How do you define success in ministry?
It is interesting how much time we think and dream about succeeding in our calling, but we rarely ask ourselves what that success looks like. It can be easy to cheat off someone else’s success metrics or fall prey to perceived failure when good things are happening. But now that I am a student of leadership and a coach to some great ministry leaders, my perspective on success has changed.
I promise you that ministry leaders do not succeed by striking gold the first time. The ones who have “made it” (whatever that phrase may mean to you) all have something in common: They keep getting back up when they fall. They are resilient.
Lows and Highs
Defining success is tied to defining failures. Letting someone down, missing goals and making the wrong move could all fall under the umbrella of falling down in ministry. Some examples could include:
* Missing a deadline
* Reacting poorly to someone (again)
* Launching a program that no one signs up for
* Saying something you regret in a sermon (and getting those Monday emails because of it)
* Losing congregants or team members
* Getting your proposal denied by the elders or denomination
* Being passed over for a role or position you were excited about
* Showing up to a church meeting when no one else does
Getting back up may look like:
* Apologizing and making it right
* Moving on to another idea or tweaking an old one
* Investing in new people or investing deeper in the people you already have
* Addressing the weakness that is holding you and your team back
* Waking up early and attacking a problem while no one is watching
* Regrouping or rebuilding for a season
* Taking your next risk (and doing it scared)
* Shifting careers or getting a side job
* Asking for honest feedback
* Making the Sabbath a discipline
It is in the getting back up that we develop resilience.
We Will Fall Down.
Many of us were raised getting participation trophies. We were told we were special—and we are—but that doesn’t mean we get to skip a ride on the struggle bus. We are just not smart enough to figure it out the first time around. That’s not the way life works.
Success is like a football game—you will be sore from taking hits and getting knocked down. You might make a few big plays, but mostly you will be scrapping to go forward a few yards at a time.
I am inspired as I coach leaders who take significant blows, process them, learn from them and get back up. They define success as faithfulness and fruitfulness, and call out where they were trying to win instead of to serve. They fall down, get back up and learn from the experience. It never gets old to watch leaders formed and shaped in the painful, yet necessary, crucible of struggle and come out the other side more resilient.
The ministry leader who is successful is not the one who is right, but the one who is resilient. They just keep getting back up, no matter how sore and scared they may be.