EXPOSITION: A squad is a soldier’s most intimate group of personnel constituted as soon as they pass out from training. They are made up of ten or fifteen soldiers in two to three teams with team leaders. Each team in the squad is given a task to accomplish and the Team Leader accounts on their behalf to the Squad Leader. This affords team members the opportunity to learn from one another and also build their skills as they get to know more from their immediate supervisors. This is similar to what Jesus did in sending the Twelve in groups of two. Today, we shall discuss how the local church can form squads of believers for battle using Jesus’ model.

In forming His ‘squad’ of disciples (or soldiers), Jesus went about from village to village, teaching the people, and through that he called the Twelve. He paired the disciples in teams and sent them out for missions. The teams were so effective in carrying out the task they were assigned. In addition to casting out evil spirits, the disciples preached to every soul they met, healed the sick, and anointed them. In our church today, Jesus’ model of squad and team formation can be found in our New Converts’ and New Members’ classes – which should be the first point of call to becoming a member of the Church of Pentecost. These ministries enable the interest of members to be identified. They are then assigned to those ministries (squad) with a mature person in charge as the leader as is done for the Bible Study and Home Cell groups in the Church of Pentecost.