How much should we value success in choosing models for our ministry?
If Mark Driscoll has fantastic success in his ministry, ought we to learn from how he has done things in order to better honour God in our own ministry?
There are actually 2 issues, only one of which I am interested in.
The first is that a person's methods may only work for the particular context in which they are involved. So the particular methods which Kent Hughes uses may well not be directly transferable to my context. What must be mined instead is the principle that lies behind the method, which can then find its natural expression in your own context.
I'm really more interested in a second issue, however. How can we be sure that it was the principle behind the methods that was actually the reason for the success? Isn't every heart changed only by God? Aren't we all simply planters and waterers?
So the big question is: What credit ought we to give to the practical wisdom and strategy of a ministry when evaluating its success? Or instead ought we to see only God's sovereign (and unsearchable) decision to bless a particular ministry?
The question then becomes, does God prefer, generally, to do His work through those who are strategic? Or perhaps a better term, through those who are wise.
I know there are some of the dynamics of this from Scripture that I've not mentioned, so please do bring them up in the comments. What do you reckon?