The Measure of Success

It is often assumed that numbers and growth are a mark of success in the ministry; which I suppose explains why pastors are so often heard asking one another what size of church they serve.  That also likely explains why ministers are inclined to exaggerate. But by that standard we would be forced to judge Joel Osteen, TD Jakes and Andy Stanley enormous successes.  And by that standard we would similarly be forced to judge the ministry of our Lord an abysmal failure.  

I have had to think this through recently from two separate angles.  Just weeks ago I was pastoring a church that was growing.  Our growth wasn’t explosive but it was unlike anything we had ever seen before.  Still a relatively small church but growing!   Now all of a sudden I am faced with something altogether different.  I am no longer the pastor of the church I planted, the congregation is divided, and what remains going forward is at best small, 'insignificant' and irregular.  Surely this bears all the marks of failure.   When the church was growing I certainly saw it as the Lord’s hand of blessing.  And then when things came to a sudden stop it felt like failure.  Actually the last week has been the one of the hardest I can remember.

I certainly haven't been vindicated in the course I have taken.  Rather, it seems as if the other side is vindicated.

You may remember that some came to Jesus about a blind man asking, essentially, “whose fault is it?”  They figured someone had gone wrong somewhere.  They believed this blindness must surely be a sign of God’s displeasure.  I expect for some, recent events at Faith Presbyterian Church will be seen as a mark of God’s displeasure.  

I don’t think so, and here’s why:

First, that old (wise) saying: “duty is ours, events are God’s.” 

There is the revealed will of God, which He has made known to us, and there is the secret will of His hidden decree which He has not made known to us.  Over the course of the last months we have carefully sought to obey God.  We have done our duty.  Even now I have no doubt in my mind that the course we took was the right one.  We had no choice.  I remember so vividly the emotions of December 25.  Our children were enjoying their gifts, Steve Green was singing “God and God alone” and I was contemplating the future wondering what gathering for worship would cost us.  As it happens it has cost us a lot.  We don’t know yet how the court will rule in terms of the charges, but the loss of the church has been exceptionally painful.  Those are the events.  Those were always in God’s hands.  I didn’t know those things in December, but I did have my Bible, and I knew what God wanted.  That, then, is what we did.  It has cost, but even that God has told us we should expect (Matthew 10:22-24; 16:24-26; 24:9-12).  

Second, history tells a very different story.  I think often of the labours of a man by the name of WC Burns.  He was remarkably used of God in a revival that came to Scotland in the 19th century.  Then he left for China where he laboured as a missionary without fruit for the rest of his life. 

Then there’s the story of the Confessing Church in Germany during the Third Reich.  The leaders of this movement were brave men who stood up to the Nazi regime at risk to their own lives.  Their stand was, of course, unpopular with Hitler and his men.  But it was also immensely unpopular in the church.  And this was hard for the few.  Erwin Lutzer says, for example, that the threats from Hitler were easier “for Niemoller to bear than some of the criticism he received from his colleagues.”  

But what became of the Confessing Church during that period?  Did this effort, which was so obviously on the side of the Lord, receive His blessing?  It didn’t seem so.  Despite the boldness and faithfulness of men like Bonhoeffer, despite the holiness of the effort, Lutzer says, the “Confessing Church began to lose its influence.”  In fact things went from bad to worse.  “The church" he says, "was not destroyed, though it was purged and its numbers were seen to be fewer than expected.”  He adds, “After 1936 the church experienced dwindling hope and an avalanche of despair. Many wavered in their commitment to Christ as persecution increased.” 

Lutzer made this concluding remark: “The majority of the people, including professing Christians, no longer believed that Christianity was worth suffering for, much less dying for.”  

That story is a tragic one.  Neimoller and Bonhoeffer were on the right side of history and more importantly they honoured God when few other churchmen dared to.  They were godly, brave, faithful men who suffered not only at the hands of civil authorities but also at the hands of the church.  They were not vindicated in their day… rather their efforts were met with failure upon failure.  But they did their duty; and the Lord was rewarded and honoured by what they did.

I find their story very sad; but it has also come as an encouragement to me.

2020 began for us like many previous years except that we were in the process of purchasing a new building for a growing congregation.  The future seemed very bright. 

Then covid happened… and things began to change.  In short, had I simply complied with the state, and had I taught compliance, the church would - almost certainly - look very much like it did in January of 2020. 

I didn’t comply. For Jesus' sake I chose to obey God rather than man. I spoke up and I spoke publicly.

The question now is, was it worth it?  Knowing what it would cost in terms of members and adherents, knowing that it would lead to a divided church and the end of my pastoral charge some might be wondering whether I wish I could do it again and do it differently. 

Not a bit. 

I did it for Him.   My conscience is clear.  And I trust that as the Lord looks down on what looks to the world (and church) like a failure and a waste, He might say, they have “wrought a good work upon me.”

In 2004 I was sitting at the dining room table of our small apartment.  I believe I was preparing my first sermon, and I was struggling with what I believed the Lord wanted me to say to the congregation.  I knew it would be hard for some to hear.  And as I struggled and prayed I made a resolution, which I wrote in my Bible there and then.  Yesterday as we were packing up my office my son found that old Bible where I had first written out that resolution as a kind of commitment to God.  It was a hard day, and finding that Bible and reading those words was helpful.  I needed the reminder.

I was much younger when I made that commitment and put it to paper; and I was not entirely sure of what I was getting myself into.  But I knew Jesus, I knew He was worthy, and I wanted Him to know I was willing.  By God’s grace I still am.  

I would like to share it here in the hopes that it may be of help and encouragement to you:

April 2004

For the sake of Christ who was bruised for our iniquities who was wounded for our transgressions I may:

• lose my home

• lose my job

• lose my church

• lose my friends

• lose my family

• lose my children

• lose my health

• lose my life

I may:

• be forsaken by all

• be mocked by friends and Christians alike

• be despised by family members

• be called a zealot (praise God)

• have no money

• have no thing

• go without food

• dress plainly

• be called a freak

• be misunderstood and even called a heretic

And in all of this I will praise God and thank Him for counting me worthy of suffering for Him.  All this may happen because I will always be a God pleaser rather than a people pleaser.  Praise God!  To Him be all glory now and forevermore!

God and God alone is fit to take the universe's throne

Let everything that lives reserve it's truest praise for God and God alone

God and God alone reveals the truth of all we call unknown

And the best and worst of man won't change the Master's plan it's God's and God's alone

God and God alone will be the joy of our eternal home

He will be our one desire Our hearts will never tire of God and God alone

- From God and God Alone, by Steve Green