- Does shooting for higher numbers sacrifice the INDIVIDUAL impact? Or...
- Does God want us to reach out to as MANY people as possible?
Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, made a core value of his church, "We are all about the numbers - Tracking metrics measures effectiveness. We unapologetically set goals and measure progress through all available quantitative means."
Which is correct? Does God care about NUMBERS...or does He want FAITHFULNESS? Perhaps God wants both.
Can we cling to both? Is there a way that we can bring as many people as possible together in His name as well as create smaller group settings at the same time?
Let's build ATTENDANCE and
ATTENDEES at the same time!
ATTENDEES at the same time!
If we do both...perhaps we can avoid the PITFALLS that come from doing one without the other.
Focusing only on ATTENDANCE lends the following...
- Personal relationships are sacrificed to religious personality.
- The truth of the Gospel is sacrificed in order to keep the "seeker friendly" crowd comfortable.
- Sermons about sin, wrath, justice and even the law become avoided. Which in turn denies the Bible it's authority.
- A solid foundation is lacking due to the truth of the Gospel not being declared which in turn causes the people to suffer because they have nothing stable to stand on.
- Pride can enter in causing a judgmental spirit of other churches based on their size.
- Bigger churches may think, "We have more people and bigger buildings, so we must be more favored by God."
- However, numbers are no grounds for bragging rights.
Focusing only on ATTENDEES lends the following...
- Forgetting that numbers represent souls and statistics.
- Growth in a church doesn't equal lack of relationship. Growth in a church should equal more people being exposed to the GOOD NEWS that they need to hear.
- The church ends up becoming a private club.
- Any church can become EXCLUSIVE rather than INCLUSIVE if the people aren't dedicated to inviting new people to come.
- Honestly, there is more to it than just feeding the people who already attend...our cities are full of people who are slaves to sin and need the Gospel in order to be saved.
- We must never lose our desire to get more people to come.
- The church should never become a place for CERTAIN people and it should never be CONTENT with the number of people that come.
- More attention is given to the faithful members instead of sacrificing for the Kingdom.
- If the church doesn't emphasize OUTREACH it can become content catering to the major tithers and those who've been in the church forever.
- This is just as bad as being a church that is focused only on the "seekers". The church should never cater to any particular group. It should be faithful to proclaiming the Gospel to ALL people.
There must be an equal emphasis given to both ATTENDANCE and ATTENDEES.
Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Dallas, Texas, has a good philosophy on church numbers. He emphasizes that the BIGGER his church gets, the SMALLER that they need to make it seem. They have four campuses of somewhat modest size and do multiple services at each location. They aim for the SMALL CHURCH FEEL while still impacting thousands of people.
Remember the early church in the book of Acts? On the Sabbath, they met together in the temple...but during the week, they met in each other's homes. It provided them a CORPORATE worship setting but then the ACCOUNTABILITY and RELATIONSHIP of a small church and group of believers.
In conclusion...the church should love numbers, yet not sacrifice truth in order to gain them. Each number represents a SOUL to which the church is ministering. If a church is focused on numbers alone...then it will not sustain or impact lives with truth. If a church is focused on feeding truth to a small number of people, but are not willing to reach out to others, then it's excluding the GOOD NEWS that so many around them need.
I hope you've invited someone to join you this Sunday! We can do it!
