Success is such a vague concept in Pastoral life. For ages, we’ve defined it by numbers. Whatever numbers we could produce.
- Numbers of people
- Numbers of dollars
- Numbers of buildings
- Numbers of salvations
- Numbers of baptisms.
You number it and we’ll count it in the final tally!
For the last “number” of years, many well-known Pastors have tried to re-define success by saying that God cares more about faithfulness than He does “success”. Others have said that faithfulness IS “success”.
I appreciate the comment Rick Warren had on his Ministry Toolbox:
“Today, by the Spirit’s power, I’ll do the best I can with what I have out of love for Jesus. That’s my definition of success.”
What do you think? What’s YOUR definition of success as a Pastor?