You've probably heard someone say it.  “God is doing incredible things here.”

  • Maybe it's a church.
  • A ministry.
  • A new program.
  • A worship service.
  • A small group.

And sometimes it's absolutely true.  People are changing. Relationships are being restored. People who were excluded are finding community. Generosity is increasing. People are learning to love their neighbors. Something genuinely seems to be happening.

But sometimes you hear:  “God is doing incredible things!” and quietly wonder: What things?

That's an uncomfortable question.  It can sound cynical.  Negative.  Unspiritual.  But maybe it's a question worth asking.  How would we actually know if God is doing something?

Enthusiasm Isn't Evidence

Churches are very good at enthusiastic language.

  • God is moving.
  • God is working.
  • God is doing amazing things.
  • We're experiencing incredible growth.
  • God is opening doors.

There's nothing inherently wrong with any of those statements.  The problem begins when the statement itself becomes the evidence.  We know God is moving because we keep saying God is moving.  We know people are growing because we say people are growing.  We know the ministry is successful because we describe it as successful.  Eventually, enthusiasm can become a substitute for examination.

There Is a Name for This

One way to describe it is performative optimism.  It's maintaining and expressing an enthusiastic narrative even when there isn't much observable evidence supporting it.  A related idea is toxic positivity—when maintaining the positive story becomes so important that legitimate problems, disappointments or criticism are minimized.

Churches can add another layer:  spiritual language.  Now we're not simply saying:  “Things are going great.”  We're saying:  “God is doing great things.”  And that makes the statement considerably harder to question.  Because who wants to be the person who says:  “Are we sure?”

When Optimism Becomes Untouchable

Imagine someone questions whether a ministry is actually working.  The response might be:  “You just need to have faith.”  Or:  “God is working even when we can't see it.”

That's certainly possible.  Not everything God does can be measured.  Not every important change produces statistics.  Some of the most significant changes in a person's life may be completely invisible to everyone else.  But that truth can also become a convenient shield.  Because if success doesn't require evidence, then nothing can ever be unsuccessful.

  • Low participation?  God is still moving.
  • People aren't growing?  Seeds are being planted.
  • The program isn't working?  God works in ways we can't see.
  • People are leaving?  God is pruning.
  • Nothing changes?  God's timing isn't ours.

At some point we have created a system in which every possible outcome proves the same conclusion.  God is doing incredible things.  Maybe.  But how would we know?

Jesus Talked About Fruit

Jesus gives us an interesting image: fruit.  “A good tree bears good fruit.”

Fruit is observable.  Not necessarily immediately.  You don't plant something Tuesday and declare it a failure Wednesday because nothing happened.  Growth takes time.  Some growth happens underground before anything becomes visible.  But eventually healthy things tend to produce something.

Paul uses similar language when describing the fruit of the Spirit:

  • love
  • joy
  • peace
  • patience
  • kindness
  • goodness
  • faithfulness
  • gentleness
  • self-control

Those aren't attendance numbers.  They're not budgets.  They're not buildings.  They're not social-media engagement.  They're evidence of people becoming different kinds of people.  So perhaps when we say:  “God is doing incredible things here,”  a perfectly reasonable follow-up is:  “What fruit are we seeing?”

Maybe We've Been Measuring the Wrong Things

Churches often measure what is easy to count:

  • attendance
  • baptisms
  • giving
  • small-group participation
  • volunteers
  • new members

None of those measurements are meaningless.  But they're not necessarily evidence of transformation.  A church can grow numerically without its people becoming more loving.  A church can increase giving without becoming more generous toward its community.  A church can baptize hundreds of people without teaching them how to live differently afterward.  A church can have packed services while relationships remain shallow.  So perhaps the question isn't simply:  “Are we growing?”  It's:  “What are we growing into?”

Activity Isn't Transformation

This may be another distinction worth making.  Churches can be extraordinarily busy.

  • Services.
  • Programs.
  • Bible studies.
  • Small groups.
  • Conferences.
  • Volunteer opportunities.
  • Classes.
  • Events.
  • Meetings.
  • More meetings about the meetings.

