FEELINGS OF FAILURE
How do you measure success when there's no apparent scale?
Kent and Barbara Hughes
April 1, 1987
Condensed from Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome (Tyndale House Publishers 1992)
A sense of failure in the ministry pervades all areas of a pastor's life, and spouses particularly share that darkness. In this article, Kent and Barbara Hughes provide two sides of their experience with Kent's struggle over his apparently unsuccessful ministry. Kent begins:
During seminary I began ten years of ministry in my family church, first as youth pastor and then as associate pastor. This was in the late sixties-restless, unsettled, but a time of wonderful spiritual harvest.
The highlight of that ministry is captured in a five-by-seven photograph hanging in the hallway of our home. The photo was taken in 1968 in Parker, Arizona, during our high schoolers' Easter outreach week at the Colorado River. In the foreground are five young men posed on a boat trailer. They're tan, windswept, and holding beers with postured male ‚lan.
Three of those young men would confess Christ that day. Today, two of them are in the ministry, and one of their friends, who followed them in receiving Christ, is now a prominent Christian counselor. That picture demonstrates for me the sovereign, ineluctable power of God. Those young men, before completely unknown to me, not only were revolutionized by God's grace but have led unusually productive Christian lives and have been my good friends for almost twenty years.
If only all of ministry were as triumphant as that picture! Even in that golden era of youth ministry, I knew the privileged vicissitudes of ministry. But at that point I found them bracing, even exhilarating.
Greater Expectations
The church I served decided to mother a new church with me as the founding pastor. In this adventure, the sponsoring ...
Like the preview? To read this complete article
and 20,359 more in the archive—JOIN NOW!
Easily find high-quality, well-researched materials that provide a Christian perspective on topics ranging from headlines to history.
Start using this invaluable tool TODAY for preparing your Bible studies, presentations, class lectures, sermons, meetings, and more.
|
It's easy and quick to join:
Brought to You by Christianity Today Int'l |  |
|
| 
Find similar articles
E-mail this page
