Longevity in Ministry - Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by R. Kent Hughes Book Review

What is success in ministry? Read this reflection I wrote the first time I read this book in seminary:

Being in seminary, I am thinking a lot about the nature of pastoral ministry. To be quite honest with you, I was not ready for the gut punch that I received as I began reading Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Kent and Barbara Hughes. In its opening chapters, Kent Hughes describes a season of deep discouragement where he was one step away from walking away from the pastorate altogether. Despite the years of encouragement, affirmation and high expectations that were placed upon him by the people around him, the church he was planting was not growing, in fact it was declining.

 As the pews emptied, Hughes felt like he had failed in ministry, and that if God had really called him to ministry, he would be seeing some measure of numerical growth in the people he had been called to minister to. He thought either he had misunderstood God’s call, or that God was holding out on him. As he approached the tipping point, it was the faith of his wife that kept Hughes from totally giving up on the ministry.

Kent and Barbara knew that there must be more to “success” in ministry than full pews and interviews on the local news. They set out to find what God’s Word defined success in ministry as, and I am so grateful for having read this book. Success in ministry is about faithfulness, service, loving and serving. 

What I really appreciated about this book were the chapters specifically devoted to encouraging congregants as well as pastors wives on how they can practically love and support their pastor.

I’d recommend this book to any pastor, anyone wanting to go into ministry, or anyone who just wants an inside look into the discouragements that pastors face!