Called to Faithfulness

"God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful." - Mother Teresa

The one thing we prioritize above all else in our culture is effectiveness. If something is not effective at what it's doing we replace it with something that is more effective. This is true with tools, equipment, ads, structures, and even people. It is foolish for a company to continue paying an ineffective employee when they could be replaced with someone far more effective.

Everything in our culture revolves around effectiveness. We rarely support political candidates for their ideals anymore, merely their effectiveness at pursuing agendas. We continually upgrade our technology and discard the older and therefore less effective models. We want things to work and work well.

This is true even in churches. We want our ministries to be effective. We want our ministers, elders, deacons, and other leaders to be effective. We want our outreach programs, VBS programs, food pantries, and everything else to be effective. There is, however, one major question to all this.

How do we determine effectiveness?

The problem with valuing effectiveness in our churches along with the world is that we inevitably have to use worldly measures of success in order to determine our churches' effectiveness. Programs are effective if they draw in large numbers of people. Ministers and other leaders are effective if they are popular and don't rock the boat. Churches are effective if they have a steady and preferably growing incoming stream of money.

Are any of these things bad in and of themselves? No. Clearly it is not bad for people to participate or for church leaders to be liked or even churches to be financially stable. These just aren't, however, a godly metric of success. 

The quote atop this post by Mother Teresa strikes me as much needed nowadays. God has not called us to be effective or successful; he has called us to be faithful. He has not called us to draw big crowds, make money, or be popular. He has called us to serve Christ in humble faithfulness.

Looking to scripture this has always been the case. Think of Elijah, probably the most famous prophet of them all. By the standards of effectiveness, was he successful? Absolutely not. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel did not listen to him. The people continued in their idolatry and sin despite the miraculous signs and wonders performed through Elijah. 

Jeremiah is another example. Basically no one would listen to him. He ministered for decades to the people of Judah, right up until the Babylonians tore Jerusalem to the ground. He was ignored by kings, rejected by the people, and hated by many. Was he effective?

There are some biblical heroes that are effective in what they do, but that is always an asterisk or followed by an asterisk. Heroes like David and Joseph were only effective because of their faithfulness. God made them effective. Other figures like King Jeroboam II, who was immensely successful militarily, financially, and politically, were warned that their effectiveness and success was meaningless without faithfulness (read Amos).

By the standards of success and effectiveness we often use in our churches, Jesus Christ himself is a failure. He really only managed to recruit twelve loyal followers, and even then one betrayed him, another denied him, and the rest abandoned him. The crowds he spoke to and performed miracles for turned on him. The authorities put him to death. Jesus was not "successful" by any metric of effectiveness we use, and yet it is he who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

God called every person mentioned above (as well as countless more in scripture) not to effectiveness but to faithfulness. Jesus was perfectly faithful, and yet was by all measures unsuccessful. Yet this is why he is victorious; faithfulness. That is wisdom of God. It is not through effectiveness and worldly accounts of success that we succeed; it is through faithfulness to God. 

We are called to be faithful, not successful. Through our faithfulness God might bring about great success and effectiveness, or he may call us to be faithful through (by the world's standards) failure after failure. I believe we need to start applying this to our churches, ministries, and leaders. 

Large crowds do not indicate faithfulness. Popularity does not indicate faithfulness. Cash reserves do not indicate faithfulness. Effectiveness and success, by whatever metric you use, do not indicate faithfulness. 

Faithfulness is measured by humility, love, holiness, righteousness, and mercy.  Faithfulness is indicated by a constant search for the truth, even if that truth is unpopular. Above all faithfulness is seen in those people and churches who actively seek God in everything they do.