Tag Archives: results

Invisible Fruit

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The Brammers and the Millers

45 years of Ministry

Do you ever look back over your years of ministry and wonder what it all means? In recent months, nearing retirement and looking back over our years of ministry has made me reflect on its significance. My father, Ray Allen, pastored churches for 45 years from the 1940’s to the 1980’s. This summer also marks 45 years of mission ministry for my husband and me as well. If you’re feeling discouraged in ministry today, I hope my reflections will encourage you as much as they have encouraged me.

Right now, Art and I are traveling through Northwest America on what will probably be our last regular furlough. We’re visiting churches who have been hit hard by Covid and other stressful circumstances over the last few years. Our travels have also given me opportunity to visit some of the churches that my dad pastored so long ago. Some are in serious decline, but I found a delightful surprise in a church I’ve never been in before.

My Dad pastored his first church in the tiny town of Worthing, South Dakota in the 1940’s. When Art suggested we visit this church, I wondered if it would be worth it. The church no longer met in the same building as in the 1940’s and I wouldn’t know anyone. Why should we drive out of our way and give up a furlough Sunday to see a church my dad pastored before I was born? But what I found touched me deeply.

We drove up to the storefront church building on main street and went in to meet Jerry and Crystal Miller, Continental Baptist Missions missionaries who were revitalizing the church. Soon we sat in the second row, just a few seats away from a man named Mick. Pastor Jerry opened the service by introducing us to the congregation of about 25 people. My mom, he said, led Mick’s mom to the Lord 80 years ago! Lorraine, Mick’s mom, is now 94 and lives in a retirement home in town. She still remembers my parents.

Tears streamed down my face as I realized that my parents’ ministry lives on, 80 years after Dad pastored the Worthing church, 33 years after he passed on to glory. It lives on in Lorraine, and her son Mick who grew up in a Christian home because his mom came to Christ during their ministry.

Dad’s ministry in Worthing was unusually fruitful. Though about a hundred people attended the church when Dad became their pastor, only 4 had assurance of salvation. The previous pastor had preached about salvation, but never challenged people to actually go ahead and make a salvation decision. In Dad’s first year there, 65 people were saved! Imagine the trickle-down effect those initial decisions made in the families and friends of those 65 people who just needed a little encouragement to become saved.

And that was just the beginning of my parents’ ministry. Over 45 years, my parents influenced hundreds of lives. As a result, many were saved and grew in the faith. Lives changed as my parents offered biblical counsel. My parents mentored couples as they got started in ministry. As my parents became true friends of their people, some of their hearts rubbed off on others. Their lives mattered.

Are you discouraged today because your best efforts to serve the Lord are producing little visible fruit? Take comfort in this precious promise.

 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. (NKJV)

 We need to grab a hold of this promise because, when we don’t see visible results, it’s easy to get discouraged. We give our lives hoping to make an eternal difference. When we can see God working mightily, it’s easy to keep going. It’s always easier to remain faithful to God if we can see some evidence of the effectiveness of our ministry. But when we don’t see spiritual change in the lives of those we serve, it’s easy to give up.

We need to remember that the Lord often works in ways we can’t see. When a person “suddenly” gets saved, most often it’s the result of a variety of people praying, planting seeds, and being faithful friends. Other life changes also take time. The changes may seem sudden, but may be caused by the Lord’s quiet work in them over many years. God may be using us to do his work in them. When we see change, that makes all our efforts worthwhile. When we don’t see change, we still need to be faithful.

Today take courage in God’s promise. Our labor is not in vain. Even when we see few visible results.

May the Lord bring you fresh encouragement today. God sees your work and He is working even when you can’t see it.

Your work matters.

“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6:10 (NKJV)

Is God Smiling on my Ministry?

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I don’t mind pouring my life out for God as long as I know he is truly pleased. But how tragic it would be to spend my whole life, working hard for God, and find out I somehow missed the entire target!

Some people evaluate their ministry by results. If lots of people get saved and the church chairs are full, God must be pleased.  If hardly anyone gets saved and numbers are down, God must not be pleased.  But a careful study of Jonah, Noah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah will show that results are not always indicative of God’s approval. So how do you know if your work is good enough for God? How do you know if you are basically pleasing Him?

Warren Wiersbe says, “There is a difference between fruit and results. You can get results by following formulas, etc, but fruit comes from life. Results are counted and soon become silent statistics, but living fruit remains and continues to multiply to the glory of God.”

My husband and I have worked on two different fields for over forty years. We have been through years in which we have seen little visible fruit.  At a time like that, this question, “Am I pleasing God?” is crucial. If I’m not, I might as well go back to America and life a more comfortable life. If I am pleasing God, however, I will continue to serve in this place as long as He keeps me here. But how do I know?

Steve Saint must have had similar questions when he took his entire family to live, for one year, with a primitive tribe. His teenage daughter died shortly after leaving the tribe. As he reflected on her life he said, “Whenever I got terribly discouraged, she was the one who reminded me that we had not come for results. We had come for love and to be obedient to what we were convinced God wanted us to do.”

