>I was going to tag this article on the end of my previous posting, but having read through it again, I believe it deserves its own “slot”. So often we measure the success of a certain program or idea by the number of people who attend. Having worked in a mission organisation for many years I have begun to learn that this is not what it is about. Success in God’s terms is not measured in numerical concepts. We need to re-think and realign our definitions with God’s idea of success. This article helped me consider more about my definition of success. Some of what is suggested below I am still contemplating because they do relate to numerical measures, but that doesn’t mean I just toss it aside and move on…. See what you think?!

 What the Missional Church Looks Like
JR Woodward at Dream Awakener has a perspective on success that really helps my understanding of missional. His post A Working Definition of Success provides a working definition of what missional might look like. Here it is:

• Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.
• Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.
• Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.
• Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)
• Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.
• Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers’ we help experience healthy community.
• Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.
• Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.
• Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.
• Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.
• Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.
• Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is “the church” in our neighborhood, city and world?
• Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.
• Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.
• Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

Previous related Posts:
1) A New Way of Doing Church 
2) Missional – A Change in Thinking 
3) Description of a Missional Church
4) What the Missional Church is NOT!

Related posts:

1. The Missional Church – What it is NOT!
2. Michael Frost on the Missional Church
3. Missional – A Change in Thinking
4. Description of A Missonal Church
5. A new way of doing church?