What is Success?

The English Dictionary has many expanded definitions for the word “Success”, but here is the primary definition: “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.”

The question arises, what is the picture of a successful ministry or church? The question probably should be, “What is the aim or purpose of the ministry or church?”

In the book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, verses 10 through 16 we are given a snapshot of what the mission, aim and/or purpose of what the church should be:

10  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11  And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14  that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.  (NKJV)

Sadly, a good many institutions referring to themselves as churches, neither, look anything like this, or remotely fulfill the purpose stated here.

The emphasis of the church internally, is to teach, instruct, disciple if you will, those who have come to Faith in Christ.

While it is permissible to use appropriate recreational venues, and yes even some levels of entertainment, to draw people, those venues should never, ever be the aim, purpose, or focus of the church. The teaching of the Word of God, worship, prayer, good old fashioned discipleship is the focus!

Building a “spiritual” environment or institution founded on recreation and/or entertainment, is shallow, trendy, and will have no lasting value.

I will maintain that if a person has no interest in studying God’s Word, learning to walk in obedience to God’s Word, and learn to worship with their whole life, it is very possible they have never had the genuine experience of Salvation.

A true experience with Christ, will cause to “hunger and thirst after righteousness”; it will cause us to want to be “in the world and not of the world”; It will cause us to feel like “sojourners in another land”.

When we measure the “church” by these standards, our success is found lacking.

I am not generally a fan of very large or Mega churches; my reasoning is that generally, to grow to these proportions, generally requires compromises from what scripture defines as the mission of the church.

So is there not room for recreation and entertainment in the church? There may be some in the setting of the ultimate function of evangelism, but nowhere in scripture, are we ever instructed to provide a “stage of entertainment” for the saints, within the function of the church.

So am I attempting to be a “kill-joy”? No, I like a good time as much as anybody, but it has no place being my focus, when (1) People’s lives are falling apart because they have not been taught to live according to the scriptures (2) Followed by in-fighting within the body of believers (3) followed yet again by a grave lack of evangelism which is supposed to happen naturally, if believers have been disciple according to the Word of God.

I want to celebrate the victory of salvation of one who we all have been praying for; I want to celebrate the victory in the life of the church who is growing in grace, and ministering that same grace to others. Now that’s a good time!

Success is the Salvation of the lost, and the Church growing in Grace to accomplish that mission!

Something to ponder….