You work for five minutes in a business environment and you’ll end up talking about metrics. You will have a key measure of success and it will drive your behaviours. That measure will determine what you’re aiming for because it will determine what good looks like. You’ll do your best to achieve it.
It’s the same in church life, what we think ‘success’ is will determine what we get. There’s a relevant principle that sits alongside this: you get what you measure.
We should measure things, but we also need to be aware that if for us success looks like something unmeasurable or uncountable, like repentance, then if we measure something else, like attendance, we will subconsciously aim things towards attendance rather than repentance. We will probably be able to grow that meeting, we may or may not see much repentance.
I’m overstating this to be provocative, sure, but by less than I imagine you think. It is possible to ameliorate this effect, but you can’t ignore it. If you want to get more of something in church life, start measuring it.
Of course, most of the things you want more of can’t be measured, which is where the sticky bit comes in. I want resurrection from the dead. I want the life eternal. I want heaven invading earth until they get married.
But I also want more contributions in worship on a Sunday, which can be measured. However, even that can drive you the wrong way. I do want more, but I don’t want more at any cost, and I don’t want more of any contribution, I want more ‘good ones.’ What’s a good one?
That’s the key question, what is success?
In a different context I heard Glen Scrivener talk about evangelistic success. He pointed out that one seed can feed the world, if we have enough time to wait. You plant a seed that grows a fruit tree. You, after a few years, harvest its fruit and keep their seeds. You plant their seeds. Maybe your previously ‘one fruit tree’ world now has thirty fruit trees. You repeat the process. A few years later you have nine hundred fruit trees. A few years later you have 27,000 fruit trees. Repeat that process four more times and you have one tree between three at the current global population. Keep going and its fruit trees as far as the eye can see.
One seed can turn into a feast of fruit, if you take the long view. Jesus’ parable of the soils (Matthew 13) describes how different soils give 30 or 60 or 100-fold returns. My numbers above worked on a 30-fold return. Some soils give a better return than others, that doesn’t make the hundredfold soil more successful than the thirtyfold soil. Success, in this way of thinking, is multiplication. Success is fruit. The amount doesn’t really matter if we’re willing to take the long view, because in the long view each kind of soil fills the whole earth with fruit. And then the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh will fill the earth like the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2).
One cross-shaped tree of life is enough of a seed to bring all things to fruition, and that was sown long ago.
What is success? Fruit is success.
I appreciate that sounds profound but isn’t really, it’s just changing the language from ‘business’ to ‘Christianese.’ Let me try again:
What is success? Anything that in the long view multiplies is success.
I do mean people saved and added to Jesus’ church, but I mean more than that: I mean the fruit of Spirit (Galatians 5), I mean virtue, I mean godliness, I mean character. I mean forgiveness and repentance. I mean resurrection life in all its forms. Anything that given enough time produces life is a success, because life will multiply. Not always numerically, of course, but life will multiply.
Success as a church looks like people following Jesus. Success as a church looks like church. Which is frustrating if we’d like to plot it on a line chart but since Jesus has rescued from bride from the dragon’s maw and is committed to fitting her ready for their wedding day, the church is a success. She’s an army with banners (Song 6).
We can do things better than we are doing them. We should try to do so. None of that is wrong. We can have criteria that we work towards, as long as we’re careful about what they are. However, at the bedrock, not only has the battle been won but we’ve already been assessed. Here’s the judgement:
Behold, you are beautiful!
Song of Songs 4.1
Remember that.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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