What makes a successful church? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask. Most people think a successful church is measured in large numbers, big budgets, programs that meet their needs and state-of-the-art facilities.
However, none of those standards are proof of success. In fact, each one of those standards could just as well be present in a dead church. Do you remember the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1–6)? This was a church that had a good reputation and was alive and well in the eyes of the community, but in the eyes of God, they were dead (Revelation 3:1).
Apparently, God doesn’t see as we see (Isaiah 55:8–9), and He doesn’t measure success in the same way that we measure success. While there is nothing wrong with numbers, programs, big budgets and large facilities, a church can be successful in the eyes of God without possessing a single one of these qualities. What, then, is the measure of a successful church?
Christians who humbly try to live out the Lordship of Jesus in their lives daily.
Christians who love the truth supremely—who will not allow their own personal desires or situations to skew their perception of God’s revelation.
Christians who are committed to moral living and are more concerned with godliness than fitting in with society.
Christians who love peace more than they do a fight and who love the calmness of unity more than the rhetoric of a fuss.
Christians who support the weak, restore the fallen and reaffirm their love and commitment to those who have stumbled.
Now, these characteristics would make a successful church! Note: It’s not about size, big budgets, programs or facilities. Rather, it’s about inward transformation and spirituality. Here’s the best news of all: we don’t have to have large numbers, multi-million-dollar budgets or state-of-the-art facilities. The qualities that bring success and constitute greatness in God’s eyes are qualities that are within our reach.
