This is the seventh in a series of blog posts called, “My Top Ten Mistakes in Ministry (That I Can Share Publicly.)” After many years of ministry experience as a church planter, pastor and seminary professor, I think I’ve finally learned that one of the best kept secrets to surviving well in the ministry is to stop making the same old mistakes that others (like me) have been making for decades. Instead, let’s all start making some brand new, bold, innovative and creative mistakes!

We began this series with an introduction called, “Ladies First” in which veteran church planter wife, Shari Thomas, addressed the tough topic, What I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting from the perspective of the church planter’s/pastor’s spouse. We then took a look at:

Mistake #1 (these are in no intentional order), “Failing to Understand the Importance of How I Define Ministry Success.”

Mistake #2 Managing My Time and Not Managing My Life

Mistake #3: Not Understanding the Difference Between my Goals and Desires.

Mistake #4: Not Understanding the Difference Between Pursuing the Grace of God and the God of Grace.

Mistake #5: Not Understanding the Way Up is the Way Down

Mistake #6: Not Understanding the Priority of People Over Programs

Mistake #7: Not Understanding Product Living VS Process Living

I have to confess that I belong to what Pastor Mark Buchanan calls the Cult of the Next Thing. Buchanan writes, “It is dangerously easy to get enlisted. It happens by default–not by choosing the cult but by failing to resist it. It is dangerously easy to get enlisted. It happens by default–not by choosing the cult but by failing to resist it.”

For me the Cult of the Next Thing is sinful discontentment cast in religious terms.  It has its own sacred terms like: our ministry vision, our mission, our goals, our objectives. Please don’t misunderstand, these are good things, but we begin to believe that we can’t ever really be happy until we get them.

This Cult also has its own Mantras we church planter types often quote: I’ll be happy when we have a certain number of people in worship every Sunday. Or I’ll be happy when we are self-supporting financially as a church. Or I’ll be happy when we are self-governing with our own elders or deacons. I’ll be happy when I’ve been able to pass this baton (you name it) to another leader. I’ll be happy when I’m not sick anymore…when the kids are older…when the kids are gone….

And this Cult has its own shrines in other ministries that are doing better than ours.  And it has its own ecstatic experiences: those fleeting moments when you finally reach a goal you’ve been living for and looking to for so long. It feels great. But like sand through your fingers it ever so quickly slips away from you. So then you must look ahead to the next experience.

Author Isaac Rubin writes, “The joy and happiness from the process lasts much longer and can be much more satisfying over the duration of your life. But if you are totally goal-oriented in a success-oriented culture, and if the product is the only goal, you will destroy much of the possibility for true joy and happiness in life. That is because almost all of your life has to be the process and not the product. If you can’t learn to appreciate and enjoy the process of living itself, there goes your joy in life.

If you get nothing out of the doing, because you are always looking for the high that will come at the end, you’re in serious trouble. But if you learn to be nourished by the whole process, that result at the end of the road, positive or negative, is not terribly significant. You just go on to the next process. You must learn to understand and appreciate “Process Living” because the process is really what life is all about. We are in process 98 % of the time. If you are living for that final 2%, you’re in trouble. And the truth is most of us are in serious trouble.”

The story is told when Alexander the Great conquered the entire known world, he wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. The opiate of winning the next battle was now gone and he was left trembling in withdrawal, unable to live and love life in the present.

Elizabeth Elliot summed it up well, “ Don’t let your living for tomorrow slay your living for today.” If you’re not very careful you will always be living for tomorrow and find yourself being robbed of all of your todays. I wish someone had talked straight to me about that common and so costly mistake in life and ministry.

Steve Childers is the President & CEO of Global Church Advancement, an inter-denominational ministry that provides church planting training, consultations, and resources for church planters, pastors and missionaries throughout the world. Steve has trained Christian leaders from more than 50 countries (curriculum in five major global languages), representing over 200 denominations and mission agencies in 5 continents (& 5 languages). Steve is also an author, Professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the Director of the Doctoral program at Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation. To learn more about GCA:

Browse the GCA Website: http://www.gca.cc

Join the GCA Cause: http://bit.ly/X5bZC

See the GCA Blog: http://www.gca.cc/blog/

Follow GCA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_gca

Follow Steve on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevechilders

Check out upcoming GCA Events: http://gca.cc/Seminar_Overview.htm

Support GCA: http://gca.cc/Support_GCA.htm

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts called, “My Top Ten Mistakes in Ministry (That I Can Share Publicly.)” After many years of ministry experience as a church planter, pastor and seminary professor, I think I’ve finally learned that one of the best kept secrets to surviving well in the ministry is to stop making the same old mistakes that others (like me) have been making for decades. Instead, let’s all start making some brand new, bold, innovative and creative mistakes!

