Whether we are pastors, missionaries, writers, or some other kind of Christian leader, we have much to learn from God’s Word and Adam Ramsey’s article on humility and wrong motives in vocational ministry.

He opens with a clear message on how motives can shift: “Every church planter begins with a desire for his church to grow. And yet, what can often be missed—even as we come hurtling out of the gates with all our plans, prayers, and strategies—is the deadly desire to build our own empire. This kind of desire for church growth, if left unchecked, will have catastrophic results. There is a type of desire for church growth that has the capacity to prove deadly to you, your family, and your church, because its driving motivations are worldly….”

Ramsey rightly points out that motives matter and gives us a few great soul-searching thoughts:

• “As a church planter and pastor, I have to make war every day on ego and impatience, while breathing the toxic air of a wider church culture that readily applauds quick results over godly longevity.”
• “But when producing results comes at the expense of building on a gospel foundation with gospel motivations, we may as well be trying to erect skyscrapers on frozen lakes.”
• “Those he was called to serve were turned into a platform from which he could be seen. And the results were, predictably, catastrophic.”
• “Though the two appear similar in many ways, the distinction between godly aspiration and worldly ambition is ultimately revealed in our willingness to be unseen. To receive none of the credit. To have every last bit of human applause fly over our heads to Christ.”

Then Ramsey gives us a question that should help all of us search our hearts: “If God were to answer every one of my prayers for revival and renewal in my city—and he chose to do it primarily through another church—would I rejoice simply because he has done a great work?”

Thus, he beautifully concludes: “While we are owed nothing, in Christ we have received everything. And because of that reality, we can give ourselves to planting, shepherding, and serving churches with everything we have (1 Cor 15:10).”

-Adam Ramsey, The Dangerous Desire for Church Growth

Read the whole article here

(GSiV: Miller: Success, Failure, and Grace)