How does one define successful missionary work?
This question hovers over the modern missions enterprise. It’s a difficult question that raises a host of thorny issues — none easily answered.
Churches and missions agencies champion reports showcasing impressive numbers of conversions and stories of sweeping revivals in other lands. Deep down, we yearn for these accounts to be true; surely that’s success. Yet numbers can be inflated and misleading.
Others have labored for years with little to show for their sacrifices. In these situations, I often hear the comforting words that successful missions is not about fruitfulness but faithfulness. Yet in some cases, a lack of fruitfulness can suggest that missionaries have lost sight of their purpose.
