Your question is a good one – one that I believe every church needs to answer: “How do we measure success?” Historically, most churches in the past 100 years have answers that question by measuring the size/amount of buildings, bodies and budget (see the review I did for Reggie McNeal’s book a few weeks ago. Reggie talks about changing the missional scorecard – in a sense, redefining what ’success’ looks like).

I think Peterson indirectly answer this question of success here in the quote: it means remaining faithful, it means listening and allowing ourselves and our churches to be guided by the Spirit, admitting – yes, even the pastor – of our sin to one another. Faithfulness, sensitivity to the Spirit, confession & humility. It’s not an earth-shattering answer, but one that is biblical. Actually, now that I think about it, it may very well be earth-shattering, its just that so few churches take it seriously that we haven’t seen much of it. Which is why this quote continues to challenge me, my assumptions, my thoughts and my approach to ministry.

How might you define ministry success in your context?

Brilliant quote, but one question. What is the definition of a successful church, as one can be misled at to what a successful church is.