A Working Definition of Success

  Morning Rays 
  Originally uploaded by grbenson3.

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."  Proverbs 16:3

Over the last five years I have been wrestling through what it means to be successful.  Ultimately success is simply being faithful to God. That statement is more deep and true than we often realize. 

And yet I ask myself, how do I know if I have been faithful to Him? To me, part of what it means to be faithful to God as a community of faith is to live out His intentions as the people of God.

As I have contemplated my best understanding of the church and her purpose, below is my current working definition of success.  I say working definition, because I am always asking God to shed more light on this topic.

Success is…

1. Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.
2. Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.
3. Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.
4. Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (ie. justice, healing, relief)
5. Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.
6. Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers’ we help experience healthy community.
7. Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.
8. Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.
9. Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.
10. Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.
11. Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.
12. Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is “the church” in our neighborhood, city and world?
13. Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.
14. Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.
15. Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

It should be remembered that I am speaking from a communal perspective, not an individualistic one.  For one person has this gift and another that. There's a lot more to say, but about five years ago, this is what I started to write down. It is my working definition.  Additional thoughts must wait for a future entry.

Comments

[blind beggar]

JR, this is really, really, good stuff! I think I need to do a post on it.

[Dustin James]

JR, I want to live like that. Great post man. I hope to help our community live with that mindset by living it myself. Peace bro, DJ

[Jason H.]

JR,

I've thought a bit about this "success" thing lately too. In fact I was just talking about this with some friends the other day. I like everything you said here, except it seems both unnecessary and untrue to have clothed it in the language of "a definition of success". That in itself seems like no big deal, but, more and more, I think language is important. Our language actually shapes our world. "The word is sharper than a two-edged sword", right. I mean, to me, success, if we were to seek a definition, would simply be the fulfillment of a goal. Example. A "plan" for a building ("Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.") is actually a step of FAITH, because it is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11). To actually get a building built, therefore, could be called success. I would be very hesitant, however, to call that a DEFINITON. See the following website.

http://philosophy2.ucsd.edu/~rickless/Phil100/Phil100-Socratic%20Definition.htm

That actually goes back to the HISTORICAL origins of the entrance of the idea of "definitions" into our culture! The BACKGROUND of Socrates discussion on "definitions" was actually the QUESTION as to whether or not DEFINITIONS EVEN EXISTED (everyone at that time thought Socrates was a crazy maniac)!! I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to define anything because there's no such thing as a definition (although Derrida would hint at as much - "My friends, there is no friend"). I'm saying, look at the three criteria for "definitions". They are all based on OUR KNOWLEDGE OF referenced definition in question.

The problem with that is that OUR human definition of a thing actually places LIMITS on God's reality based on OUR HUMAN perception of reality (or any particular aspect of reality - such as "success"). And that, because God is true and all of creation is forever a witness to His Truth, just doesn't really jive with most people, I don't think. It is, for example, why peolple don't like to be pigeonholed as "black", or "indian", or "lazy", or "yuppie". I actually think that this lack of jive with "definitions" is why people don't like "labels" rather than any eveil often assiated with said lables (such as "Georgia cracker"). Well, I know that in people EXPERIENCE it does go back to the harm often associated with the labels. But I acutally think that this question of putting ARTIFICIAL LIMITS on Reality is hierarchically superior, while most people only have a vague sense of the question and don't know how to put it into thoughts or words.

Jason

[Chad]

I really liked this, thank you..

[J.R.]

I wanted to thank everyone for you posts of encouragement, and Jason thanks for allowing me to clarify a couple of things.

First of all, yes, I think that the symbol "success" best finds it's home in the fulfillment of a goal. I probably should have clarified that I was speaking of the calling of the church,and what the fulfillment of her mission might look like if she fullfilled her calling "successfully."

I do believe that revelation sheds light on some specifics, and was trying to broaden the common ways that people define the mission of the church. I use the word "working" because this picture of a preferable future can never be fully developed and we are always looking through a mirror dimly.

The picture I was painting through words was tending to open the window a bit more and let some fresh air blow into some people's understanding. But of course a window is a window in which we use to look out of - to see a greater reality, and it is that greater reality that I sense you are refering to that has no limits and cannot be defined.

Of course without any definitions, communication can slip into the mud.