These thoughts are especially for my fellow pastors (although I think they pertain to anyone who attended a church service recently).
So… how successful was your church gathering this weekend?
Was it successful because lots of people were there? Or because the pastor preached a good sermon? Or maybe the offering was better than usual? Or because you could feel something special as the worship team sang and played their instruments?
How about these measurements:
“The great business of the church is not our number by addition, but by grace, by growing up in Christ.” (John Owen)
“The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.” (C.S. Lewis)
“Revival is the church getting back to ‘normal.’” (A.W. Tozer)
I hope these quotes have you thinking about church “success” as much as they are working on me!
UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.
Craig T. Owens 
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