April 24, 2024

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Success in ministry

Success in ministry, Training

But Will It Last After I Leave?

In my Bible this morning, I found this depressing reflection on the meaning of life: For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.  What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?  All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.  Ecclesiastes 2:21-23… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Finishing Well, Success in ministry

Top 10 Definitions of Missionary Success Revisited

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Success for missionariesThe seventh post in a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful. In the third, fourth and fifth posts, we looked more closely at Paul’s criteria of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel, seeing lives changed by God’s power through our ministry, and joyfully enduring hardships in ministry.  In the sixth post, we looked at some typical, yet flawed definition of success. Last week, I suggested that we as missionaries are pretty adept at coming up with ways of determining whether we have been “good missionaries.”  … Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Finishing Well, Success in ministry

Top 10 Inadequate Definitions of Success

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Success for missionariesThe sixth post in a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful. In the third, fourth and fifth posts, we looked more closely at Paul’s criteria of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel, seeing lives changed by God’s power through our ministry, and joyfully enduring hardships in ministry. Who gets to hear “Well done”? We all want Christ to say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” when we stand before him. But few of us spend much time thinking deeply about what “well done”… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Hardship, Stress Management, Success in ministry

Joyful Acceptance of Hardships

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Success for missionariesPart 5 of a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful. In Part 3, we explored Paul’s first criterion of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel. In Part 4, we looked at the second criterion, that of seeing lives changed by God’s power through our ministry. As I said in my last post, Paul thought he didn’t need to commend himself to the Corinthians. They knew full well what had been accomplished through his preaching in their lives and in their church. His ministry was credible… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Church Planting, Disciple-making, Success in ministry

The Resume is Staring You in the Face

This entry is part 4 of 7 in the series Success for missionariesPart 4 of a series on defining success for a missionary.  Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful.  In Part 3, we explored Paul’s first criterion of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel. The Church’s Existence is a Proof that I am Successful Besides reminding the Corinthians that he clearly and even simply proclaimed the Gospel, Paul argues that the very presence of a Corinthian church was ample evidence that he was, in fact, a successful apostle and missionary.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
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