We began this series with an introduction called, “Ladies First” in which veteran church planter wife, Shari Thomas, addressed the tough topic, What I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting from the perspective of the church planter’s/pastor’s spouse. We then took a look at:

• Mistake #1 (these are in no intentional order), “Failing to Understand the Importance of How I Define Ministry Success.”
• Mistake #2 Managing My Time and Not Managing My Life
• Mistake #3: Not Understanding the Difference Between my Goals and Desires.
• Mistake #4: Not Understanding the Difference Between Pursuing the Grace of God and the God of Grace.
• Mistake #5: Not Understanding the Way Up is the Way Down

Mistake #6: Not Understanding the Priority of People Over Programs

It’s been thought by all of us in Christian ministry (both clergy and laity) at one time or another: “I love God, and I love the ministry, but it’s just people that I really don’t like!” In his best-selling book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman writes, “When Jesus’ plan is reflected upon, the basic philosophy is so different from that of the modern church that its implications are nothing less than revolutionary….His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes but with people whom the multitudes would follow….People were to be His method of winning the world to God. The initial objective of Jesus’ plan was to enlist men who could bear witness to His life and carry on His work after He returned to the Father.”

I had the privilege of having Dr. Coleman as one of my professors when I was in seminary in Chicago (Trinity). I’ll always remember his incessant repetition of this same basic concept over and over again: while in the ministry if we don’t actively, constantly fight against it, we will inevitably become nothing more than mere “ministry program administrators—thereby failing to be like Jesus who always made people (not programs) his highest priority.

In Jesus’ words to Peter, after the resurrection, we learn again that one of the greatest ways we can show our love to Christ is not merely by doing great ministry exploits for him, but by showing sacrificial love to his sheep–to love deeply and well those He loves and those for whom he laid down His life. With these lenses on, take a new look now at these ancient words of the resurrected Christ to Peter:

“So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.

Here we are meant to learn a valuable lesson about life and ministry that is very easily missed if we’re not very careful. The lesson? One of the greatest ways to show our love to Jesus is by showing our love to His sheep—especially when they don’t love us well. It’s relatively easy learning to lead well. But it’s really hard learning to love well.

Hear his voice today asking “Do you love me?” Then hear his answer, “Tend my sheep.” In other words, love those whom He loves–lay down your life to shepherd well especially those sheep who are back-biting, betraying, whining, unappreciative and arrogant. Where in the world can you find the power to do that? It begins by realizing how deeply the Good Shepherd keeps loving you in the face of all your back-biting, betraying, whining, lack of appreciation and arrogance.

Oh, and by the way, since we haven’t addressed it since the introductory message in this series by Shari Thomas, I thought it might be good for all of us to be reminded that one of those people in your church in need of your very special love—is your spouse. I wish someone had told me what it means to understand and love my wife well—especially during our early church planting years.

If you haven’t read Shari Thomas blog entry that  addressed the tough topic, What I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting from the perspective of the church planter’s/pastor’s spouse then please do. If you have, then please read it again.

Again, I long for you not to make the same mistakes so many of us have made in the past three decades of ministry. Instead, as Bob Logan says, “Go make new, creative, innovative mistakes!” As our beloved Steve Brown would say, “You think about that.”

Steve Childers is the President & CEO of Global Church Advancement, an inter-denominational ministry that provides church planting training, consultations, and resources for church planters, pastors and missionaries throughout the world. Steve has trained Christian leaders from more than 50 countries (curriculum in five major global languages), representing over 200 denominations and mission agencies in 5 continents (& 5 languages). Steve is also an author, Professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the Director of the Doctoral program at Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation. To learn more about GCA:

• Browse the GCA Website: http://www.gca.cc
• Join the GCA Cause: http://bit.ly/X5bZC
• See the GCA Blog: http://www.gca.cc/blog/
• Follow GCA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_gca
• Follow Steve on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevechilders
• Check out upcoming GCA Events: http://gca.cc/Seminar_Overview.htm
• Support GCA: http://gca.cc/Support_GCA.htm

[A Gospel-Planted Life]

Culture + Gospel + Church = Transformational ministry. #gca10

“Beneath the demographics of your community are the lifestyles that are an expression of beliefs.” -Bob Orner #gca10

Allender: If you don’t need the Gospel more than the people you are sharing it with, you ought not to be sharing it with them #gca10

Half of the fun of #gca10 has been meeting people. There are a lot of great people here!

