HOW DO YOU GAUGE SUCCESS?

                This past Saturday we held our fall carnival at our church. We planned for 300 people to come. We sent out flyers, put up signs, even had kids on the street corner inviting people to come in. We had around 100 people attend. Was this event a success?

                In our world today, we most often measure success by the numbers. We set a goal, and if we attain that goal, we were successful. If we fail to attain that goal, we were not successful. This is a very pragmatic approach to success, and is valid, to a certain extent. But are numbers the only way to measure success.

                I watched, with delight, on Saturday as several of our people engaged community people in conversation. One young man expressed his surprise that we would do something like this for the community. The man who brought the inflatables expressed his gratitude for the way we pitched in and helped him. I also watched with delight as our own people connected with one another in positive ways. We worked together and accomplished something of significance. Based on my observations, I would say that our event was indeed a success.

                This past Monday, my wife and I had the privilege of having dinner with a couple who are missionaries with our denomination. They had been missionaries to Japan before they returned to the States to work for our International Ministry Office. Japan is one of the most difficult mission fields. On that mission field success is measured in ones and twos.

                While in business success is measured by large numbers, in ministry success is most often measured in ones and twos. It is not that we don’t want to see large numbers of people transformed by the love of Christ, but when we put our focus on large numbers we often lose sight of the individual. Although it is true that Jesus came to redeem an entire world, his strategy is to do it one person at a time. Jesus never saw the crowd as more important than the individual. He always took the time to personally engage people and give them his full attention.

                Jesus stressed the importance of seeing the individual as significant in the parable of the lost sheep.  Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:3-7

                I am a numbers person. I pay attention weekly to the number of people who attend our worship services. But, it is very important to remember that each of those numbers represents an individual who Jesus loves. If we continue to connect in significant ways with the people that God brings our way, we will be successful, independent of the numbers.