For some reason, Christians (especially we Baptists) are obsessed with NUMBERS. No, I’m not talking about 4th book penned by Moses in the Bible. I’m referring to our obsession with numerical data. Obviously, it’s a matter of Baptist life and death that our Annual Church Profiles are as infallible and inerrant as the Word of God. Most of all, I’m referring to the numbers plastered on the wall. You know, the oaken board with the little changeable tiles that are on the wall just beyond that guy screaming about empty pews and declining Sunday school attendance. That board has been there in my home church since I can remember. After I entered the ministry, I saw it everywhere I spoke. Now, I’m in my eighth year of pastoring and it’s there –staring over my shoulder and telling my little church, “Ha Ha! There are 78 of you on the church roll, but only 35 were in Sunday school today. If you would’ve gotten your lazy rear out of bed this morning and brought your family, there would’ve been 39 here!” It also says, “Your stewardship stinks! You should be ashamed that 57 people only gave $600 this week…tsk tsk tsk. ” Suddenly, we despise that little board because it is taking on the role of the Holy Spirit and convicting us of our numerically evident shortfalls. I was a guest speaker at a church with a whopping 27 in worship; however, the little board said that 345 were in Sunday school. At first I thought, Wow, what does this say about me? After I interrogated the pastor, I learned they held bible study at a local hospital and nursing homes. Great ministry. Bad advertising. The numbers board was saying to the visitor, “We have a great Sunday school here, but only about 8% enjoy the worship service.” Sadly, that little board has also determined the fate of many pastors. “Preacher, our Sunday school attendance has been declining according to the numbers…and, well, our mission giving is down according to the numbers...maybe you should consider resigning.” Maybe the numbers board is a tool of the devil…just maybe…
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel we should be more concerned with spiritual growth than numerical growth. I know it’s sort of integral that we know how many contacts were made, how many brought their Bibles, and how many faithful sheep attended Discipleship Training, but it seems as if “how many lives were touched” and “how many are closer to God today than yesterday” are more important data that cannot be counted.
I say we rip that board off the wall, take it out behind the fellowship hall, offer it up as a sweet smelling sacrifice to God –if you get my gist, and focus on building the kingdom instead of building church statistics.
What do you think?
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