Saturday I was leading a vitalization training/consulting session with a group of pastors and leaders from a church that is very strong in many ways. The congregation is large and finances are stable, the preaching and teaching ministry is very solid and the caliber of lay leaders is high. This is a church I would love to go to myself.
Somewhere along the way one of leaders asked something such as this, “Do you think we should keep track of the number of people who make professions of faith?” I replied, “Absolutely!” Other comments were made and the discussion moved in a variety of directions, but later this leader circled back and said, “You answered very quickly that we should keep track of the number of professions of faith. Why?”
Consider this: Scripture tells us to meet together (Hebrews 10:25) and we count the number of people who show up for almost any kind of meeting from worship services to children’s ministry to small groups. Scripture tells us to bring the full tithe into the storehouse and we count the money. Scripture tells us to go and make disciples but many churches don’t count the number of disciples being made. What’s up with that?
Scripture is loaded with references to the number of disciples being made. Just read the book of Acts. When Peter preached that first sermon on the Day of Pentecost, there is no record of how many people were present to hear that message and there is no record as to whether or not any money or goods were collected. But we’re told that about 3000 souls were added to the faith that day. A few verses later it’s revealed that in that early Christian community in Jerusalem, the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).
To be clear, it’s not about the numbers per se. The goal of the church should not simply be to get larger by adding numbers of people. However, the goal, objective, and biblical purpose of the church is to go and make disciples, to gather the plentiful harvest. Behind each number is a name, the name of a member of God’s family that was listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the earth. Why are we so cavalier or unintentional about noting and numbering who is coming to Christ through our ministries?
Maybe we’re not interested in evangelism. Maybe we let God work privately with people and don’t see a need to be in the know. Maybe we don’t want to appear to be all about numbers. Maybe we don’t want to know how poorly we’re doing in this regard.
Try this on for size: If your church is not concerned about the number of people coming to Christ through your ministry, God will not send large numbers of people to your church as He draws them to Christ. Why would He? Why not send the people He’s calling to a church that makes gathering them the priority?
More to come next week . . .
