{"id":2292,"date":"2011-12-13T15:13:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T20:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2292"},"modified":"2011-12-14T15:27:36","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:27:36","slug":"the-three-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/the-three-rules.html","title":{"rendered":"The Three Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>W. Somerset Maugham, \u00a0English dramatist &amp;\u00a0<em>novelist<\/em>, once said, &#8220;There are three rules for writing a successful novel. \u00a0Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/albert.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-2293\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/234\/2011\/12\/albert-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>It appears there are also three rules for building a successful ministry or church. \u00a0But sadly, no one knows what they are either. \u00a0Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that there are no successful ministries or churches. \u00a0Because churches are growing every day. \u00a0Thriving new ministries are in almost every town in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Years ago, the pastor of a very successful church in our county was invited to the ministerium to share the secret of his success. \u00a0He gave a formula with which I agreed. \u00a0He said that if you preach God\u2019s Word, people will come and your ministry will be successful.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/a-preacher-preaching.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/a-preacher-preaching.jpg?w=214&amp;h=151\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a>There was one problem, however. \u00a0I had sat under his ministry and in the churches of every man seated around that table. \u00a0Yes, he preached God\u2019s Word. \u00a0But so did every other men gathered there. \u00a0In fact, in my opinion, he was certainly not the best expositor of the Word among the 25 pastors who were attending the meeting. \u00a0One of the best. \u00a0But not\u00a0<strong>the<\/strong>\u00a0best.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the real rule that must be followed is to do what God has called me to do. \u00a0The second rule is let God worry about the results. \u00a0The third rule could be desperately pray for God\u2019s anointing and His mercy and grace to poured out on His people.<\/p>\n<p>Do I sound like I know what I&#8217;m talking about? \u00a0I hope you don&#8217;t make that false assumption. \u00a0Yet, \u00a0if I could just figure out the three rules for writing a successful novel, I could\u2026 Nah, I better stick to what God has called me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>W. Somerset Maugham, \u00a0English dramatist &amp;\u00a0novelist, once said, &#8220;There are three rules for writing a successful novel. \u00a0Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.&#8221; It appears there are also three rules for building a successful ministry or church. \u00a0But sadly, no one knows what they are either. \u00a0Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that there are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4],"tags":[690,21,688,7,699,715,703,701,694,689],"class_list":["post-2292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-humor","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Three Rules - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/the-three-rules.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Three Rules - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"W. Somerset Maugham, \u00a0English dramatist &amp;\u00a0novelist, once said, &#8220;There are three rules for writing a successful novel. \u00a0Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.&#8221; It appears there are also three rules for building a successful ministry or church. \u00a0But sadly, no one knows what they are either. \u00a0Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that there are&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/the-three-rules.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-13T20:13:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-14T20:27:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/albert-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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Somerset Maugham, \u00a0English dramatist &amp;\u00a0novelist, once said, &#8220;There are three rules for writing a successful novel. \u00a0Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.&#8221; It appears there are also three rules for building a successful ministry or church. \u00a0But sadly, no one knows what they are either. \u00a0Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that there are&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/the-three-rules.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-12-13T20:13:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-14T20:27:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/albert-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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