership. The Lord Himself was the Master of this grace of humility in passing off the leadership to another. He even told His apostles that it was expedient for Him to leave in the flesh so that the Holy Spirit could come.