Book Review

Written by Kent and Barbara Hughes
Reviewed by Ron Perry

Some onlookers thought it was unusual, but few noticed when the pastor wheeled into the church parking lot in a borrowed pickup truck. But everyone’s eyes were upon him when he backed the truck across the lawn to his study door. Refusing comment or assistance, he began to empty his office onto the truck bed. He was impassive and systematic: first the desk drawers, then the files, and last his library of books, which he tossed carelessly into a heap, many of them flopping askew like slain birds. His task done, the pastor left the church and, as was later learned, drove some miles to the city dump where he committed everything to the waiting garbage.

The paragraph above is how Kent Hughes begins Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome. With great transparency, he records in
both the introduction and the first chapter his struggle with success and failure in the ministry. His struggles with a false view of success brought him to the low point of wanting to quit the ministry out of deep disdain for it. But after much soul searching and scriptural study he came to the following conclusion: “Years earlier, when I began the ministry, my motivation was simply to serve Christ. All I wanted was the approval of God. But imperceptibly my high Christian idealism had shifted from serving to receiving, from giving to getting.”

This entire book is well-written and easy to read and follow. It is divided into four categories and moves the reader from a diagnosis of the “success syndrome” to a biblical understanding of success.

Throughout the book, the author emphasizes several truths that make it an easy book to recommend to others in ministry. First is the constant reminder that God’s commendation of success is directly linked to our faithfulness. This truth is tremendous because it combats our typical emphasis on pragmatism. Many of the things that we often mistakenly gauge as success are rooted in things over which we have no control. Things like a response at an invitation, a certain amount of souls being saved, or specific amounts of money being donated are all pragmatic gauges that we cannot control. However, we can decide to be faithful! This simple emphasis reminds the reader that it is possible for us to be a success in God’s eyes.

Second, the author reminds us of the need to always go back to God’s call on our life. The belief that God has called us to ministry provides a daily reminder for us that “faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” The author goes on to say, “Our call to ministry always rests on our vision of God.” In other words, if my call seems to be dwindling or losing its significance, I must ask myself the following question: “What is my view of God?” This book came highly recommended to me and has proven to be a tremendous blessing! I thank the Lord for truths that came from it and I highly recommend it for anyone in ministry, especially to those who may have seen the “shiny” of ministry wear off.