Originally posted May 9, 2011, at Toolbox for Faith. Republished with permission of the author.
In a previous time, congregations measured success by the number of people who joined the congregation.
Today, I think a more helpful measure is individuals served in mission — the number of people touched by the ministry of a congregation during the course of a year.
Last week, a member shared an excerpt from “Welcoming newcomers to our congregation” by Keith Anderson from Seeds for the Parish.
“‘Not joining does not equal failure. The end result of welcoming is not necessarily membership. If someone only comes for one Sunday, then we have ministered to them in some way. If people are with us for a while and decide not to join, we feel we’ve contributed to their discernment process. If you make welcoming only about membership, it’s a set-up for disappointment. Not everyone will join, and there will never be enough new members. Make it about ministry instead, and decide how you will measure success.’
“For me, the term ‘ministry’ puts a different light on welcoming.”
I absolutely agree.
When we focus on membership, we are focusing on what people can do for us. When we focus on ministry, we focus on what God can do for the world.
As we go about sharing God’s love faithfully, the spill-over effect is that very often people join the congregation — either formally or informally.
Since our call is to be God’s heart and hands and voices in the world, not to “make members,” I think it is important that we remember that our success as a congregation is not measured by the number of people who join the congregation but by the ways in which we make Christ known to the world.
Find a link to John Wertz’s blog Toolbox for Faith at Lutheran Blogs.
It may not be all that surprising, but I disagree with this measure of success. Worry about our success as Christians comes from a mindset where we contribute to Christ's work. But if we confess that it is Christ's death and resurrection alone and only, we play no role in God's saving work. Not even in "making Christ known". The Holy Spirit makes Christ known. Any attempt or even desire to take this success as our own is to betray Christ and go back to trying to be as gods on our own. The parable of the lost sheep might be a good example (Matt 18:12): the shepherd abandons 99 sheep to touch only 1 in ministry. The Gospel isn't about numbers in any way, shape or form, but is about you and me. Connecting even one sinner to Christ is success, and that's the work of the Holy Spirit, not us.
We do live under the Law, and hence we do have to worry about the consequences of our actions; ie money or lack thereof, care and organization of the group, restraining the demonization of the group, providing community, etc. However, as every congregation is ultimately a human organization, it is one run by sinners whose efforts will come to naught and it will fall apart. The Good News is that God has already succeeded on the cross and in the resurrecetion. This Gospel comes to us as a free gift in Word and Sacrament completely outside of the organization's efforts. Reception of that free gift is what we count as success. Sharing those gifts with others follows naturally from such reception. That's important, but what else do you expect when the Kingdom of God comes to us?
Another perspective: The church exists for the sake of the world. But what we are to do for the sake of the world is not "Save the Whales" or dictate public policy; rather we are to present Christ to a fallen creation. God never works in an un-mediated way; the church is called by God to be stewards of the means of grace. On that first Pentecost Peter preached and 3,000 souls joined "the way." Peter didn't preach environmentalism or politics, he preached Christ crucified and risen. If our ministry only furthers someone's "discernment," and that discernment is to reject God's proffer of grace, then we have not succeeded -- we have failed miserably at being the heralds of the Kingdom Christ calls us to be. Jesus rejected Satan's temptation to turn stones to bread and feed the hungry world to do what was more important, i.e., lead people to faith by dying and rising again. Counting those we serve is just as egotistical as counting those we "save." Our mission is to preach Chrust and count neither the cost or the results.
I remember a conversation that our congregation had with a pastor who was considering the call that we had sent him. In conversation regarding church growth, he reminded us that, "God does not call us to be successful. God calls us to be faithful."
I agree that someone there for one Sunday is not a "failure". Why, because we proclaim active forgiveness in Christ. Therefore, for that person to receive forgiveness even that once, is a great ministry. It's more than welcoming and it's more than helping them in their discernment, it is letting the Holy Spirit call through the gospel. This Holy Spirit which every day forgives sins in the church.
And if we are ready to say what we profess, namely that it is the Holy Spirit's job (not ours) to create faith, then we don't measure our success by numbers, we measure it by the means of grace--by which the Holy Spirit works.
Peter and Chemnitz above are correct, that this is God's work not ours, and all we do is proclaim it. The church's primary task and ministry has always been the ministry of the gospel, not the law. While that does not mean we ignore the law, it means we do not understand ourselves by it nor center ourselves around it.