Doing It Right

Success

That word can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. There are various forms of success in different spheres of life. Success on a basketball court means hoisting a trophy and cutting down the nets. Success in the business world means turning a large profit and flying around in a company jet. Success in the dating world means finding a girl that can handle being in your presence for at least twenty minutes without getting the dry heaves. Success in the street cred game means not getting beat up by school-aged girls who steal your money to buy a snack from the ice cream man.

I'm still working on that last one.

And the one before it, to be honest.

But what about success in ministry? I think that a lot of people in ministry are hesitant to even use the word "success" when talking about what they do. It can make it sound like a person is only interested in being upward mobility, climbing the ladder to the fanciest and poshest church. But we should be able to talk about success without bringing all those negative and inappropriate associations into the conversation. Anyone who is actually thinking wants to be successful in ministry, not for personal reasons, but because they want to bear fruit for God, build the church, and help spread the kingdom. Those are noble aims.

But how do we measure it? What defines success in ministry? That may be a difficult question to answer. Is it about bringing the most people to Christ? Is it about getting church members to be active in ministry and evangelism? Is it about helping people become more serious about Bible study and living a godly life? Is it about remaining personally faithful to God, regardless of whether anything in the church improves?

Right now I'm serving at a small country church of about 25 people. How do I determine whether or not my ministry is effective in that sort of situation? Sometimes I become disheartened when I think about why is happening through some of my friends' ministries. I hear stories about people being baptized, young people deciding to go into ministry, communities growing closer together, needs being met, and congregants being excited to be at church on Sunday mornings.

I don't see all of those things happen very often at my church. Now my intention here isn't to criticize or speak badly about my church in any way. I'm very thankful for the chance to serve there, and the people love God and encourage me. But still, it is often tough to know whether or not my ministry there is successful, at least when I compare it to what happens in other churches.

In the sort of situation I'm in, it may be important to look for small stories of success. I don't have crowds of people rushing forward on Sunday mornings to surrender their lives to Christ. But I am preaching a series about the importance of God's Word, and last week a man in his fifties asked me where would be a good spot to begin reading the Bible. And we don't have pulse-pounding worship with lights and fog machines. But a few weeks ago, the people in the sanctuary gathered in small groups to pray for our church. And that stuff is pretty cool when you're in a church where it doesn't seem like a whole lot has changed in 180 years.

A danger in focusing on the "little successes" is that we might become content with where we are and stop expecting larger things to happen. Can't God use a little church of 25 people to do incredible things in the world? Should I be content with people in my church spending five minutes in prayer together, or should I not be satisfied till there's more? Am I somehow selling myself short or putting God in a box? How do I balance dreams with realism?

Thankfully, there is one things I'm very successful at: Writing overly-long blog posts while staying up too late watching TV and stalking you on facebook.

We all have our gifts.