Round 3. “who will pray with and for us?” #gca10

With Bob Orner thinking through the “whom” and “where” of church planting focus. #gca10

“If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word — prayer.” C.H. Spurgeon #gca10

Dear Presbyterians who are (like me) into God using appointed means: prayer is one of them. Gospel effectiveness depends on it. #gca10

I’m really encouraged that my prayer life doesn’t always have to be as mediocre as it often is. Thankful for this session at #gca10

Church Planting: Using Technology and Social Media #gca10  Very informative and helpful.

It’s the beginning of another busy day of sessions at #gca10. Please pray with us and for us!

day 2. round 4. “developing a philosophy of ministry” #gca10

“The work of faithful evangelism is to identify with the world without losing your identity in Christ.” – Stott #gca10

Great training session on philosophy of ministry tailored to local context by a guy with lots of story-arc similarities as me. #gca10

Seminary student Casey Johnson shares his thoughts with us on last night’s Worship module taught by Jason Sears. http://bit.ly/bI5fk2 #gca10

“When you do church planting, you can’t blame the previous pastor for your church’s problems.” -Bob Orner // Humorous and humbling #gca10

Why do church planting anyway? #gca10 listening to this Guy right now

Hotel excitement. These are burglars posing as pizza marketers w/ fake flyers looking for unlocked doors http://twitpic.com/1039pu #gca10

Doing some hard thinking about ministry style contextualization led by a black pastor, Andre Rogers from Columbia. #gca10

Hilarious. There’s a white pastor’s wife in a cross-cultural church here. The black attendees call her the First Lady. #gca10

“Your first 20 people will dictate your next 100 people.” – Andre Rogers #gca10 //very-true church planting statement.

@andrerogers I’m not @RickWarren but I’m glad to follow you. Good word at #gca10

Looking at ministry models—how church ministries in a plant will work together—with Bob Orner. #gca10

Great lunch-time panel…#gca10

“Giving always comes back to forgiveness of sins and life eternal.” Fred Marsh #gca10

“Too often the church is composed of a consumer-driven clientele.” – Fred Marsh #gca10-

Benevolent and missions budget allocations do not keep pace with operational and building expenditures as churches grow. #gca10

“We have become obsessed with the Gospel to the rich & it is still hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom” Fred Marsh #gca10

“I’m firmly convinced that God calls the church to bless the poor. It’s still hard for the rich to enter heaven.” – MNA $$ guru #gca10

Really enjoying my first conference experience at #gca10. Meeting with Ted Powers and @ARStager in 10.

Just finishing up our last sessions of the day. Looking forward to Steve Brown tonight! #gca10

Listening to Dr. Steve Brown (Key Life) for the 1st time. Sounds like God. Topic is “3 Free Sins.” #gca10 http://twitpic.com/108asv

If pastors think their job is to keep their people from sin, then you are playing a sick game that will eat you alive. -Steve Brown #gca10

Steve Brown on pastors’ neurotic tendencies: if we don’t run to Jesus, he’ll break our legs and the Holy Spirit will carry us there. #gca10

Brown: I’m so screwed up I can hardly stand myself, and Jesus loves me, and he’ll love you too. #gca10 (via @PlantInBoston)#fb

gearing up to finish out the @_gca conference. ten sessions down; two to go. #gca10

Tools and diagrams are helpful, but it never works out the way you plan. Every church plant is a unique work of the Holy Spirit. #gca10

Ted Powers: Diff B/W Planter & Pastor: Planters gather those who are 2 be shepherded, Pastors Shepherd those who have been gathered. #gca10

Powers: Small Churches, 150 & Down are 1600 times more effective evangelistically than mega churches. #gca10

Most churches do not go beyond 200 because of the natural change from relationship to program driven #gca10

Powers: What is critical to a church plant is not only the people you attract and keep, but the people that move on. #gca10

A church is more than a bunch of people gathering for worship. A church is a biblical functioning community. – Ted Powers #gca10

