I have been following some discussion on another blog called AG Think Tank about ministry fruitfulness. I couldn't help but post my two cents worth and decided that I should add it to my own blog as food for thought. So here it is.
As I was reading I began to reflect on my own personal story and “faithfulness lesson” as a church planter in Ellsworth, Maine (1981-1986). In about the second year of my church plant, our church was averaging seven people on a Sunday morning and three on Sunday night. Two of those people in that average was myself and my wife. I was very discouraged. The Pentecostal Evangel had been highlighting church plants that took off with overnight successes marked by seventy-five to two hundred in Sunday attendances. One Sunday night I was lamenting my disappointment to my wife and dear Margret, my other faithful Sunday night attender. Margret was full of Godly wisdom, gentleness, and kindness as she asked me the question. “Pastor, are you ready to pastor a hundred people?’ That question stopped me cold and caused me in that moment to reflect about my own abilities and understanding. In that moment, I verbally had to answer Margret honestly saying, “Margret you are right. I am not ready to pastor a church of a hundred.” There were things that I needed to learn that only God could teach me. Lesson One: Sometimes our churches are not ready for the harvest because we leaders are not thoroughly prepared to receive the fruit of our labors.
On another occasion that same year, I was running down the Surry Road during my daily marathon training crying out to God about my disppointment in the lack of fruitfulness and growth that I was not seeing when the Holy Spirit stopped me dead in my tracks. I can take you to that exact spot. Standing on the side of the road, the Spirit of God, spoke this question into my mind. “What is succes?” I had all kinds of answers. I was very animated (I wonder what the drivers thought of this crazy guy apparently speaking to no one on the side of the road with my hands and arms moving about). After several minutes, I stopped my discourse and finally said, “I don’t know God, you tell me.” God asked me one more ( well two) question. He asked, “Are you in my will? Are you called to be here in Ellsworth?” That was easy to answer because God had validated my call to Ellsworth to plant a church in too many ways to have had any doubts. I responded quickly and with firmness, “Yes, Lord. I know that I am called here and am in your will because…" I then listed off to Him all the confirmations and validations that had brought me to this place on the side of the road. When I finished, the Spirit of God spoke into my mind these words, “Success in being in God’s perfect will. Whether you pastor a church of a hundred or a church of three, you are successful.” I ran home that day with new vigor and assurance that Ellsworth Assembly of God would be a success. In the third year of our plant I began to see the fruit of my labors. By the fourth year we were able to purchase property and in the fifth year build a building. Twenty-five years later I was invited back to participate and preach at their anniversary service. Lesson two: Success is determined by our willingness to be in God’s perfect will.”
One response from Lane Douglas to my post at AG Think Tank is included because I happen to have a great deal of interest in Cival War and World War II history and can relate to the posting. Here it is:
"Growing up in a home where parents were Civil War buffs, many of my summer vacations consisted of learning U.S. History. Rather than Disney World, we frequented such locales as Antietam, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and, of course, Gettysburg.
One of the factors attributing to the Confederacy’s loss was the passion their leaders had for their men and for what they perceived as not so much a “war” as a defense of their homeland. This translated into many captains and generals moving themselves too close to the battlefront wanting desperately to be in the “action.” As a result, many of them were either wounded or killed from sniper fire or stray bullets.
What does that have to do with what you wrote? The result of these leaders being taken out of commission (many of them West Point trained) was that their spots had to be filled. Thus, sergeants and captains of small brigades would receive field commissions and end up being promoted before their time. They would find themselves in charge of units of soldiers larger than they had yet learned what to do with. The result was a degradation of command over time with large portions of the military being led as if they were local units since these newly commissioned leaders had yet to receive the proper training or experience.
So… not only in the church, but in the realm of leadership in general we see that fruitfulness before faithfulness can be detrimental to long-term success."
That last sentence is important.
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