Failure or Success in Ministry?

Team ministry can make unnecessary failure, um...not necessary

by Dan Lentz

Is failure an option in ministry? That's an interesting question. For instance, some would point out Biblical examples of prophets who were called to proclaim God's message to people who would never listen or yield. Imagine a whole ministry career spent doing something that had minimal impact on the people of their time.

Others would say God wastes nothing, including failure. He redeems it for His purposes. Even prophets, whose messages were never received in their day are still speaking today, and lives today are being changed as a result.

So, it could be said, God doesn't distinguish between success and failure. He uses both for His glory and purpose.

But then the question becomes: Is there unnecessary failure in ministry today? Certainly any failure, regardless of the cause, can be redeemed by God. But do we make failure more of an option than we should? Do we excuse poor ministry performance with too much ease?

That's an interesting question and one that was tackled by Elwin Ahu at the "Doing Church as a Team Conference" (DCAT '09). His topic was team ministry. When it comes to ministry, teams make it possible to have success when lone individuals may have failed unnecessarily at the same endeavor.

While individual failure may be a great growing experience, we should not use failure as an excuse for personal growth. Instead, put the priority on ministry success by using the giftedness of the Body of Christ as the means by which we successfully fulfill our mission. This applies to leadership teams and small groups. Beyond the non-negotiable of prayer, Elwin suggested six things that provide the context for successful ministry using teams:

1. Establish a center point or core values that all team members embrace.
2. Invest deeply in relationships among team members so that trust is established and conflicts can be resolved.
3. Aim for the heart; keep people's heart as the highest priority.
4. Find the "fuse" and light it. Build people up. Be a dream releaser.
5. Create community identity. Help the team to see themselves as an entity on a mission.
6. Celebrate and have fun!

These are Elwin's ingredients for ministry success through teams and groups! Are there any other ingredients you would add?