“So then, my brothers and sisters, who I love and long for,
my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.”
Philippians 4:1
What is success in ministry? What does a “win” look like in the life of a local church? What metrics should we use to gauge the success of the work of Preston Highlands Baptist Church?
My best friend and roommate in college asked one of our professors one day what success looks like in ministry. The professor’s answer was simple and profound. It has stuck with me for almost twenty-five years: names. The way we measure success in ministry is with the names of people. Not numbers. Not programs. Not money. Not buildings. Not evangelism. Not missions. Not performance. Not preaching. Not longevity. The way to measure success in ministry is through the names of people whose lives have been transformed by the gospel.
The things I listed are not necessarily bad or wrong. They are useful and even necessary aids toward the end of God’s people growing in the gospel. But it is possible to have these outward, measurable, observable, and tangible things in place while people remain unmoved and unchanged by the gospel. What a tragedy it is when churches are outwardly successful while spiritually dead!
As the final chapter of Preston Highlands Baptist Church comes to a close, it is tempting to think that we have failed. But as we draw near to the end of our life together as the local assembly of believers in Jesus Christ called “Preston Highlands Baptist Church,” let me encourage you to stop and remember the success of our life and work together. Names. People. Think of them now. Brothers and sisters in Christ who have grown and matured and deepened in the Lord. Lost people saved and baptized. Saved people strengthened and encouraged. Many going out to serve and bless and teach and evangelize and join other churches.
By God’s grace, I believe that our church has been a resounding success in the eyes of the Lord. Not because we are large and not because we are continuing on, but because we have been faithful to plant and water the seed of the Word of God in the time and space we were given.
Gandalf says it best in The Lord of the Rings: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”
My dear brothers and sisters, we have done what we could in the field where we were planted, a field called Preston Highlands Baptist Church. We have tilled the soil through prayer. We have planted the seed of the Word of God through preaching and teaching and discipling. We have uprooted evil. We have cultivated God’s garden through community, singing, generosity, hospitality, accountability, laughter, and tears. We have successfully done what Jesus commanded us to do (Matt. 28:18-19), and by grace, God has given growth. So much growth in so many people. This is God’s work through us, and it has not been in vain. Indeed, it has been a resounding success for all the reasons I have mentioned. And because it made the “earth” of our lives better soil for the next assignments Jesus has for us. For this we must be grateful.
Our church may be closing, but God’s work in and through us is not done. As in a novel, the ending of a chapter is but the beginning of another. God’s work will go on through us. In fact, if we are committed to measuring success by names and not numbers, God’s work will go on long after we are gone. Last year for my birthday, Suzy gave me a picture for my study with a quote from Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism. It says this, “We must decide where we want our ministry to count – in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone. Really it is a question of which generation we are living for.”
Names. Lives transformed by the love and glory of Christ. People who will carry on the work long after we have gone. Our church has planted and watered many gospel seeds. And by grace there is so much fruit! Just yesterday I spoke with three former members of PHBC who have moved away and they each talked about how our church changed and shaped the trajectory of their lives. Praise be to God for using people like us to propel his mission on the earth forward.
In the months and years to come, when I think about the season Suzy and I spent serving PHBC, the thing I will think about the most will be the countless people who were changed by the gospel. I will battle back the shaming voice of failure with the recitation of names of precious people we have walked with. People we have seen saved and changed and growing in the Lord. Names, like yours, are what I will take with me. You are my joy and crown. You are evidence of God’s victorious work among us. And I will never forget you.
Forever Yours, With Love,
Pastor John