Churches and numbers... A political socialisation of the Church's agenda
Friday, July 25, 2008 at 3:29PM I have been part of the 'mega-Church' mentality. Recently I have been significantly challenged on the Church growth mentality. The Church has come to believe that our success (if I can use that word) is measured by the number of people that we draw on a Sunday. We say that a BIG Church will have a big voice...
Think about this for a moment, isn't that exactly what politicians do? They count their influence and value with numbers! The bigger the political party, the more votes one has, the more effective and powerful one is.
However, if we think about persons such as Mother Theressa and St Francis of Assisi these were not persons of BIG compassion, BIG courage, BIG obedience... Not big numbers.
I need to think about this a bit more. However, I would love to hear what you think.
Of course I am not saying that we should simply settle for small Churches with NO effect! But, that we should be careful to measure our Churches by the wrong measurement standards!
Reader Comments (1)
Good thoughts Deon. I think The ABC's (Attendance, Buidlings Cash) should not be our only measurement tool. Fruit (or lifechange) is more relevant, but also less measurable. THis might explain why we become so obsessed with numbers, it doesn't require listening to stories and being with people.
This is a delicate matter though. I have to detox myself regularly from unhealthy measuring. I wrote a small piece on this http://kleipotgemeente.typepad.com/soulgardeners/2008/05/the-mathematics.html" REL="nofollow">here.