In this guest article, veteran Christian leader Dan Reiland asks: Are we measuring success in ministry the wrong way?

In our fast-paced, high demands, pressure-packed ministries—sometimes the lines of successfulness and fruitfulness can become blurred. Read and reflect on these thoughts and see what the Spirit stirs within you.

Image: Elizabeth Lies.

Power ties and power lunches have given way to Starbucks and business casual in jeans but the desire for success hasn’t changed. Leadership success isn’t as bold and brash as it once was. Red neckties have been replaced with colored wrist bands about things we care about, but we are still sending messages. We still want success. In thousands of conversations with pastors, I can’t remember a time when even one said to me: “Dan, my dream is to be a failure. Yup, that’s me. I just want to fail.”

I don’t want to fail either, I want to be successful like you do. But the longer I lead the more I reflect on the idea of success. I’ve come to believe that it’s more complicated than simply the difference between numbers and heart. Success requires honesty about the numbers and full engagement of the heart. It’s not one or the other. I think what’s on my mind is more about the fact that success, as commonly defined, doesn’t last.

Let me say again, success is a good thing. There are more than two dozen references specifically to success or successful in scripture (NIV). And dozens more implied. I love the passage in Joshua 1.

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. ⁵ No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

Photo of Henri Nouwen by Frank Hamilton.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

But continuing with the question of success or fruit, let me quote the late Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) from his devotional book, Bread for the Journey.

“A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds.”

I don’t know where Nouwen might have taken this thought had he developed it further. But my mind and heart connects it to the fruit of the Spirit and a reminder for all of us who are church leaders about keeping our aim on biblical success.

The list of fruit in Galatians 5 and the imagery in John 15 are clear. John 15:16-17 is a great summary:

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Lose your folklore and gain biblical insight about this misunderstood gift from God.

Jesus is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31

Introduction

The subject of repentance is widely misunderstood and misapplied even by sincere believers who want to participate in everything the Lord has for them. Part of the confusion about repentance comes from so-called mature Christians who wrongly imagine that spirituality is measured by how little sin is in a person’s life. Because they want others to think highly of them, they try to maintain a facade of near perfection; or they consider repentance as something they already did at the time they were converted.

Although we should be making steady progress in turning away from the sins God has already pointed out in our lives, we should also be increasingly aware of additional sins He is presently uncovering in our minds and hearts. If we claim that we have no sin left in our lives, we are calling God a liar because He says we do (right now) have sins over which we should repent (1 John 1:8-10).

Repentance is not something to dread and avoid, but a spiritual activity to embrace. Once you understand how fruitful repentance operates, you will want to repent as often as you can. According to Mark, the beginning of the “Good News” is the invitation to repent. Admitting we have been wrong and welcoming the Lord to straighten out our thinking is a lot better than trying to pretend that we are just fine and dandy the way we are!

Fruitful repentance says, “Oh Lord, I’m wrong again.”

Bad Taste in Mouth

I felt unspiritual and unworthy because the roots of habitual or “personality” sins (in my case, laziness, willfulness and selfishness) seemingly went too deep for my meager attempts at repentance to get at and dig out. In my futile attempts to live up to my promises to God “not to ever do that again,” I heard an echo of my father’s instruction about how to weed our garden when I was a boy: “You have to get the roots, or the weeds will just grow back.”

The usual repentance scenario in my life used to be a cycle of the same sin, followed by repentance (I’m sorry), followed by asking God to forgive me. Over and over. As I continued to commit the same sin I had only recently repented of, my succeeding attempts to repent became ever more earnest and filled with incredible promises of how I would never again do that sin. With every imaginable adjective, I described my sorrow again and again, and I began to require of myself certain religious rigors—punishments, if you will—vainly trying to protest to myself and to God that I really meant I was sorry, and I really did repent, even though I had few fruits of repentance to show for it all.