Great truth frm #gca10 Lead people to have general conversations with unbelievers and they will eventually beg you to teach them how to do evangelism

Powers: the goal of church planting is not to get a church up and running. It is to reach people with the Gospel. #gca10

Notice how Jesus planted a church… 12 (Matt 4) > 72 (Luke 10) > 120 (Acts 1) > 3,000 (Acts 2) #gca10

Wishing I had attended #gca10 when it was #gca09… good stuff, lots to process

It’s amazing how a conference can both energize and drain you all at the same time! #gca10

@_gca serving in Africa, North & South America, Asia, Europe training men from 200 Denominations, 50 countries, 5 languages #gca10

Whether you realize it or not, you have a specific def. of personal success. It greatly affects your life…(LK 10:20)-Steve Childers #gca10

“Your joy in life must not be found in what you do for Him, but in who you are in Him” @stevechilders #gca10

“Jesus knew the time would come when his disciples would feel subject to the demons, not vice versa” Identity in Christ essential #gca10 #fb

It is THE best CP event/class/conference I have ever been to. It’s a bootcamp on gospel steroids. #gca10

Visionary church planters: what’s your vision for your marriage? For your family? – @stevechilders via his wife. #gca10

Church planters/pastors (every1 4 that matter) R in danger of offering to their “idol of success” their children, wife, time & sleep #gca10

“In repenting and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling. Is 30:15 #gca10

it’s one thing to start your ministry well; it’s another thing to finish it well. – @stevechilders #gca10

“Take a nap, REST! The Kingdom of God will go on. You may be surprised to find Jesus on his throne when you wake up.” @stevechilders #gca10

Sleep, sun, solitude, sabbath, sex, sweat, sustenance. Steve’s 7 S’s of success. Funny and true. #gca10

Differentiate between goals & desires. Desires you cannot control…goals you can. Work for goals, pray for desires. #gca10

Is God a means of grace in your life, or is grace a means to God? – @johnpiper via @stevechilders #gca10

“Don’t merely see God as useful, see Him as beautiful” – Bill Bright via @stevechilders #gca10

God will never really use you until you renounce your reliance & dependence upon God’s gifts & humbly rest only in God Himself #gca10

“God’s grace is like water, always flowing to the lowest place.” Puritan Statement #gca10

Church Planter & wife, like 2 people on a roller coaster: 1 puking over the side, the other hands in the air – roles can change daily #gca10

“Don’t let your living for tomorrow slay your living for today.” -Elisabeth Elliot via @stevechilders #gca10

(My wife) and I were just discussing the church plant, her comment: “I hope you have a green thumb!” me too, me too.

Welcome back to the real world–low in orlando 63, in boston 11 #gca10

This is the third in a series of blog posts called, “My Top Ten Mistakes in Ministry (That I Can Share Publicly)” After many years of ministry experience as a church planter, pastor and seminary professor I think I’ve finally learned that one of the best kept secrets to surviving well in the ministry is to stop making the same old mistakes that others (like me) have been making for decades. Instead, let’s all start making some brand new, bold, innovative and creative mistakes!

We began this series with an introduction called, “Ladies First” in which veteran church planter wife, Shari Thomas, addressed the tough topic, “What I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting” from the perspective of the church planter’s/pastor’s spouse. Last time we looked at Mistake #1 called, “Failing to Understand the Importance of How I Define Ministry Success.” This time we’ll take a brief look at Mistake #2 (these are in no intentional order) I wish someone had the wisdom and guts to tell me before I began church planting/pastoral ministry more than 30 years ago.

Mistake #2: Managing My Time And Not My Life

In his classic article, “Tyranny of the Urgent”, Charles Hummel writes, “‘Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day?’ Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered emails, unvisited friends, unread books and articles, etc., haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief.

But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four allotment? “A mother’s work is never done”, and neither is that of . . . any pastor. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience and success in life and ministry normally bring more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less.”

Our problem is often, unknowingly, allowing the urgent things in life to crowd out the truly important things. We all live in a constant tension between the urgent and the important.

The Gap Between the Compass and the Clock

There is an ongoing contrast between two things that continually influence our lives: the clock and the compass. Stephen Covey, in his book, First Things First, describes the clock as representing such things as our commitments, appointments,schedules, goals, activities; it’s how we use and manage our time. The compass represents our core life values, our conscience, our sense of personal vision and life mission; it’s what we believe is truly important in life and how we manage life.

