my good friends, jeff and kay lucas are in town and we had a delightful time sharing lunch yesterday. i was telling them about my season of introspection (more than a season, i suppose, as i have been re-evaluating my dreams, goals, and values for several years now) that is exciting and painful simultaneously. all this comes as no surprise to jeff, though, as he helped launch me on this journey.
the conversation soon turned to “successful” ministries, and jeff (as he is wont to do) asked a provocative question: “i wonder how jesus measures success in his church?”
this same question is a popular topic of conversation on the blogosphere. for example, here is a snippet from the piece bob hyatt wrote on outofur.com entitled “the dangerous pursuit of pastoral fame” (read the entire article here)…
We must begin to separate celebrity from pastoral work. Local church ministry should not be a stepping stone to anything, least of all to fame and fortune. It should not be easier for CNN to get in touch with a pastor than for someone in his own congregation.
For me, I knew I was in danger when the stats on my blog became important to me. I would post something and then check obsessively over the next few days to see how many had read it, linked to it, commented on it. The balance had shifted from “I want to say something about ministry/Jesus/the Gospel” to “I want to be known as someone with something to say.” And when that shift occurs, no matter how much we say the name “Jesus,” what we’re really pointing people to is “me.” Jesus has become the platform on which we stand, not the Savior to which we point.
another blogger i read and respect is rachel held evans. she wrote a piece for relevant.com called “when jesus meets tmz.” here is a bit of it…
It has become popular for pastors and their followers to imitate the world by bragging about “fruitfulness” in terms of numbers.
“One hundred people were baptized today!” “I sold 100,000 copies of my book!” “This sermon was downloaded 1 million times!”
But neither Jesus nor His earliest followers ever taught that fruitfulness should be measured in numbers. In fact, like many who labor for Christ around the world today, most of the early disciples were dismissed, marginalized, imprisoned or killed. Rather than attracting big-shot Roman officials and important Jewish scholars, the earliest churches were overwhelmed with the poor, women, widows and slaves. That is because Jesus established an upside-down kingdom, a kingdom in which the last are first and the first are last, a kingdom in which the poor, the meek, the humble and the downtrodden are blessed, while the rich, powerful and elite often walk away scratching their heads.
There is nothing inherently wrong with popularity or success, but one has to keep in mind that God’s definition of fruitfulness is not big numbers. God’s definition of fruitfulness is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. This is the fruit of the Spirit, and one can observe it in big churches and small, among the rich and the poor, in homeless shelters and mega-churches, on mission trips and around the street corner—in famous pastors and in pastors who have labored for many, many years in obscurity. As Mother Teresa taught, “We are called upon not to be successful, but to be faithful.”
Paul spoke directly to this issue in 1 Corinthians 3 when he told the celebrity-crazed Corinthians: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work” (1 Corinthians 3:10).
It’s not about being dazzled by pastors who simply boast big congregations and impressive book sales. Honor should be reserved for pastors whose teachings and whose lives exhibit the fruit of the spirit.
who knows what it means to be successful? who gets to decide?
i have been profoundly affected by eugene’s perspective on success in the ministry (if you missed it, i recently wrote about it here) as described in the introduction to his memoir:
There is…a cultural assumption that all leaders are people who “get things done” and “make things happen.” That is certainly true of the primary leadership models that seep into our awareness from the culture—politicians, businessmen, advertisers, publicists, celebrities, and athletes. But while being a pastor certainly has some of these components, the pervasive element in our 2,000-year pastoral tradition is not someone who “gets things done” but rather the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to “what is going on right now” between men and women, with one another and with God—this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful “without ceasing.”
This way of understanding pastor can’t be measured or counted, and often isn’t even noticed. I didn’t notice for a long time. I would like to provide dignity to this essentially modest and often obscure way of life in the kingdom of God.
for a long, long, time i believed that if i worked diligently and was faithful to god’s call on my life, then i would be successful (which i defined as a large crowd of people who loved me and told me regularly how wonderful i am). but lately the lord is helping me find great satisfaction in this essentially modest and often obscure way of life.
seeking to live up to the lord’s expectations and not mine (and especially not my peers) is quite liberating.
your best life later 