Strength

The plausible promise, the definition of success, and the avoidance of disappointment

By Justin Long ⋅ August 12, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

C. Holland wrote Aug. 3 about “Disappointment Avoidance.” I’ve been working pretty hard on some other projects and haven’t gotten this far down in my Google Reader subscriptions, but I was very interested in this particular article and how it relates to the swarmish idea of the plausible promise. In particular this passage was interesting (although you ought to click through and read the whole thing, it’s just a few paragraphs long):

Obedience is not a formula, nor is it a means to an end, usually assumed to be success. Perhaps it’s a more Western ideal, even an American lesson, to put numbers and goals to ministry and heap attention only on those who accomplish this—all others need not apply.

If I start defining success in ministry, then I start defining how God should and/or will work in a situation. I am taking away from His mystery, His sovereignty, and His will; in fact, I am wresting power away from Him when I draw that box or map of how this should play out.

When I talk about vision, the plausible promise, and measurable milestones, I often describe this as “knowing where the finish line is” or “knowing what success looks like.” Still, it’s important to differentiate between the finish line of a particular plausible promise, and the finish line of an overall vision.

Vision is something you see that needs to be fixed, or needs to happen, or needs to be brought to pass. I define vision as the convergence of three forces: supernatural revelation (which comes from outside), the recognition of the Holy Spirit in you (which comes from inside), and personal rational realization (which comes from the brain God gave you). This vision is always (at least in my experience) something bigger than you can achieve.

A vision might include, for example:

• a world free of a disease (like polio or malaria)
• a world where software is free (although I’m not claiming God supernaturally revealed the open source movement)
• a world where no one is imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs
• a world where no one is hungry or naked or homeless

These kinds of things are too big for any single person to achieve. I think God specifically gives these sorts visions to some people; but even if God hasn’t given you a vision, there are plenty of visions or causes defined in the Bible as things we can and should legitimately respond to. Isaiah 1 tells us to seek justice, to encourage the oppressed, to defend the cause of the fatherless and plead the cause of the widow. Jesus told us to obey God and teach others to obey Him. James tells us our good works show our faith.

A plausible promise, on the other hand, is a specific statement of obedience in response to a particular vision. When we make a plausible promise, we are not defining success in ministry overall—we are defining what we are going to do ‘next’. Obedience or fulfilling the plausible promise is success in the sense that we are doing something in response to what God has said He wishes, not in terms of how many people are following us or giving to us or whatever.

Most swarms are in fact quite small. When I wrote the original article about swarms, I envisioned 50,000 “pioneer teams” of 2 to 3 people who would each raise up 100 local ministries that in turn would each reach 1,000 people over 10 years (thus evangelizing 100,000 people). These are not big ministries, but they are plausible.

The key of the plausible promise is not to build an empire or a huge ministry but to define something you believe you are supposed to do, and then keep the promise.

Tags: plausible promise

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