A full calendar can create the sensation that something important is happening.  But activity and transformation aren't the same thing.  Sometimes we're moving very fast without actually going anywhere.  That can happen to individuals too.  We can attend church every week, participate in Bible studies, listen to sermons, read Christian books and remain largely unchanged.

The question isn't:  “How much religious activity are we producing?”  It's: “What is all this activity producing?”

The Positive Story Can Become Protective

Here's where performative optimism can become dangerous.  If we constantly repeat: “God is doing incredible things here,”  that statement can eventually protect the organization from honest evaluation.  Someone questions an ineffective program?  They're negative.  Someone asks why people aren't participating?  They lack vision.  Someone points out that something isn't working?  They aren't supportive.  Someone asks whether people are actually growing?  They're being critical.  Eventually, optimism stops being encouragement.

It becomes insulation from reality.  And that's particularly dangerous in a church because we can attach God's name to our own activity.  Now questioning the program can feel like questioning God.  Those aren't the same thing.  God doesn't need us to pretend something is working when it isn't.

Honest Evaluation Isn't Cynicism

There is a difference between:  “Nothing good ever happens here.” and: “How do we know this is working?”  The first may be cynicism.  The second is evaluation.  Likewise, there is a difference between: “God isn't doing anything.” and:  “What evidence are we seeing of transformation?”

That's not necessarily unbelief.  It may actually demonstrate that we take transformation seriously enough to look for it.  The Bible itself contains plenty of honest evaluation.  Prophets repeatedly confront Israel with the gap between what people say about their relationship with God and what their lives actually demonstrate.  Jesus does the same thing.  Religious language doesn't impress him very much when the fruit doesn't match it.

Some Things Can't Be Measured

There is an important caution here.  We shouldn't swing to the opposite extreme and imagine that God's activity can be reduced to a spreadsheet.  Human beings aren't KPIs.( key performance indicators)

  • Transformation is messy.
  • Someone may quietly forgive a person after carrying bitterness for twenty years.
  • Someone may begin questioning an assumption they've held their entire life.
  • Someone may decide to repair a broken relationship.

Someone may finally feel safe enough to admit: “I don't know.”  Someone may learn to listen instead of needing to be right.  None of those things necessarily show up in the annual church report.  But they're still fruit.  The question isn't whether everything can be measured.  It can't.  The question is whether we're willing to look honestly at what is actually happening rather than assuming that our enthusiasm proves it.

What Would “God Doing Something” Look Like?

Maybe we'd see people becoming:

  • more loving,
  • more curious,
  • more generous,
  • less afraid,
  • more willing to serve,
  • less obsessed with being right,
  • more comfortable asking difficult questions,
  • more willing to admit mistakes,
  • more attentive to outsiders,
  • more compassionate toward people unlike themselves,
  • more interested in reconciliation,
  • more willing to sacrifice for someone else's good.

Maybe

  • Maybe we'd see broken relationships repaired.
  • Maybe lonely people would find community.
  • Maybe people who have been marginalized would discover they have a place at the table.
  • Maybe people would become increasingly difficult to manipulate because they've learned how to think, question and discern.
  • Maybe people would become less dependent on religious leaders telling them exactly what to believe.
  • Maybe they would increasingly resemble the Jesus they claim to follow.
  • That sounds like something worth calling incredible.

A Question Worth Asking

So the next time someone says: “God is doing incredible things here,”  we don't necessarily need to roll our eyes.  Maybe God is.  Celebrate it.  Tell the stories.  Look for the fruit.  But we shouldn't be afraid of the next question:  “What are we seeing that makes us believe that?”

And perhaps the more difficult question is this:  Can constantly saying “God is doing incredible things” prevent us from recognizing when nothing is actually changing?  If the answer is yes, then honest evaluation isn't the enemy of faith.  It may be one of the ways we make sure our enthusiasm hasn't become a substitute for transformation.