Sacred Cow #3—Successful Ministry
In order to define our preaching ministries as successful or unsuccessful, we are often tempted to submit to demigod evaluations instead of to Scripture. A demigod is a deified mortal. In claiming to accurately evaluate our preaching ministries as successful or unsuccessful, we claim to have God’s all-knowing evaluating ability. We unwittingly claim to be demigods.
In most conferences and denominations, those who are held up as examples are those who have large churches. They are often held up as examples because of demigod evaluations carried out by those in various leadership positions. These ministers may be successful in God’s estimation, or they may not be. The truth of the matter is that we cannot accurately evaluate our preaching ministries or other people’s preaching ministries beyond the criterion of the word of God. We do not know the hearts of all those who attend our churches.
Therefore, faithfulness to Scripture should govern and motivate our preaching ministries, not a demigod evaluation made by us or others. We must pursue faithfulness to Scripture in light of Christ’s redeeming work, not faithfulness to evaluations that either boost our ego or cast doubt on our calling from God. Whether God has called us to be like Jonah (who had great numeric response to his preaching) or like Jeremiah (who had no numeric response to his preaching), we must remain faithful to our calling:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
In other words, we’re free in Christ to evaluate our preaching ministries based on Scripture; nothing more, and nothing less.
What are your thoughts?
