Success is not defined by how many people show up to a service or an event. Success is defined by how much a service or event changes people to be more like Christ over time.
This is the mantra I have been repeating to myself and telling to everyone who will listen. I don't mind repeating it because I think it is so important. If we let it, our culture will pervert that definition of success and have us pursuing the wrong goals.
Bigness is a problem to solve, not a sign of God's favor.
I am not saying that "bigness" is evil or bad, but it cannot, must not, be our primary motivation. God doesn't need a slick marketing scheme to get people to church. He needs a church that believes so fully in what Jesus did that we actually live it out! Yes, people will be drawn to such a church, we are made to worship God after all. But the challenge for the church is to maintain an atmosphere of healing an transformation and to not get side tracked with big budgets or fancy sound equipment.
The Gospel will change the world, of that I have no doubt. But God wants to work through the church to make that happen.
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