In North American Christian church leadership circles, in the last several years we've begun circulating lists of the "front runners" in several areas. There's a 100 largest churches list, a fastest-growing churches list, a biggest-turnaround list, a biggest financial giving list, and more.

In principle, the idea behind these lists is to identify the churches who have been most successful in ministry, and encourage other congregations and leaders to learn from their innovation and example to see similar results in their own churches. I want to tell you, this whole thinking is flat wrong and unbiblical. It's what I choose to call "comparison ministry", and the result is not building up the church, but rather, destroying it.

The warning of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:26 to "not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another" comes to mind. Anytime we gather a list, we're in effect creating a comparison. So what, exactly, do these lists compare, and is it healthy?

Growth comparison supplants God's goals with our own. If we compare the "fastest growing churches," and seek to learn from one another in order to effect that specific goal--growing faster--then we have, in effect, supplanted God's goal for the church with our own. Where in Scripture are we told to grow the church faster? And by what measure? Whether by people count or dollar count, we are making these counts the goal versus God's commands.

Self-centered thinking. The desire of the church as a whole is to become individually and as a body more and more like Christ. Comparing ourselves to one another, we instead begin to desire to become more like our "successful" sister congregation that just moved to three worship services or five campuses. These are the unhealthy comparisons that Paul talks about in Galatians 6:4--a self-centeredness where we esteem ourselves because of our supposed accomplishments or consider ourselves not successful because we have not attained a man-derived goal someone making a list determined was somehow an important measure.

Where's the other lists? What about the 100 churches that serve others the most? The 100 churches that look the most like Christ? The 100 churches that best bear one another's burdens (Ephesians 6:2), that confront one another in love (Ephesians 6:1), that share their resources most generously (Ephesians 6:6) or that are the most selfless (Ephesians 6:9-10).

These churches are out there, working and serving humbly, representing Christ and the cause of Christ effectively, and doing what Christ commanded without recognition. I wish, if we are going to make lists, that we'd make a list of these churches, because they'll help me understand in practical ways how I can be more like Christ in these areas and as a part of my local church, help our congregation as a whole conform more closely to His image.

Let's not segregate ourselves from one another. If we are, indeed, all the Body of Christ as His Church, then these lists, these comparisons, are really meaningless. The fact is, a church that is growing the fastest needs to also be looking at how they can best bear the burdens of the church that is shrinking the most. And the church that has the most resources must be the one that gives to the church that has the least. These are not tasks and teaching that are best accomplished by having a bunch of "best of" lists.

A fastest growing church that allows other congregations to whither while sitting in self-centered "growth system" that lets them ride a wave of success is, in essence, failing. By men's standards they are succeeding. But by God's commands, they are missing the point. Let's not take our eyes off of Christ. As we strive to become more completely like Him, we will begin to understand that comparison thinking in ministry has no place.

About the Author. Eugene L. Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications and technologies. More...