“So, How Many Did You Have in Service Yesterday?”

"So, how many did you have in service yesterday?"

Has anybody ever asked you that? Or have you ever asked someone else that question? It seems like we tend to measure success by numbers. How big our church is, how many people showed-up at an event, how many people received Christ during an altar call, how many people were baptized, etc. Now don’t get me wrong. A lot of people coming to Jesus during an altar call is awesome. Seeing over 2,000 people get baptized during a two week period (like at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC a few months ago) is totally amazing. Having a big church that is making an impact for the kingdom of God in the community is a positive thing, for sure. And I think “big number ministry” stuff should be celebrated. However, success can’t ultimately (and only) be measured just by the size of the crowd. “Real” success in ministry isn’t measured only by the numbers. If that was the case then Jesus wasn’t very successful. Actually it seems that Jesus was always trying to avoid “the crowds.” Just skim through the Gospels and you’ll find that almost every time a bunch of people started gathering because of Him, He would leave for a different city (Matthew 8:18). Or whenever a large crowd gathered (because of all the exciting stuff-like miracles) He’d throw out some kind of demand for following Him and the crowd would magically turn into a small group of people (which mainly consisted of the 12 disciples).

Jesus spoke to thousands and thousands of people, performed more miracles than any of us could even imagine and He had the Holy Spirit without measure, yet, he really only had a small group of people that He poured into on a consistent basis. And He didn’t consider it insignificant. He actually seemed pretty content to only have a few guys (in comparison to the large crowds) that actually followed Him. So why is it that we only think we’re successful when we’re seeing “big numbers?” It’s stupid. Really the question we should be asking ourselves is “how are the people that I’m discipling doing?” Are they growing in their walk with Jesus? Are they maturing spiritually from being around me and at my church? Are they, in turn, discipling others for Jesus? That’s how we should measure success, not by how many were in service Sunday Morning. (But most christians/churches aren’t actually discipling, they’re just going to church and holding services... just an observation.)

Now, anytime you hear someone talking like this it’s usually because they’re jealous that their church isn’t growing. It’s usually because they’re bitter that the church down the street is doing great and theirs isn’t. But that’s not the case here. I was on the pastoral staff at the same local church for 9+ years before coming to the mission field. We were holding 3 services every Sunday Morning with 1200-1400 people in attendance every week. We’d put on outreach events for the community and would have 3,000-4,000 people in attendance every time... we were successful from a numbers standpoint. So I’m not speaking from the point of view of someone who wasn’t seeing success in numbers and I’m definitely not jealous of some other ministry. The reason I’m saying this is because I speak to a lot of pastors and staff members that are totally bummed-out because they’re measuring their success by the numbers and not by how the people, that they have now, are doing spiritually. You need to have the attitude that if your church grows... great. If it doesn’t grow... great. It’s all His anyway, right? Measure your success by how you’re doing (discipling) with the people that God has placed in your life and at your church. That’s it. Don’t compare yourself to the guy down the street. Just measure your success by what you’re doing with the people God has placed around you. Just be faithful there.

And I think I remember reading something about “that we’re nothing and that it’s God who gives the increase anyway, right?” (I Cor. 3:1-9)

Just some thoughts I had yesterday... hope you guys have a great week: )

Love Ya!

JIm

PS - The pics up top are after our English service we have at the Camp on Sunday Mornings. This was after service when we were just hanging-out. We started doing this service 3 weeks ago so that our families (all us missionaries... still can't believe I'm a missionary. haha) could worship in English each week (with praise and worship and with teaching) since all the other services we're in the rest of the week are in Portuguese.