At one point, when our work seemed to be failing, I was desperate to know if God was smiling. We felt God had called us to our work there in Taiwan. We had worked hard, doing what we felt he wanted us to do. Our hearts are deceitful by nature and we can never completely know them, but we felt we were doing our best out of love for the Lord. God wasn’t showing us any major thing we were doing wrong, but, as far as we could see, the work was not moving forward.

I asked God to speak to me and show me if he was happy with my ministry. I searched Scripture for answers. This is what I came up with:

  • God understands. He knows what we’re like.
  • He’s not impossible to please.
  • If we are searching for what He wants us to do, He will let us know.
  • If we ask Him to show us ways that aren’t pleasing to Him, He will. (Hebrews 4:14-16, Isaiah 40:27-31, Psalm 103:11-14, Psalm 139)
  • Therefore, if I am serving Him the best I know how, depending on Him, following His guidance, and He doesn’t show me otherwise, He must be pleased!

In time God called us away from Taiwan to a ministry in New Zealand. We’ve now worked here for more than twenty years. We’ve had some good years of fruitful ministry, as well as difficult years with little visible fruit. We’ve learned that every ministry has ups and downs. We can’t let the down times shake us. We need to be faithful in every season of ministry.

God sees and rewards.

Our labor is not in vain.

God won’t forget our work when we serve Him out of sincere love. (1 Corinthians 15:58, Hebrews 6:10)

In my imperfect efforts, God sees my heart. As an earthly father is pleased with his child’s best effort in drawing him a picture, however imperfect it may be, so our Heavenly Father is pleased by our best efforts to show our love for Him.

Have you been through times in your ministry when you struggled to see God’s smile? What verses helped you?

 

 

 

Is God Smiling on my Ministry?

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beautiful girl enjoying the summer sunI don’t mind pouring my life out for God as long as I know he is truly pleased. But how tragic it would be to spend my whole life, working hard for God, and find out I somehow missed the entire target!

Some people evaluate their ministry by results. If lots of people get saved and the church chairs are full, God must be pleased.  If hardly anyone gets saved and numbers are down, God must not be pleased.  Study Jonah, Noah, Jeremiah, and Isaiah and you’ll soon realize results are not always indicative of God’s approval. So how do you know if your work is good enough for God? How do you know if you are basically pleasing Him?

Warren Wiersbe says, “There is a difference between fruit and results. You can get results by following formulas, etc, but fruit comes from life. Results are counted and soon become silent statistics, but living fruit remains and continues to multiply to the glory of God.”

My husband and I have worked on two different fields for 35 years. We have been through years in which we have seen little visible fruit.  This question, “Am I pleasing God?” is crucial. If I’m not, I might as well go back to America and life a more comfortable life. If I am pleasing God, I will continue to serve in this place as long as He keeps me here. But how do I know?

Steve Saint must have had similar questions when he took his entire family to live, for one year, with a primitive tribe. His teenage daughter died shortly after leaving the tribe. As he reflected on her life he said, “Whenever I got terribly discouraged, she was the one who reminded me that we had not come for results. We had come for love and to be obedient to what we were convinced God wanted us to do. “

At one point, when our work seemed to be failing, I was desperate to know if God was smiling. We felt God had called us to our work there in Taiwan. We had worked hard, doing what we felt he wanted us to do. Our hearts are deceitful by nature and we can never completely know them, but we felt we were doing our best out of love for the Lord. God wasn’t showing us any major thing we were doing wrong, but, as far as we could see, the work was not moving forward.

I asked God to speak to me and show me if he was happy with my ministry. I searched Scripture for answers. This is what I came up with:

  • God understands. He knows what we’re like.
  • He’s not impossible to please.
  • If we are searching for what he wants us to do, he will let us know.
  • If we ask Him to show us ways that aren’t pleasing to Him, He will. (Hebrews 4:14-16, Isaiah 40:27-31, Psalm 103:11-14, Psalm 139)
  • Therefore, if I am serving Him the best I know how, depending on Him, following His guidance, and He doesn’t show me otherwise, He must be pleased!

God sees and rewards. Our labor is not in vain. God won’t forget our work when we serve Him out of sincere love. (1 Corinthians 15:58, Hebrews 6:10) God sees my imperfect efforts. He sees my heart. As an earthly father is pleased with his child’s best effort in drawing him a picture, however imperfect it may be, so our Heavenly Father is pleased by our best efforts to show our love for Him.

Have you been through times in your ministry when you struggled to see God’s smile? What verses helped you?

[image courtesy of EBreHNN ATamaheHko/deposit photos}

One Nameless Man

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A nameless man left his home in Ireland to spread the gospel in Peru. No one listened. As far as we know, not one person came to Christ under his ministry.

