Americans love to measure success. In American churches and ministries success is often measured by the number of people.

Biblically, the better metric of success is faithfulness.

Faithfulness to the Lord (1 Tim 1:12).
Faithfulness to the doctrine (Titus 1:9; 2 Tim 3:14).
Faithfulness to the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1-2).
Faithfulness to continue doing it(Col 4:17; Phil 1:5).

When you look at the small size of your Bible study or church, ask if you are being faithful. If you are, prove it by continuing.

More work is done through a faithful minority than a fickle majority.

Jesus ministered with a minority in Israel. He was alone on the cross. Paul had only Luke with him at the end of his ministry.

I remember multiple meetings of a young Grace Ambassadors Bible Fellowship when it was only me and one other person. We continue to meet today with more people, because we did not stop doing the work when there were less people.

Treat one person like a hundred, and a hundred like one.

Seeing growth is exciting, but it will not happen all the time. Measure success by faithfulness. Faithfulness is tested over time, not by the number of people.

For His glory,

Justin “still going, and going, and going” Johnson