More and more in American Christianity we struggle with what “success” is all about. As Willard has pointed out, on one side it would seem to be “the decision.” We pray and at that point in time we punch our ticket to stay out of hell. The goal then becomes for the Church help as many people “punch that ticket” as possible. OR, on the other end, it is about social change. If we are working toward bettering society and really seeing effective “change” (and that definition gets muddled) then you are truly “Christian.”

Yet, with Christ, the gospel is transformation. Life transformation.

This short article by David Ravenhill highlights the evangelical struggle we face. This paragraph (a quote from the Barna Group) is painfully to the point:

“The most discouraging study we ever conducted was one in which we attempted to identify churches in the U.S. that consistently and intelligently evaluate life transformation among the people to whom they minister. We found that very few churches – emphasis on very – measure anything beyond attendance, donations, square footage, number of programs and size of staff. None of that necessarily reflects life transformation.”