The struggle comes when we experience a gap between the compass and the clock–when what we actually do with our time doesn’t contribute to what is truly most important in our life. In an effort to close the gap between the compass and the clock, many of us naturally turn to the field of “personal time management.” Traditional time management theory suggests that by doing things more efficiently, you’ll eventually gain control of your life and that increased control will bring personal peace and fulfillment.

Although there is much to gain from such things as planning, prioritizing and goal setting, the bottom line is that mere increased efficiency normally does not lessen the gap between the compass and the clock. In fact, I was a living example of someone who had learned how to get a lot more work done in less time, but what I was actually doing with my time was not at all what truly matters to me the most. This is why I wish someone had asked questions and said things to me like:

“How many pastors on their deathbed wish they had spent more time at the church?”

“The worst enemy of the best is often the good.”

The Answer is Not Learning to Get More Done in Less Time

The gap between what is deeply important to you (your compass) and the way you spend your time (your clock) cannot be closedby simply learning to do more things more efficiently. The answer is not found in learning to get more things done in less time. In fact, increasing your time management efficiency can actually make things worse! What is needed is a new way of thinking—learning how to manage your life and not just your time, and learning how to shift your focus away from things that are urgent to the things that are trulyimportant.

Often, unless we take intentional, proactive steps to fight against it, we’ll inevitably become slaves to the “tyranny of the urgent”.  It’s been said that, “Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.”

In Isaiah 30:15 we read, “For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.’” At the root of our frantic propensity to overwork is the sin of pride—an exalted sense of our importance to the Kingdom of God. We secretly and arrogantly think things like: “If I dare to stop, the Kingdom of God just might not make it and my ministry would surely self-destruct!”

Some of us need to show our faith in God not by working harder but by working less!

Some of us have been hitting it too hard for too long, and we desperately need extended time to rest. For some it might be 6 months for others it might be 6 weeks, or maybe 6 days. For some of us the most spiritual thing we could do now is to go home and go to bed and sleep!

A seasoned missionary in Peru came up to me at a conference once to tell me that in all his years in the ministry, he has learned that there are two types of missionaries in Peru—those who take siestas (naps) every day and those who leave the field. He said, “If you don’t learn to take your siesta on your first term, you normally will not be back for your second term.”

Not Just Starting Well . . . But Finishing Well

It’s one thing to start ministry well. It’s another to finish well. We must remember (and keep reminding each other) that the ministry is not a sprint, but it’s a cross-country event. So we must pace ourselves. We must build into our lives a Sabbath Rhythm of work and rest, work and rest—daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly.

The Scriptures tell us, “When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake” (Matt 8:18). Jesus knew when it was time for him and his followers to pull away from the pressing demands of ministry. My prayer for you and for me is that we will too, before it’s too late.

Steve Childers is the President & CEO of Global Church Advancement, an inter-denominational ministry that provides church planting training, consultations, and resources for church planters, pastors and missionaries throughout the world. Steve has trained Christian leaders from more than 50 countries (curriculum in five major global languages) representing over 200 denominations and mission agencies. Steve is also an author, Professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the Director of the Doctoral program atReformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation.

To learn more about GCA:

• Browse the GCA Website: http://www.gca.cc
• Join the GCA Cause: http://bit.ly/X5bZC
• See the GCA Blog: http://www.gca.cc/blog/
• Follow GCA on Twitter: http://twitter.com/_gca
• Follow GCA President (Childers) on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevechilders
• Check out upcoming GCA Events: http://gca.cc/Seminar_Overview.htm
• Support GCA: http://gca.cc/Support_GCA.htm

This is the second in a series of blog posts I’m calling, “My Top Ten Mistakes in Ministry (That I Can Share Publicly!). After decades of ministry experience as a church planter, pastor and seminary professor I’ve learned the hard way that most church leaders seem to keep making the same mistakes in ministry. I hope that this series will help some church leaders (including me) stop making the same old mistakes and at least start making some brand new, innovative and creative mistakes!

Last time we began this series with an introduction called, “Ladies First” in which veteran church planter wife Shari Thomas answered the tough question, “What I Wish I Had Known About Church Planting” from the perspective of the church pastor’s spouse. This time we’ll take a brief look at the first of my top ten ministry mistakes.

