“Will this be their year?” was the question posed during a segment of an NFL pre-game show on the Baltimore Ravens. One of the hosts commented that as long as their All-Pro quarterback Lamar Jackson stays healthy, they’ll be in the hunt. Her partner agreed, but added he needs to work on his accuracy and stop playing “hero ball” — i.e., trying to win the game by himself (taking hits instead of going out of bounds, forcing throws instead of making the easy pass, etc.). Hero ball might win a game or two, but that style of play won’t bring home a championship. His point was, Jackson has to get better as a quarterback and learn to do less, not more, in order for his team to go all the way.
Hero ball doesn’t advance the kingdom of God very far, either. Believers and churches that leverage each other’s gifts and strengths advance the kingdom better than one can alone. An example in Scripture is the church at Antioch (Acts 11:19ff), which was birthed when some disciples who had fled persecution in Jerusalem courageously shared the good news to Jews and Gentiles. These disciples came from different backgrounds but shared the conviction that everyone should have the opportunity to hear the gospel and be reconciled to God. God’s hand was with them, and many souls were saved because they advanced the gospel together.
News of what God was doing in Antioch reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas, one of their key leaders, to disciple the new converts. As the church grew, Barnabas realized there were too many believers to effectively disciple alone — so instead of playing hero ball, he went to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch to help him. The result was even more people got saved and discipled because Barnabas was willing to make sacrifices to advance discipleship together.
On another occasion, the church’s leaders — men who crossed multiple ethnic and socioeconomic boundaries — were gathered for worship when the Holy Spirit directed them to release Paul and Barnabas for the work He called them to do. They were obedient and released their two best teachers to go on what’s called Paul’s first missionary journey — and from there, the gospel exploded all over the world. Just like the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch sacrificed and advanced missions together.
At each stage, the believers and churches decided to sacrifice (i.e., do less) so that they could do more for the kingdom through others. But what would have happened if the displaced disciples decided to return to their hometowns instead of sharing the gospel with Gentiles in Antioch? What if the church in Jerusalem chose to keep Barnabas instead of releasing him? What if Barnabas decided he didn’t want to share the spotlight and never got Paul to help him teach? What if the church at Antioch decided to keep their money at home and not support the poor in Jerusalem or Paul and Barnabas on their mission? Indeed, the work of the kingdom would still have happened, but God would have used another group to take the gospel to the world.
This month, the South Carolina Baptist Convention celebrates 200 years of God’s faithfulness in working through churches that, instead of playing hero ball, have partnered for the sake of missions, cooperation, and Christian education. As a result, the gospel, discipleship, ministry and missions have advanced in our state and beyond. Will the SCBC be around another 200 years? Only God knows, but one thing we do know for sure: It won’t be if churches play hero ball. That style works in a limited time frame with a limited group of people but can’t win the state, much less the world, for Christ. As Scripture and 200 years of South Carolina Baptist history have shown us, we advance better when we “Advance Together.”