like a fire

Slow Leadership: Doing Well . . . or Living Well?

This article has me thinking about our measure of success in ministry. I often talk to people in ministry and ask how they are doing. If they think I am asking about their ministry, they tell me about their latest event or program. If they think that I am asking about their life, then they tell me something about what is going on in their life. Granted, the people who I really know give me the latter answer.

The point of the article is this:

What about “living well” as a description? For many people, it means more or less the same. If someone “lives well,” they have a fine house, gourmet meals, expensive vacations, and maybe luxuries like a boat, a sports car, or an expensive membership at a prestigious golf club. Yet none of these luxuries really guarantee that you will live well, or feel fully satisfied with your life. There are plenty of instances of rich and famous people descending into alcoholism, drug abuse, or violent despair. Suicides are more common, I believe, among well-off, professional people than those who appear to have far less to live for. Work-based stress and burnout are most likely to affect high achievers.

In ministry, I see the same thing too often. A pastor’s church is doing well, but their family hates the church for taking their father’s/spouse’s time. Or they hate their fathr/spouse for choosing the church over them. This is just one situation, but it is a common one.

Later the article posits:

The question of what makes for living well is more than an abstract, philosophical inquiry. There are many reasons for working, but the main ones usually have to do with earning money. And once a person’s reasonable needs for food, shelter, and warmth are satisfied, everything else goes towards funding their personal notion of “living well.” Motivation, a topic beloved of management gurus of all kinds, hinges around what people want and prepared to work hard to obtain. Even if such desires are not financial, they still focus on living well, in one way or another.

I don’t think I can answer this question for everyone. Everyone’s personal idea of living well would certainly be different - especially from me. I do think that it is an essential question for all people in ministry. Most youth guys don’t exceed the earning for the reasonable need for food, etc. It does highlight what are people willing to work hard for and what is living well in ministry.

So what is your idea of living well? I would love to hear from some of you.