Consider a couple of case studies:
1. Someone takes advantage of an opportunity to proclaim the gospel to a large crowd. As a result over a thousand people believe.
2. While someone was explaining a passage of the Bible a single person comes to faith.
3. Due to a completely surprising turn of events, a pastor basically loses everyone who was sitting under his teaching.
So who would you consider as being more successful in his ministry? Even further, who would you consider as being more successful for the Kingdom of God?
How do you measure success in ministry?
The above examples are pretty thinly-veiled, and you’ve probably guessed the references. Under the preaching of Peter at Pentecost, three-thousand people were saved. As Philip was traveling, he ran across an Ethiopian eunuch who as reading from Isaiah 53. After explaining to him that the suffering servant was in fact Jesus, the eunuch believed the Gospel and was baptised. The preacher who’s flock left him? That was Jesus, of course, at his crucifixion when all of the disciples except John fled. In the upside-down nature of the Kingdom, what appears to us to be the least successful scenario in the history of the world- a kingdom in which the king was slaughtered like a common criminal- is the means by which the Kingdom actually progresses, and the basis for the salvation of all who believe. That leads us to our question: what is successful ministry in a Christian world-view?
I think we can find our answer in how Paul himself viewed his ministry. Consider 1 Corinthians 3.6:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”
A lot of times, we base success on results. A successful business is one that has a positive profit margin. A successful team is the one who wins the championship. But, what if the results are up to God? It is God who causes faith to grow and come to fruition. So, how do we view ministry as successful?
Have you planted seeds? Have you watered seeds that have already been planted?
In other words, have you proclaimed the Gospel?
Certainly, we would not (thanks to hindsight) consider the crucifixion of Jesus as unsuccessful. The grave could not hold Him. There is success, I think, in the proclamation of the Gospel. Whether it be three-thousand who respond, or one, or even no one, the real question we should ask ourselves is this: has the Gospel of Jesus Christ been faithfully proclaimed?
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Praise God he alone has the results. Our success certainly should not be based on numbers. That is the way the worldly minded would view it. In the end, “God gives the increase”.
Richard
Bryan, all three examples are biblical, though the one about Jesus, is a bit tricky. I only said that because he predicted the desertion and their restoration (Luke 22).
Because of the market-driven world we live in, we tend to judge success in terms of numbers.
But that’s only the case because most take an anthropocentric approach to ministry rather than a theocentric.
A theocentric approach says the we faithfully preach the Gospel, in season and out of season, and let God cause the growth, for that is his specialty.
Great post, btw!
Oswald Chambers held the conviction that anything beyond proclaiming the gospel was the dominion of the Holy Spirit and that we ought to not assert ourselves there or take credit for results.
Richard,
Amen!
TC,
I’ll admit it was a bit tricky, but I was considering it from the secular point of view, where we tend to get our view of success-as you said anthro- instead of theocentric. The Romans were pretty sure they had brought this little Jewish insurgency that was barely, if even, a blip on their radar screens to an end. And, well, we know how that turned out for them
ElShaddai,
That Oswald Chambers is a pretty smart guy. He should write a book or something. I’m thinking he could write some good devotionals if he tried…
Oswald Chambers held the conviction that anything beyond proclaiming the gospel was the dominion of the Holy Spirit and that we ought to not assert ourselves there or take credit for results.
Elshaddai, I’ve always held the view that the book of Acts is really about the “Acts” of the Holy Spirit in conversion and consecration, salvation and sanctification (I think I have a knack for alliteration today!)
Bryan, if they only knew! Isn’t that what Paul says in 1 Cor 2? From a secular standpoint we are messed up beyond human repair, but we even fail to realize this one, so we try to invent the next best thing.
It’s the commercial world and how best to satisfy the consumer!
One of the things I teach my leaders is how to not evaluate a work of obedience by what we see it did or did not do. I agree with Oswald Chambers and am a firm believer in not doing the “critical analysis” approach. I also do not invite audiences to evaluate an event. Same principle. I do believe in committing any questions I have to the Lord in prayer and trust Him to address them in His time. I find Him very good here. He is always insisting on change from me one direction or another. He is a very good trainer.
People in the churches are very quick to tell you what they think, so you won’t be without that data — but it should not count much.
In the end, we need to take Jesus at His Word, “I will build my church”. While we can surely be excited over events that bring thousands of true converts, we need to make sure that our main objective isn’t merely numbers. In such cases, evangelism can become superficial. Instead, we should focus on feeding the sheep, however many there may be.
[...] as the result of this recent post on ministry, the key question I gravitated toward thinking about was whether the work of the Holy Spirit is [...]
Thanks for this – it’s a really worthwhile point. In a similar vein, it’s worth reflecting again on Jesus’ parables of the seeds in Mark 4: After the religious leaders and his own family oppose and reject him, Jesus tells a series of parables about the way in which his ministry of the Word will appear to be mostly fruitless, with rejection and opposition… but in the end, there will be an astonishingly big harvest… It makes me look forward to that eye-widening moment when we finally see an innumerable multitude gathered around the lamb… great post!