by Whaid Rose
Church leaders face the ongoing challenge of how to measure ministry impact. We want our efforts to count for something. However, when we measure success by the wrong standards, a problem arises.
By secular standards, ministry success is usually about the number of people in attendance (bodies), financial resources (bucks), and facilities’ size (buildings).
Ministry is about people, and it involves money. There are benefits to having adequate facilities. But making them the sole measurement of success runs counter to what we observe in the life and ministry of Jesus. Since He is our model, let’s take our cues from Him.
Priorities
*First, notice how Jesus prioritized His life. He spent only ten percent of His time on earth teaching, healing, and revealing the kingdom of God. About the rest, all we’re told is that He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
Furthermore, Jesus spent most of His ministry years with people from the margins of society, not with those from the upper echelon who would bring visibility and influence to His ministry (15:2).
Finally, we notice that Jesus wasn’t driven by the tyranny of the urgent. He regularly withdrew from the crowds to spend time alone in prayer. It’s been observed that while “He was often busy, He was never in a hurry.”
Mustard seed ministry
This is seen in the story of the hemorrhaging woman in Mark 5, sandwiched between the healing of a demon-possessed man and the story of the synagogue ruler whose daughter was dying. Jesus’ long pause amid the crowd to ask who touched Him was an example of His unhurriedness.
The urgency of the moment was that Jairus’ daughter was dying (v. 23), which provides deeper insight into the disciples’ reaction. It wasn’t just that Jesus’ question made no sense to them; they were concerned about what Jesus’ delay could mean for the dying girl.
Jesus’ unhurriedness and unconventional approach to ministry is part of a larger motif in Scripture that is mostly overlooked. It is called “the unhurried way of the kingdom.” Its basic premise is that God’s kingdom advances through small, hidden acts of ordinary faithfulness and courage.
This is the point of Jesus’ parables concerning the nature of the kingdom, the classic one being the parable of the mustard seed. It is the smallest of seeds, but it quietly grows into the largest tree in the garden (Matthew 13:31, 32). The farmer has no choice but to wait with patience.
This answers a question that historians have long grappled with: why and how Christianity grew so rapidly during the early centuries, despite the marginalization and persecution of Christians. As it turns out, such persecution was the fuel of the church’s growth, not its deterrent. How so?
Veteran scholar Alan Kreider answers this question in his book titled The Patient Ferment of the Early Church. In it, he contends that central to the life and witness of Christians in the first few centuries was the singular virtue of patience.
Resisting impatience
This is likely disappointing for Christians in today’s “microwave” culture, marked by the desire for speed, convenience, and instant gratification. However, Kreider goes to great lengths to show that patience, not the things we rely on today (such as evangelism or church growth strategies), is what the early Christians focused on most.
He points primarily to the writings of early church fathers, such as Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine. Each of these wrote extensively on patience, underscoring its importance in Christian living. Tertullian’s On Patience asserts that patience is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian and connects impatience with the Fall of man in the garden.
The virtue of patience therefore loomed large in the spiritual formation of early Christianity. This explains why, in Christian dogma, patience is one of the seven virtues held in contrast to the seven deadly vices, and why patience is contrasted with anger or wrath.
This also explains why, after a period of intense persecution, Paul and Barnabas joyfully preached the gospel in the very cities where they were persecuted. They reminded discouraged Christians that by much tribulation they will enter the kingdom (Acts 14:19-22).
Paul and Barnabas’ perspective was informed by Jesus’ earlier admonition “By your patience possess your souls” (NKJV), concluding a lengthy discourse on the kind of tribulation His followers would face at the end of the age (Luke 21:7-19).
Patient endurance
The word patience comes from the Greek hypomone, which means “to abide under,” and is rendered endurance or patience, depending on the translation. I’m inclined to combine both words to form patient endurance. It’s one thing to endure suffering; doing so with patience answers the greater challenge of serving for the joy set before us (Hebrews 12:1, 2).
This is how the early Christians endured severe trials and how twenty-first century Christians should as well. This is how we bear up under the weight of the cross Jesus calls us to carry in following Him (Luke 9:23).
From this perspective Paul defended his ministry against those who claimed his leadership was unsuccessful and unimpressive and his preaching embarrassing. Paul’s defense was that his strength was in his weakness, and that his unimpressiveness was essential in pointing people, not to himself but to the Christ he proclaimed (2 Corinthians 4:1-5).
We derive from this that Paul measured ministry impact by a different standard, taking his cues from the life and ministry of Jesus, who will one day reveal the true impact of our work in the light of eternity. Until then, we wait patiently, continuing to live and serve in the unhurried way of the kingdom.
* I owe a number of these thoughts to Skye Jethani in his devotion “Jesus Did Not Hurry.”
