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It's time to turn now from considering contemporary views on what matters most for ministry to some older - and in my view - more solid and scriptural alternatives. If personality, management skills, and a focus on the here-and-now are not what matters most in ministry, then what does?
To find an answer we can surely do no better than go back to what Jesus said on this subject. And he has addressed it very directly in his farewell words to his disciples as John records them in the 15th chapter of his Gospel. In these matchless words, Jesus offers a prescription for ministry effectiveness that is as true today as it was when it was first uttered.
In the opening verses of John 15 the Lord Jesus speaks of himself as the true vine and of his disciples as fruit-bearing branches within that vine. Speaking directly to the point of their fruitfulness (we might say their ministry effectiveness) he said to them
What is this if it is not a prescription for effectiveness in ministry? Indeed, more than just a prescription for effectiveness, this is surely an absolute precondition for fruitfulness. If we want to talk about what matters most in ministry today we have to begin by saying that our first and greatest need is a vital, living relationship with the Lord Jesus himself. To use theological terms, we must be in union and communion with Jesus. Everything hinges on that.
This was a theme the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones loved to stress in his preaching. Christ, he insisted, is the source of a Christian's life. Apart from him, there can be activity resembling Christian ministry, but no true fruitfulness. Listen to how he puts it in a sermon on Ephesians 4:15-16. "... the Lord Jesus Christ is the life of the Church, and is the source of all energy and vitality and power in the Church... Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ there is no life in the Church... You cannot maintain the Church, the body of Christ, by such means and methods [drama, entertainment and games]. Christ is the life of the Church, and if there is no vital relationship to him there will be no life and the Church will be dead... Life is the one thing that matters; and the life is in Him. Our first concern, therefore, should be to know that we are vitally connected to Him, and that the channels, the bands of supply, are open, and that his power, strength, life and sustenance are flowing into us." M. Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity, pp. 270, 272, 273
In fact, he goes further to say that Christian ministry is not so much people doing things for Christ, but Christ acting through his people. "The body does not act" he says, "it is the Head that acts. The Head acts, of course, through the body, but it is nevertheless the Head who acts. It is He who decides and determines when to act and how to act. Our concern should be to be usable at his behest. He is the originator, His is the action, and we are but the vehicles or the channels through which His activity passes" (p. 273).
This, surely, is where ministry effectiveness begins.