What Makes a Successful Church?

[324 words] The answer to that question depends on whom you ask. Most people think a successful church is measured in large numbers, big budgets, programs that meet their needs, and state-of-the-art facilities. However, none of those “standards” are proof of success. In fact, each one of those standards could just as well be present in a dead church. Do you remember the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)? This was a church that had a good reputation and was alive and well in the eyes of the community, but in the eyes of God, they were dead (Revelation 3:1). Apparently, God doesn’t see as we see (Isaiah 55:8-9), and he doesn’t measure success in the same way that we measure success. While there is nothing wrong with numbers, programs, big budgets, and large facilities, a church can be successful in the eyes of God without possessing a single one of…