Transforming Sermons: Measuring success

Thursday, June 26, 2008

This is eye-opening: 19 ways to measure success in a church (via).

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...: i see it differently.; 8:52 PM, June 26, 2008
Milton Stanley said...: I read your comment at Hamo's site. Yes, you're right that we cannot so easily measure love in the heart, and that's a more true measure. What I liked about the list was that it goes beyond the stereotypical surface-image of a successful church being defined by a bunch of "shiny, happy people holding hands." Thanks for your comments. Peace.; 12:23 PM, June 27, 2008
Anonymous said...: i would like to get closer to the true meaning of the word church. i have also thought about the word success, but, not so much anymore, since success is mainly a worldly concept. understanding "church" and "the body of Christ" has been something that i have thought about for awhile now. and i know that it is not easy to accept our flaws that we bring to it. i struggle with the finger pointing, the anger, hate, unforgiveness, lack of unity, lack of Love within the body of Christ for one another. i have no image of shiny, happy people holding hands. this list of wonderful things are wonderful to me...it is plain to the eye that God is doing good things, but, the church is successful because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

we are nothing without the Love of God, we are lost, needy and empty bags of flesh that could not even breath unless God wants for us to.
i think...how dare we measure one group that is doing certain things and declare that group successful? we are all together in this whether we are struggling or looking like we are doing all the right things.

and who is to be the one to point out which group is successful. what if a group actually is a group of shiny smiling happy hand holding people, and another group does many many wonderful things for those outside of the group, and if another group is down in number and struggling. who is to say what is successful in the eyes of God?

i am sorry, but i just do not get this talking about success at all.

i think there is much more to the church than meets the eye, and i am wary of the word success.

what can i say...except this business flashes warning lights in my mind.; 5:33 PM, June 27, 2008
Milton Stanley said...: Thank you, Nancy. You're exactly right that "success is mainly a worldly concept." Now that you mention it, I'm wary of the word success, too. As best I can tell, the whole concept is foreign to the New Testament.; 9:25 AM, June 28, 2008