Influence

Intro

If you were given the choice, what would you choose - localized and seen notoriety or wide spread and unseen influence? Choice isn’t normally given to us so both may be true for some; it isn’t strictly either/or, but the question still stands. If it was only one, which would you choose? 

I

A tension church leaders face is that their influence is not going to always be obvious to them - seen and quantifiable. Someone may be with them for a season - in a larger church this is even more likely due to the transitory nature of their members - after which they move on, and often for legitimate reasons: job change/promotion, family situations, housing needs, etc.

For many leaders this is a great frustration, even a sorrow. They have given time, energy and love to these people, only to see them move on. To them it would be better if the influence (and I am assuming a positive one) was realized up front and personal - seen, felt and enjoyed, in that people stayed. Who doesn’t like to drink wine from their own vineyard?

But the Western world being what it is, many people don’t settle - they move on, so this means many come and go, and nothing you do or preach is likely to stem the tide. Your influence is often both unseen and wider than you would imagine (a good thing), than your Sunday gathering numbers suggest. Are we able to live with a wider influence than imagined because we don’t see where these people end up, nor what they contribute to God’s kingdom by their fruitfulness. Can we, in other words, give to God what belongs to God? Can we let go, let grow?

Over the years we have met up with numerous people, all over the world, that were in the church I attended (1980 - 2011) who were never personally known by the pastor, maybe stayed for two or so years, but have gone on to do remarkable things for God’s kingdom. They were profoundly influenced by the church and its leader/s but we never got to see their effectiveness - in some cases it was not inconsiderable.

II

When Jesus speaks of fruitfulness to his disciples he doesn’t specify where or with whom. Bearing fruit is a natural outcome of faithful obedience to his word - wherever, whenever, with whomever. If you live in Jesus and his word lives in you, you will live an exemplary and productive life, noticed by others.

God’s church and our fruitfulness are his domain, not ours.  Nobody owns God’s people - we are after all, servants. Those that think they own anyone are to be avoided at all costs.

III

Our reward is based on faithfulness to what Jesus called us to do. We may never, this side of the resurrection, see what our influence accomplished.

Our value cannot rest on what our eyes see. Simply, we will never see all of our fruit, our influence. Were we to know it is predictable that it would cause either pride or depression, from an exaggerated sense of supposed failure - itself a result of unrealistic expectations, which swings us back to pride. I am not sure we are meant to be completely cognizant of our influence, our fruit. Better we aren’t, in many cases.

Let the words of Jesus, “well done good and faithful servant,” be enough to spur us on.

I hope this blog has a positive influence on you, the reader -  but then, I might never know. 🙂