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Good Morning!
How…as believers, as a movement of Friends, and as a body of churches on mission
together…how do we measure success? This
question becomes even more interesting when you think of these factors:
*Jesus Christ’s greatest achievement came as he died on a Roman cross
*11 of the 12 closest followers of Jesus died martyr’s deaths (the other one died in exile)
*Paul and Peter, who were instrumental early leaders of the Church, did not always get along
*A key teaching of Jesus states, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:31)
*Many, or perhaps most, of the founders of Friends spent time in prison…some were even executed for their Friends practices
*Our ‘denominational’ movement is not one of the largest ones in Christianity
Given these factors, it may be hard to say we have been successful.
But, we may have a worldly definition of success in our minds. See, we often measure success by the bottom line, how many people showed up, or how many times we won. And, even though there is nothing wrong with these measuring points, are they really the kinds of points we want to measure against when it comes to God’s kingdom coming?
I recently heard a statement that is ringing richly within my soul. It goes something like this:
God is not interested in our success …what He is more interested in is our faithfulness.
So, instead of asking, are we successful, what if we were to begin asking are we faithful?
Are we faithful?
-Pat Byers
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