word | spirit | world | church
In ministry ‘success criteria’ matter. On the face of it that sounds like business speak, exactly the sort of thing I am critical of creeping into pastoral work. Except I’m not sure that’s it. Practically speaking, to do something well you need to know how you are going to assess it afterwards. I’ve noticed in… Continue reading Knowing what good looks like
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… Continue reading What is Success?
Jesus’ parable of the four soils (Matthew 13) shows an unexpected truth about the way the kingdom of God grows: most things we try aren’t successful. Did you catch that? There are four soils and one is good; the sower’s job is to sow the seed. The quarter, or so, that falls on good soil… Continue reading Hit and Miss
“Well if God’s called you, it’ll work out.” I’ve been told this lots of times myself, I think I believe it half of the time. But it’s not true. Not in the way we mean it anyway. What we’re saying is, you’re going to do this risky seeming thing on the basis of your faith… Continue reading Success looks like obedience
nuakh 