Years ago I became rather enamored with this word, “effective”. Webster defines this word as, “…producing a result.” In the business world it is absolutely essential to produce a result. I remember so well those days when I was in the metal fabrication business, that at the end of the day I could look at stacks of work I had completed and had great satisfaction as I cleaned up at the end of such a day and left the shop.
However, in the ministry I often ended the day with absolute despair as I would look back at the day, the week or even the month and could see nothing that was accomplished. This consternation over what seemed to me to be a lack of results led me to a kind of pragmatism that altered my view of the ministry. I became nearly obsessed with the need of measurable achievements. And in these days in the ministry achievement is measured in the size and numbers of the congregation.
After years of struggling with this and even making compromises to satisfy my obsession with “effectiveness” I have come to the conclusion that effective Christian ministry is not measured in what others have called “nickels and noses”. While I freely acknowledge that achieving conversions and disciplining these new believers is an essential part of ministry, it is also a work over which we have little control. We are involved in a spiritual battle that is a living reality with issues and powers that lie outside of our abilities. While we struggle for the souls of men, these same men make choices that are not so much the result of good and clear thinking as they are choices that reflect the moral condition of their souls.
I have found from the Scriptures that belief is not a matter of sound logic but rather a moral matter. Christ defined “unbelief” as a sin. It is not ignorance, it is sin.
John 16:8-9 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me;
This is why conversion is spoken of as a “liberating” experience. In a Christian conversion a man is freed from the bondage of sin.
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
I have come to the conclusion that one liberated sinner is worth any amount of effort. Have you been liberated from sin?