Mistake #1: Failing to Understand the Importance of How I Define Ministry Success

First, I wish someone had told me how critically important it is to have a biblical view of success in the ministry. I wish someone had the wisdom and guts to have taken me aside, before I went into pastoral ministry, and say something like this: “Do you know that you have a definition of what it means to be successful in ministry and that definition is probably very wrong and dangerous?” I wish someone had explained to me how my definition of ministry success had the potential power of either destroying my ministry and life or deeply enriching it.  But no one said that to me. So I had to learn this lesson the old-fashioned way–by failing.

By anyone’s standards the disciples’ ministry, described in Luke 10, seemed to be a raging success. You know the story. Jesus sent them out “two by two” and commissioned them to heal the sick and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. As they spoke in Jesus’ name and ministered to the people, God’s power fell on them in an astonishing way. They were not only surprised but also thrilled and elated. Luke 10:17 tells us, “And the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’” Their enthusiasm was obvious. God was mightily at work through their lives doing great signs and wonders, just like they had seen done earlier by Jesus.

So the disciples rejoiced. And why shouldn’t they? Even the demons were subject to them, just as they had been to Jesus. But right in the midst of all their elation and rejoicing at how God was working so powerfully in and through them, Jesus spoke these sobering words. He said, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven”(Luke 10:20).

Here Jesus makes clear to his disciples what I wish someone had made clear to me many years ago–that their source of joy in ministry must not be found in what they do for Him but in who they are in Him. Jesus knew that there would soon come a time in all of their ministries when there would no longer be great signs and wonders to encourage them. Instead, there would be great hardships, trials, persecution, and even death for serving in His name. Jesus knew there were times before them when they would feel much more in subjection to the demons rather than the demons being in subjection to them.

At such times Jesus does not want his followers (then or now) to be robbed of joy, so he taught them to find their true source of joy in something other than what most would call “ministry success.” Instead, Jesus wants His followers, even in the face of what many would call ministry failure, to be the kind of people who learn to find deep-seated joy in their knowledge of the Good News of the God’s radical love for them in Christ, (i.e. that “their names are recorded in heaven”.)

In the often difficult and faith-testing trenches of real life ministry (not the unrealistic, Pollyannaish and triumphalistic pictures of ministry often painted by others) it is extremely easy and very normal for church leaders to become discouraged and depressed. Thousands have left the ministry over the years convinced they are failures because of their lack of what many would call ministry success. One of the downsides of my ministry is that I’m sometimes called in to help when church planters and church plants crash and burn. Often these church planters don’t just leave the ministry-they leave the Faith. And every time, without exception, I have discovered deeply lodged in their broken hearts an unbiblical definition of ministry success.

According to Scripture, success before God should be measured primarily in terms of faithfulness to Him. Success has been defined well by Ken and Barbara Hughes, in their excellent book Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, as “faithfully pleasing God with the resources and responsibilities that He has given you.” The authors make the point that in the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30)  Jesus rewarded each faithful man the same—even though one was actually given more than the other and even though one actually produced more than the other.

The main point in this book is not to denigrate the value and necessity of things like thoughtful planning and hard work in the ministry. And the authors are not advocating spiritual pacifism in the name of faith. Instead, they are making a solid case for a biblical view of success that is radically different from the world’s view. It is primarily qualitative not merely quantitative. Its emphasis is more on things like faithfulness, humility, love and relationships than on measurable, objective accomplishments and achievements in the ministry.

God’s Kingdom is an upside-down Kingdom. The Apostle James wrote, “God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord said, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). One of the supreme glories of the Gospel is that it is primarily through weakness that God has chosen to show his strength. This is why the Puritans used to say, “God’s grace, like water always flows to the lowest place, the sinner’s place–the foot of the cross.”

Paul writes,  “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of  the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of  the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of athe world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God”(1 Cor 1:26-29).

If you are like most of us in the ministry today your definition of success is naturally prone to be primarily quantitative not qualitative. Its emphasis is on measurable, objective accomplishments and achievements–things like ”nickels and noses” (church finances & attendance), making a “Kingdom impact”, attaining prestige, power and resources. Without realizing it your  sense of personal worth and identity is inordinately and frighteningly deeply rooted in these things–not in the Good News that “your name is recorded in heaven.”

Oswald Chamber wrote, “God can achieve his purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or the abandonment of reliance on them. All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on him made possible the unique display of his power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.”

