My church is going to celebrate our 25th anniversary this week.  As you can imagine, we’ve gone through a lot in that time.  We’ve had our celebrations, births, weddings, funerals, baptisms, Christmases and Easters, retreats and advances.  We've met at a storefront, a high school, afternoons at another church, portable buildings, and finally our own performing arts facility built largely with volunteer staff.  There are hundreds of people to whom I have given my heart—in ministry and in life—for a season and for eternity. 

There are decades of memories wrapped up in this celebration, from special private moments with one or two people to countless moments in public congregational intimacy through worship and other artistic expressions.  There have been large numbers of people (numbers known only to God) who have committed their lives to Christ.  I’ve had the privilege of being able to share the creative process with hundreds—maybe thousands—of actors, dancers, musicians, producers, technical artists, poets, painters, graphic artists, recording engineers, writers, photographers, vocalists, artisans, visionaries.  And I have laughed so hard and so long, that I’ve gone to bed with a sore belly.

Things weren’t always fun and games.  There was a pastoral indiscretion (a.k.a., affair).  There was an embezzlement by a volunteer, and a major church-rocking deception by another.  There was a period where my wife and I felt called to ministry away from this church to minister in sometimes sunny Vancouver, British Columbia.  And there was our church-defining refocus away from the attractional church model (in our case, seeker-targeted) toward a spiritual formation model (a.k.a., how to grow your church to less than half its size).

One thing is certain: God has been constantly and unwaveringly faithful to us through it all.

Our senior pastor is also our founding pastor, so he and his wife have been with us for over 25 years.  I have been at our church for 21 of those years, and on staff full-time for over 16 of those years.  We have quite a number of people that have been on staff for more than a decade.  And we have many more volunteer leaders at our church who have been there 15, 20, and even all 25 of those years.  This in an age where turnover in ministry is high (e.g., the two largest churches in my area have each experienced worship pastor turnover twice in the past five years), and people treat "shopping" for a church the way one chooses a health club. 

As I go about my days lately—reflective and nostalgic—I am struck again by what it is that God calls us to.  I really believe we have this wrong understanding of what "success" is in ministry.  We have a tendency to define success by size or scope, attendance or budget, how cool the music is or how well we perform.  But I believe that at the end of the day—and at the end of our lives—our true “success” will be measured more by our fidelity.  To continue to do what God has called us to do regardless of the circumstances.  To continue to love those whom God has called us to love regardless of their lovability.  To respond in increasing faith to God’s faithfulness to us. 

Fidelity—to be faithful to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support—may be a more true metric of success in God's economy.  And honestly, it is in the living out of fidelity that depth of meaning is found.  In ministry.  In marriage.  In family.  And in life.