Jesus didn’t value crowds. He didn’t even trust them. But he valued the people in them. And no, that’s not the same thing.
Yes, pastors need to keep accurate records of church attendance, offering, salvations, baptisms, small groups and anything else that has a numerical component. Those numbers are an essential ingredient in having a clear understanding of what we’re doing and how to do it better.
And yes, church growth is a good thing. For the body of Christ as a whole and for individual churches and ministries.
But we need to be wary about chasing the crowd.
Numbers cannot measure ministry success.
When you’re in business to make widgets, you live and die by the numbers. But we’re pastors. We’re not in business. And we’re not making widgets. As John Piper reminds us, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals”.
So yes, we need to count people. But people aren’t numbers. And numbers aren’t people.
People matter more than numbers. And people, unlike crowds, can’t be measured.
When we overemphasize the size of the crowd that came to church, we run the risk of devaluing the unique gifts and needs of the individuals who made up the crowd.
Jesus never did that. Keep reading
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