When he died in the mountain village where he had given his life, the villagers refused to bury him in the respectable cemetery. That was reserved for faithful Roman Catholics. They laid the missionary to rest with criminals, homosexuals, suicide victims, and other social outcasts. No fancy gravestone recorded his name for posterity. A simple pile of stones marked the spot of this man who, though he was faithful, gave his life for nothing.

A single lady gave it another try. Mabel Walker, an American, fared a little better. From her faithful efforts to plant the seed of the gospel in this rocky soil, she saw several people saved, mostly children. Yet after years of service, she left Peru with no churches started, no lasting ministry to show for her work.

Twenty years later, Bob and Betty Whatley left the jungle and came to that same mountain valley. They gave it another try. At first they saw little fruit, but after a few years, things began to change. After years of indifference, the Peruvians grew interested in the gospel. This slow, unfruitful field became incredibly receptive.

Today, in many areas, Peruvians mob missionaries for tracts, then sit down and read them immediately. Churches are springing up everywhere. Peruvians come to the city and are saved. Then they return to their villages to share Christ with friends and relatives. Once a group of believers is formed, they beg missionaries to help them start a church.

This area of Peru now has more than one hundred fundamental Baptist churches. Missionaries cannot begin to meet the needs of Peruvian churches crying out for help, much less start churches in every place Christians are begging for them to come.

Of course, Satan won’t give up Peru easily. Pockets of great opposition still slow the spread of the gospel. In some areas, school teachers refuse to pass students who attend Baptist church services.

Other schools, however, invite missionaries to come and teach Bible classes. Today, missionaries to Peru are reaping an abundant harvest of souls.

And what about the Irish missionary who so faithfully planted the gospel, yet died in apparent failure? Today Peruvians lead Bob Whatley to the little pile of stones that cover his grave. “This man,” they tell him, “told us about Jesus.”

Across the world today, missionaries and pastors grieve over fields that produce little, if any, fruit. They’d gladly give their lives to bring souls to Christ and build a lasting ministry. Yet in the middle of their apparent failure, Satan whispers, “Why give your life for nothing?”

The cemetery in Peru is still filled with the bodies of criminals, outcasts, and one nameless missionary whose life ended—in failure. Few would desire such a site for a final resting place. Bob Whatley, however, disagrees. He says, “When I die, bury me beside that old missionary. He was faithful.”

Is God Smiling on my Ministry?

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I don’t mind pouring my life out for God—as long as I know he is truly pleased. But how tragic it would be to spend my whole life, working hard for God, and find out I somehow missed the entire target!

Some people evaluate their ministry by results. If lots of people get saved and the church chairs are full, God must be pleased.  If hardly anyone gets saved and numbers are down, God must not be pleased.  Study Jonah, Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and you’ll soon realize results are not indicative of God’s approval. So how do you know if your work is good enough for God? How do you know if you are basically pleasing Him?

Warren Wiersbe says, “There is a difference between fruit and results. You can get results by following formulas, etc, but fruit comes from life. Results are counted and soon become silent statistics, but living fruit remains and continues to multiply to the glory of God.”

My husband and I have worked on two different fields for 35 years. We have been through years in which we have seen little visible fruit.  This question—am I pleasing God?—is crucial. If I’m not I might as well go back to America and life a more comfortable life. If I am pleasing God, I will continue to serve in this place as long as He keeps me here. But how do I know?

Steve Saint must have had similar questions when he took his entire family to live, for one year, with a primitive tribe. His teenage daughter died shortly after leaving the tribe. As he reflected on her life he said, “Whenever I got terribly discouraged, she was the one who reminded me that we had not come for results. We had come for love and to be obedient to what we were convinced God wanted us to do. “

At one point, when our work seemed to be failing, I was desperate to know if God was smiling. We felt God had called us to our work there in Taiwan. We had worked hard, doing what we felt he wanted us to do. Our hearts are deceitful by nature  and we can never completely know them, but we felt we were doing our best out of love for the Lord. God wasn’t showing us any major thing we were doing wrong, but, as far as we could see, the work was not moving forward.

I asked God to speak to me and I searched Scripture for answers. This is what I came up with:

God understands.

He knows what we’re like. He’s not impossible to please. If we are searching for what he wants us to do, he will let us know. If we ask Him to show us ways that aren’t pleasing to Him, He will. (Hebrews 4:14-16, Isaiah 40:27-31, Psalm 103:11-14, Psalm 139) Therefore, if I am serving Him the best I know how, depending on Him, following His guidance, and He doesn’t show me otherwise—He must be pleased!

God sees and rewards.

Our labor is not in vain. God won’t forget our work when we serve Him out of sincere love. (1 Corinthians 15:58, Hebrews 6:10) God sees my imperfect efforts. He sees my heart. As an earthly father is pleased with his child’s best effort in drawing him a picture, so God is pleased by our best efforts to show our love for Him.

Have you been through times in your ministry when you struggled to see God’s smile? What verses helped you?