Marketplace Evaluation, Jesus Style

By Reverend Michael Farias

On a recent Sunday morning, I was in attendance at Glad Tidings Church in San Francisco.  It is a storied and historic church that was founded in 1913.

The building itself is almost 100 years old, built in 1923, and it shows. Paint and floor coverings can only hide so much.

You may be in a new, state-of-the-art building, or you may be in a 100 year old structure - it doesn’t matter.  All that matters is what is happening inside. Not inside the building, but inside the hearts and lives of those who attend.

When was the last time you evaluated the effectiveness of your ministry?

Matthew 16:13 says, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

This is a fairly well known portion of scripture.  Preachers usually focus on the response Peter gave in his answer, but I think there may be another point to this.  Maybe Jesus asked the question because he was doing a marketplace evaluation of his ministry.  Look at the disciples’ answer.

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Matthew 16:14.

Jesus must have been dismayed at their answer.  Think about it.  Jesus is asking, “Who do people think I am?”  It’s a fair question.  It’s a question we all need to ask about our ministry effectiveness from time to time.  “Who am I in the marketplace?”  It is like Googling ourselves to see what comes up.  Jesus wanted to know what social media was saying about him and his ministry.

What he heard and learned was the truth as people in the marketplace saw it, but the people in the marketplace were wrong.  He is not John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.  He is the Christ as Peter so wonderfully proclaims in verse 16.  

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Simon Peter got it right, but the general population didn’t. Now, if you or I were mistaken to be Elijah or one of the prophets, we would likely think very largely of ourselves and of our ministry effectiveness.  But for Jesus, this was a branding problem that needed fixing.  So what did he do?

The answer is found in verse 21.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Talk about a new brand message.  Yes, his brand message changed. No longer do we read of large crowds and mass feedings.  The Bible says, “from that time on.”   From that time on, things changed.  From that time on, there was a different focus.

From time to time in the life of our leadership and ministry, we need to evaluate our effectiveness and brand message in the marketplace.  It may be that a revelation will come to us that we need to recalibrate and make a change, just like when I got lost leaving Glad Tidings Church that day, and my GPS re-calibrated and got me back on the right track.

Marketplace evaluation and ministry effectiveness go hand in hand.  It is our responsibility to take a fresh look from time to time. What would a marketplace evaluation say about you today? Who do people say that you are?