Church "success"

This past weekend, my wife, Caroline, and I went to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Hudson Falls.  Caroline stayed there a few days longer, getting things packed up from her temporary stay there as we are getting ready to move into our home  in Syracuse the end of this week.  We're excited, to say the least!

As I was driving back to Syracuse Sunday afternoon, I was listening to a radio program in which previous speakers gave TED talks on the subject of "success."  One of the speakers said something that got me thinking... He said that the United States has a culture based on the concept of "meritocracy."  In other words, we base an individual's value not so much anymore on where they live, who their family is, or even how much money they have.  We base it on what they "do."  And thus people either have or don't have "merit" to society.  Further, he posited the idea that we feel that people "deserve" the merit they either have or don't have.  If they are what we deem as  a "success" in life, then they deserve their success.  Conversely, if someone is seen as a "loser" or "failure," they are deemed to have deserved that as well.   This whole idea that people are either a "success" or a "failure," a winner or a loser, is rampant in our society.

What got me thinking is how this relates to ways in which we view our congregations.  We assume that congregations that continue to lose members each year do so because they somehow have done something to "deserve" that sort of "failure"... they have not adapted enough, been flexible enough, been welcoming enough, been open to change enough, etc.  Similarly, the few churches that seem to grow in numbers each year clearly "deserve" their "success"... they have offered new services, praise music, varieties of worship experiences, innovative leadership, etc.  Do we really want to buy into society's automatic judgment of whether and how our congregations are either "winners" or "losers," successes or failures???  I think that's dangerous... and I think it's unbiblical.

We ought not fall into the mindset that dwindling numbers are acceptable without question; we need constantly to find new and meaningful ways to spread the Gospel of Jesus to a world that still is hungry for meaning and lasting values in life.   However, we also need to remember that Christ never, ever called us to be "successful."  We are simply called to be faithful. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find some way, in our annual statistical reports to the General Assembly, to demonstrate our faithfulness to our calling as followers of Jesus?  What might that look like?  How might we define and describe such faithfulness?

Blessings and peace, Steve