Dallas Willard believes churches shouldn’t measure success by attendance figures or offering numbers. Success is marked by a growth in goodness and a deeper spirituality among the members. And it starts with the pastor.
When pastors don’t have rich spiritual lives with Christ, they become victimized by other models of success—models conveyed to them by their training, by their experience in the church, or just by our culture. They begin to think their job is managing a set of ministry activities and success is about getting more people to engage those activities. Pastors, and those they lead, need to be set free from that belief.
I think attendance and offerings matter, but I agree the deeper issues are spiritual. And his comments about pastors are right.
As a pastor, you hope your congregation benefits from your ministry more than it suffers from your ministry. And you’re a fool not to admit both dynamics are in play. The key to things being more positive than negative on balance is to have a deepening spiritual relationship with Christ.
In the end, Christ works through pastors, but He only does this as they have a connection to Him and an openness to His Spirit.
Using this definition of success is fundamentally good. It is unfortunate that Churches today (intentional use of the capital letter) now measure success by dollars, giving, apportionments and attendance. Spiritual growth, while impossible to measure is the true measure of success.
YOU are a successful pastor my dear friend.
Thanks Jon!
This is a very well written article. The essential message conveyed by the author is a simple one – seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. Clearly, he is not implying that numbers are irrelevant or even insignificant because such an inference would be inconsistent with what makes good common sense about living things – they grow. Yet we know that growth is characterized in multiple ways. Jesus took time to build up His disciples and to engage them in “growing way” that did not so much have to do with numbers but more so with their sense of unflagging commitment to spiritual excellence. Of course, the “population increase” came … and came in waves of thousands. In fact, there was no sheepishness about hiding the numbers spelled out clearly and specifically in the Book of Acts.
Our challenge as modern-day pastors is that we are mesmerized by the population growth phenomenon in larger congregation often leaving us feeling a “little ill” and, at times, “inferior” about our own results. We never, if any, get special invitations to be guest speakers at large conventions (not even small ones!!). And, as much as Dallas Willard has provided an excellent starting point for us to re-think and re-tool our emphases, we “small-time” pastors struggle with feelings of inferiority as we are often reminded by various media how “ineffective we are” for not “growing” into larger numbers.
Trust me; I am a dedicated and committed bi-vocational pastor serving faithfully. I know hardship as a senior military officer and as a pastor of a congregation of 80-90 in attendance. I will stay the course even though the “press and pull” of other opportunities often prevail upon me. With solid academic qualifications and 22 years of great military experience, remaining faithful in and to a very small church for me will always be a challenge. And while we continue to anticipate physical and financial growth, my fidelity to the local community and the power of God’s calling on my life will sustain us over the long haul – whether we are 90, 900, or 9,000.
Pastor Neal Walker, PhD
Thanks, Neal, for your reflections. There is much wisdom in them. I pray your church is blessed and strengthened through your ministry, as you are guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Grace and peace to you.