So an issue that has come up several times in recent discussions is whether God calls us to be faithful or to be successful. This is an important issue in various missions paradigms. Central to the church growth school is that Christ said not “Go try your hardest to make disciples and I’ll be okay with that” but “Go make disciples.” He expects us to actually get results. Therefore, the advocates of the church growth approach spend enormous amounts of efforts researching, analyzing, and evaluating methods in order to be the most effective. On the other side of the issue are many evangelicals, especially of the Calvinistic stripe, who stress that all mission success depends on God – we are simply privileged to be tagging along. Since God judges the heart, all that He cares is that we are faithful, that we try our hardest.

So where do you land? Are we shooting for faithfulness or success? More importantly, where does God land?

Okay, I can’t claim to speak for God. He’s fully able to speak for himself. On the other hand, he has spoken in Scripture. I think particularly of the OT prophets. They seem to be the epitome of the faithful and ultimately unsuccessful ministers. How did God feel about them? Well, actually, it was his idea in the first place. Consider his call to Isaiah:

God: Who will go for us?

Isaiah: Here I am, send me.

God: Okay, go preach. Preach and expose the stubbornness of these people.

(Isaiah thinks, “Uh, I’m not sure this is what I signed up for…)

Isaiah: How long, Lord?

God: Until cities lie devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate.

And that is what Isaiah did. He preached faithfully for years and years, and just as God had foretold, the people didn’t listen. Success, in any tangible sense, was not even in the picture. Jeremiah, similarly, became excessively bitter because of the lack of “success,” and he let God know about it. But he too remained faithful. The prophets spent their lives trying to fulfill their commission. Success was not the measure of God’s pleasure with them. Perhaps it’s not with us either.

On the web again

So it's been a while. I know. I might think about posting again soon... maybe. Meanwhile, I've just started trying out Facebook.