In ministry how do we really know if we are doing the right things. How do we know if we are actually getting any where, gaining any traction, making any difference? In weight loss you know if you are doing something right if the scale says you have lost weight (or if the pants are more loose today than yesterday). In physical training you can tell if you are getting somewhere if you can add on more weight to the dumbbell than you could yesterday. Even in dating you can tell if you are making progress if you get a kiss on the cheek when you drop her off. But how do you know if you are making progress in ministry?
Is it only when there are more people present? Is it when the offerings go up? Is it when there are new faces? Has it been a ‘successful’ day if someone comes to the altar?
Furthermore, how do you know if the fruit that you are seeing is from what you are doing or from something else altogether?
Does this mean then that the success of ministry is something that really cannot be gauged? Could it be that ministers need to simply leave all measure of success to God? But what of fruit inspecting?
We know of course that we should only being doing the things that God has directed us to do, and of course by listening to the Spirit we can/will be checked when we do something wrong. We do need to inspect fruit but I daresay the most important fruit is the Fruit of the Spirit and obedience to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment not the number of people who became members last year or the average attendance. If the New Testament church had kept average attendances the numbers and stories would have been skewed. It is awesome to know that 3000 were added to their number in one day. But it is also amazing to know when one family get’s saved and baptized. And the point wasn’t to average those events and compare it to what happened in the upper room, but rather to experience the fullness of God in each of those moments and praise God for His saving grace!
So I wonder if some key questions that we should be asking in our search for health and growth and maturity in our ministries and churches are:
- Do we hear testimonies of God’s moving?
- Do we see His glory on people’s faces?
- Is there a sensitivity to the Spirit?
- Is there a burden for the lost?
- Is there a passion for prayer?
- Is there a hunger and thirst for the Word of God?
- Is there a God-motivation to help and serve others?
I think that a church with these qualities might just be a church that experiences revival!
Pastor Michael Johnson 