Never forget that your source of joy in the ministry must not be rooted in what you do for Him but in who you are in Him. That’s because there will inevitably come a time in your ministry when you will no longer have all the quantitative accomplishments, power and resources in which you are now illegitimately (and probably unknowingly) finding your true sense of worth and joy. “Do not rejoice in this…but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

Instead, learn to find your true sense of personal worth and joy in the Good News of God’s radical love for you in Christ. Define your success in ministry as “faithfully pleasing God with the resources and responsibilities that He has given you.” Make the primary focus of your ministry things like faithfulness, humility, love and relationships. Then leave the results of your ministry to God.  Failing to understand the importance of how to define ministry success has been one of my top ten greatest mistakes in ministry–that I can share publicly. This failure has cost me greatly. I pray that you will not keep making this same mistake.

Steve Childers is the President & CEO of Global Church Advancement, an inter-denominational ministry that provides church planting training, consultations, and resources for church planters, pastors and missionaries throughout the world. Steve has trained Christian leaders from more than 40 countries (curriculum in five major languages) representing over 300 denominations and mission agencies. Steve is also an author, Professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the director of the doctoral program at Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE

• “Amazing insights; great resources; gospel-centered focus, top-notch material both written and presented!”
• “This conference could replace all the other books, videos, classes and conferences I have encountered while preparing to plant”
• “I went to another training that focused on some theory and included a lot of inspirational stories. The training wasn’t very practical and not gospel-centered. I wondered “Where can I learn practical and applicable theory that is gospel-centered and where God is present?” Well, God brought me to that place when my wife and I came to GCA!”
• “It lays the foundational core for planting before you begin laboring at the plan. It gets your head and heart straight before you dive in.”
• “Intensely practical from people who’ve been there and done that!”
• “No other conference provides such intense training. This is truly a “bootcamp!”
• “All the trainers speak from the experience of their failures, which is encouraging!”
• “You only think you know what you are doing until you attend the conference! Hello, grenade-sitting-under-my seat! More than this, the love and riches of the gospel brought it all into focus.”
• “Call my denomination and tell them here is a place to train!”
• “This seminar surpassed my expectations. It’s like a grenade of useful information was dropped on me.”
• “Most valuable thing was getting the “ball rolling” by having time in class to work through exercises.”
• “Networking with others. GCA Must advertise more! Not many people know about it.”
• “The encouragement and coaching, not so much in the skills, but in the ‘faith!’”
• “Too much to list all, Relationships and Encouragement, Clearer Picture of the way forward.”
• “Talking about finances, launching, planning …”
• “The intentional nature of the conference was tremendously helpful.”
• “The overall orientation in foundations track was excellent. I think I walked away with a macro view of just what a church planter is!”
• “Encouragement from those who have been there and relationships with those who are going through it now.”
• “I love to be here because we can talk and we can dream together of church planting…”
• “Go tell others so they can come BEFORE they plant/start worship as a plant!”
• “There’s no doubt that I need to come back again.” 

WHAT PEOPLE ARE TWEETING ABOUT THE JULY 09 GCA CHURCH PLANTER TRAINING SEMINAR:

• “God loves to manifest his presence and pour out his power on those who will dare to align their purposes more with his.” @stevechilders
• “Missions exists because worship doesn’t” -Piper. For the younger generation, this is not Scripture. @stevechilders
• Phenomenal 1st day @ the #_gca seminar. Met some great church planters. Listened to teaching on vision, focus, & prayer.
• “Our greatest danger is not liberalism, modernism, postmodernism…but the church doing ministry in the power of the flesh” –Francis Schaeffer
• “The irony of the gospel is that the only way to be worthy of it, is to admit you’re completely unworthy of it.” – Tim Keller
• “Does “love” mean giving a person what they want, or giving them what they need?” #_gca
• “Don’t let your living for tomorrow slay your living for today.” -Elizabeth Elliot #GCA
• Leaving Orlando & the Global Church Advancement seminars more equipped, overwhelmed, missing my wife & trusting Christ more! #GCA

WHAT PEOPLE ARE BLOGGING ABOUT THE JULY 09 GCA CHURCH PLANTER TRAINING SEMINAR:

Sharing a Contextualized Philosophy of Ministry: 
http://churchplanting.sojournchurch.com/church-planting/sharing-a-contextualized-philosophy-of-ministry-gospel-church-and-culture/

Staying Healthy as a Church Planter: 
http://churchplanting.sojournchurch.com/church-planting/staying-healthy-as-a-church-planter/