How do God and Yoda define success?
Yoda, that great Jedi frog of Star Wars fame, was merely reflecting the world’s view of success in this exchange with young Luke Skywalker during a swampy training session [watch]:
Luke: Alright, I’ll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.
To Yoda, success depended only on one thing: results. And while seeking results (in  Christian-speak: fruit) is not bad in and of itself, most of us know the slavery of results-based success. Year after year we grind our gears to achieve, accomplish, and attain in every area of our lives. We can even relentlessly push our children, grandchildren, employees, investments, spouses, pastors, congregations, and ministries to get results. When we do get results, we’re “successful” and we feel good. When we don’t get results, we’re “failures” and we feel lousy. Living this way is a hard, slavish, roll-coaster life!
God challenges our results-based view of success with a faithfulness-based view. In the so-called Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30), Jesus commends two out of three servants for their faithfulness (pistos), not their fruitfulness (karpos). By using pistos1 in His commendation (vv. 21 and 23), Jesus clearly shows that He values the two servants’ personal trustworthiness and belief in Him over the extra money they’d earned. Singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson sums up this idea nicely in this stanza from his song Just as I am [listen].
Well, it’s time now to harvest what little that grew.
This man they call Jesus, who planted the seeds, has come for the fruit.
And the best that I’ve got isn’t nearly enough.
Well, He’s glad for the crop but it’s me that He loves.
Embracing God’s faithfulness-based view of success doesn’t eradicate our desire for or the importance of results. It just puts those things in their proper place. It releases us from slavery to results. In Christ, we’re free to work hard knowing that our results (or lack thereof) are not God’s main gauge of success. We’re free to enjoy God’s results-independent love which is ours through faith in Christ in the gospel.
Perhaps God's love is compelling you to partner with us as we rescue others. If so, after you have given your tithes to your local church, maybe you can help us nourish churches by giving a tax-deductible gift to Churches for Life. Give securely online using the button below, or mail checks payable to "Churches for Life" to POB 411752, St. Louis, MO 63141. Thank you!
Consistent
A consistent Life Team provides regular opportunities for their congregation to grow as gospel-driven champions of life. This principle acknowledges that we humans mature little by little (see Deut. 23:30) and need repeated encouragement to live as gospel-driven “rescued rescuers.” Some Life Teams try for consistency by keeping an annual calendar populated with annually-repeated, and/or opportunistic initiatives. Others regularly write life-affirming blurbs for their church’s e-letter, (paper) newsletter, website, prayer list, and/or bulletin board. Being consistent does not mean your Team has to run a huge, complex event every two months! Think of it this way: people are like crops in that we grow best with gentle, regular rains, not torrential, infrequent rains.
For more on this topic and many others essential to Life Team health, consider Tool 3: Life Team 101.
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How do you define success?
In keeping with this month’s lead article (above), the question for leaders is how we explicitly speak about success with our Life Team. It’s your job to remind your Team that God measures success primarily in terms of faithfulness, not fruitfulness. If you don’t do this, your Team will almost always fall into a slavery-to-results mode. One bitter result of living in this mode is that enthusiasm fluctuates wildly based upon visible fruit in ministry. Here are some ways you can remind your Team of God’s view of success:
- Read the article above to your Team.
- Discuss one of God’s Old Testament prophets, like Isaiah. These men of God ministered faithfully, often without any visible results. Yet they were not failures! There were counted faithful (see Hebrews 11) simply because they responded (sometimes imperfectly) to God’s leading.
- Review the module on consistency in Life Team 101 with your Team.
- Reflect on your own life, giving thanks to God for His consistency with you in your own spiritual growth. Then, sharing this part of your story with your Team. Doing so often does two things for you and for your Team: increases humility, and renews a Team’s commitment to persevere in being consistent.
Reminder: Join our Life Team Leader conference call on Tuesday, October 21 at 7:00pm. Click picture for details.
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Over 100 Life Teams in Process
God is currently building over 100 Life Teams in over 100 churches in more than 13 states across America! We say "in process" because it's actually a big deal for a church to agree to build a Life Team, and then it takes about 8-12 months for a Team to navigate CFL's Life Team Roadmap toward maturity. For example, over Labor Day weekend two different women in two different churches will present the Life Team idea to their church's adult Sunday School class. Lord willing, several people will catch the vision for a Life Team and will begin CFL's Life Team 101 training within a month or so. In both of these cases, CFL (either directly or indirectly) has already invested months of training and coaching to pave the way for these Sunday School presentations.
CFL's present strategic plan includes multiplying our efforts to equip Affiliates - organizations that employ CFL's methods and materials to build and coach Life Teams. Over half of the 100 Life Teams in process across America today are the result of God's flourishing our relationship with our first Affiliate, Lutherans for Life. If you visit their home page, you'll plainly see evidence of our partnership to build Life Teams! In the coming years, and with God's blessing, CFL will develop more Affiliate relationships and resources so that Life Team-building efforts can expand exponentially!
About 30 of these 100 Life Teams are already mature and are actively equipping their churches as gospel-driven champions of life. They're organizing incredible equipping events like the two highlighted immediately after this article. They're also helping their congregations live out the gospel by fostering and adopting children, helping moms in crisis pregnancies, dignifying older adults, teaching people how to make biblical decisions about end-of-life and medical issues, and much, much more.
We are so thankful to God for building so many gospel-centered Life Teams! The process is not quick or easy, but few things of lasting value seldom are. In our experience, churches with CFL-trained Life Teams are the most gospel-driven, life-radiating communities on earth!
Please continually ask God to guide and guard the Life Teams He's building, and to do the same for CFL. If you want to help us build even more Teams, please consider a financial gift (monthly giving is best, but one-time gifts are also greatly appreciated) by clicking here. Thanks.
~ Pastor Doug Merkey, CFL President
Attention Student Ministry Leaders!
Attention Youth Groups!
Join us on September 6 in St. Louis, MO for a free, relevant, engaging, gospel-centered, trustworthy, evangelical blend of dance and drama that empowers teens to make positive life choices regarding relationships, sex, alcohol, drugs, and more. Details here. Click the picture for a special invitation to youth pastors.
You're Invited to Pastor Merkey's Book Launch on November 13!
Coinsidering a Life Team? Start with this...
Check Out Our YouTube Channel!
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