By Danjuma Byang
We can no longer pretend not to hear the raging controversy going on mainly among top Pentecostal preachers in Nigeria and surrounding it, all about and around what we call the ABCs of ministry. What does that mean? A stands for Attendance, or the number of members one has in the register of his church. B stands for Buildings, or the size and magnificence of the church building(s) one has. And C stands for Cash or how much one has in terms of financial prowess and all the material comfort that money can buy.
Some are saying they are successful in ministry because of the ABCs that they command. Others are saying the ABCs don’t matter at all when it comes to measuring success in ministry. So, who are the ones that are right and the others wrong? Do the size of your congregation, the type of building you have as worship hall or auditorium and the size of your budget matter in deciding who is successful and who is not successful in ministry? And who determines the standards of the measurement? Is it men or God? In this short write-up I will attempt to address these issues as candidly as I can.
In my view, the answer to this question is not a simplistic yes or no! There are many issues to be taken into consideration before one can arrive at the valid answer for each case. In other words, there is no standard answer that is applicable to all cases. Every case must be examined on its own merit. But there are some general truisms that we all must subscribe to, even though some of them may look uncomfortable. These are:
1. No one enters the ministry and desires that he would not have a big congregation running into hundreds and thousands. No one! Or that he would manage his small congregation in a small hut at the backside of the village, town or city, in which he is called to minister. Nor does anyone feel comfortable living from hands to mouth, because there is a scarcity of everything! No matter the nature of one’s ministry he wants to grow in these areas! Of course, most ministries don’t start with these numbers upfront but they pray and work hard to attain them. If you know any minister or ministry that this does not apply, please give me a DM on it.
2. Some ministers and ministries do pull through and build large congregations, large buildings and access large sums of money, relative to where their ministries are located and the type of members they attract. (A big ministry in one city is not up to the size of children’s church in another ministry in another city! And a ministry patronized by senior government officials cannot he the same with a ministry targeted at reaching students or prisoners, orphans and widows!).
3. The ABCs of a ministry is also largely attributable to the capacity and capability of the minister(s) behind it. The minister’s education, giftings, personal charisma, character and connections, or the lack of these, do affect the ABCs of a ministry. A vibrant young man with a healing and prophetic ministry with demonstrable proofs of healings, accurate prophetic utterance and deliverance cannot be compared with another minister who is a genuinely called minister but who is lacking in basic education and charisma. He hardly can communicate effectively in any language other than his mother tongue and is destitute of the miraculous! In today’s world it would be a miracle for a minister like that to command the ABCs of ministry!
4. Related to the point above is the fact that callings and emphases on ministry differ with different outcomes. A minister whose calling and emphasis in ministry is teaching on holiness and sanctification will have a hell of a time competing with one, whose calling and emphasis is faith and prosperity, especially in today’s world! Similarly, a minister called to be a missionary to a disconnected tribal group in the unheard of remote villages, cannot compete with a minister called to minister in the capital city of his nation! Using the yardstick of ABC in ministry to judge the success of the two sets of ministers shows a great misunderstanding of how God tests His workers.
5. Some ABCs are genuine, while others are suspect! There are ministers who are sincerely and genuinely exerting all their mental, spiritual and physical energies to produce the results that people can see. The membership and the material blessings of their ministry are as a result of great efforts, producing people that are genuine converts and disciples of Jesus Christ, and the sources of their money are transparent and unquestionable! Some other ministers cut corners and go to diabolical places to acquire spiritual powers, influence and affluence! They too may command the ABCs of ministry, but they are not genuine! God and many discerning people know the difference.
6. Some ministers and ministries are meant to command more ABCs than they presently do for several reasons. One is that they lack consecration. They may be battling with several besetting sins, and so God, who builds His church, is refusing to blossom the work unless and until they shape up their lives. Another reason, is that the season of their breaking forth has not yet come. I heard someone say that Bishop TD Jakes, the great American megachurch preacher, pastored a congregation of 20 people for nearly 20 years before an opportune time came and he took it and his ministry exploded in growth! I have heard a similar story about Pastor Creflo Dollar and several others. I once heard Dollar confessed that several times at the beginning of his ministry he would really prepare to preach to large crowds only to see empty pews when he got to church, but that he would still preach to empty pews as hard as if he was preaching to large crowds! At the right time the crowds came! When your season comes everything you touch looks like a magic wand, but until then nothing seems to answer to you. Don’t give up, just continue to plow! Still, another reason for not commanding strong ABCs in ministry is foundational! Has anyone in your family, clan, village or tribe done anything of great significance before? Unless and until these foundational issues are investigated and dealt with, frustration is your second name!
7. In the light of the above, we cannot say that the ABCs of ministry are completely useless as measures to test success or failure in ministry. But we must apply them to examine every case. What may look like failure in some cases may be big success in the eyes of God. And what may look like big success in terms of big ABCs may actually may be woeful failures in God’s eyes because the minister, despite the apparent success, may have under-performed, given the enormous giftings entrusted to him! And still, some may be discountenanced despite their big numbers because the numbers may be gained fraudulently and/or the numbers are actually fake and fabricated and don’t reflect the reality on ground. The numbers may just be manipulation of media stunts!
In conclusion, ministers must learn to celebrate their fellow ministers who are doing well, in fact, doing better than themselves. They must eschew jealousy and envy. If someone is progressing where you are failing, it may mean that he knows something that you don’t know. Instead of bad mouthing him, humble yourself and go and sit down under him and see if you can learn what has helped him to succeed. And those who are succeeding should also learn humility. Don’t look down on ministers who are not as successful as you are because your circumstances may not be same. A student who takes first in a class in a certain school may not even pass the exam in another class in a different school! All ministers must know that whatever they have achieved is just by the grace of God. Bishop David Abioye used to say there are no great pastors, only graced pastors. This is true because all good gifts come from above. Before you lift yourself up in your own eyes, find out if you are performing optimally with the resources entrusted to you. Let this be the focus of all ministers; when you come face to face with the Lord of the harvest, will he say, good and faithful servant. Or will he say something different and opposite? May God find us faithful in His vineyard at all times.
I come in peace o!
● Byang, a Jos-based minister, posted this on a WhatsApp platform.
● Reactions to this article are welcome. Please send to WhatsApp on +234 802 219 8060 or info@everyday.ng .
