Daily Archives: April 24, 2012
New Kinds of Success by Brandon Hatmaker @BrandonHatmaker
“New Kinds of Success” is excerpted from Brandon Hatmaker’s book Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture.
Success often comes in unlikely forms. For years I’ve told people going through membership classes that our church might not be for them. For years I secretly hoped that it was. So much so that if anyone were to leave our church, I would inevitably either wonder what was wrong with them, or assume they misunderstood something that was happening.
That’s a pretty narrow perspective.
Can it really be a success when people leave our church? Honestly, I’ve had a few leave that were a pretty big relief. Again, sounds mean. But when we’re in the wrong church, sometimes it makes everyone miserable. We meet, we email, we complain, we justify, and we spend countless hours investing in trying to make a fit – and they end up leaving anyway. It’s always telling when someone leaves your church and it feels like a relief.
We don’t like it when people leave our church. Too easily we feel as if they’re leaving us. Like we weren’t good enough for them. We get insecure even when it has nothing to do with us or our leadership. We need to learn to celebrate the victories more instead of just mourning the loss. When people leave, we should survey the season we had with them and learn from our time together.
Barefoot Church is part of the Exponential Series. Now through April 30 every eBook in the Exponential Series is available for only $2.99!
