June 2021 Tower

You know, I’ve been thinking a lot this month about success. What makes someone successful? How do we measure success? How do churches think about successful worship services or ministries? With the thought of success comes the weight of pressure. Sure, pressure can be managed and under extreme pressure diamonds are formed. But the pressure is always there when we talk success. If we think about success in terms of what the world (the anti-kingdom) says we must think in terms of money, accolades, popularity, a mortgage, a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and notoriety. Churches fall into this trap. We try to calculate and quantify anything and everything (me included, perhaps a little more so than others). There is nothing wrong with taking inventory of what we could do better and how we can listen to the Spirit. How then does our Creator, Savior, and Sustainer classify success? I would imagine that this is through loving God and neighbor well. It is the selfless act of reaching out to the stranger and edging closer the boundaries of our comfort zones. It must be measured by taking risks that the Spirit has brought us to. I would argue that it looks like sharing in prayer and practicing spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, reading scripture). I read an article by Bill Wilson a couple weeks ago, and he thinks the scoreboard for churches made up by a series of questions. Here are my favorites:

  Have you engaged in a significant spiritual practice in the last seven days?

  Have you loved someone unconditionally this week?

  Have you listened to God in the midst of the rain, the sun, the birds, the wind, the surf, the traffic, the family, the game this week?

  Have you had a bell laugh each day this week?

Well, how have you done?

Not so successfully yours,

Joy