Do Numbers Mean Everything?

One of the main things that bugs me about this new blog set up is that whenever I sign in, it tells me how many times my blog is viewed. In all honesty, I really don’t care about the numbers, because all they make me do is become self-conscious. I generally take that approach to anything in life, whether it is my blog, my life groups, or other ministries I have been involved with. To me it has always been about quality rather than quantity.*** A few years back, I was working with a man in ministry who talked with me about one of my friend’s life groups. I told him that there is definite growth, and that numbers should not be a direct indicator. His response was numbers is indicative of his ability to be a leader, and that if it was not growing, than someone else should run the group. I felt that it was not fair, but the good thing was that the numbers picked up and the group kept going.*** The thing that I always think about with the idea of numbers is, “what if Jesus took that same approach?” If you read quite a few of his stories, his lessons were life giving (John 6:68) but hard to take sometime. For instance, John 6:66 reads, “From this time many of his disciples turned their back and no longer followed him.” This was because the crowd had a hard time with the truth of his message. I would hope that he would have continued to do his father’s will, but if he thought like some number-driven church leaders, he would have either changed his focus to bring more people into the synagogues or he would have said that his ministry was not worth his time because there were not enough people. Any which way, life would be a lot different for a lot of people (understatement of the year).*** Also, what if we looked at Jesus the way we look at our blogs or life groups? Both his peers and his family rejected Jesus as Messiah, his family actually claimed that he was out of his mind (Mark 3:21). Does that ruin his relevancy? A lot of disciples left Jesus because he spoke the truth that was hard, but many people grew because of it. That being said, He should definitely not be thrown out because people disavowed him back then.*** Also, what if we looked at the Western church the same way. Numbers are dwindling in most western societies… does that mean that Christianity on a whole is relevant? It irked me one time when I had a customer tell me that the church is no longer relevant and that it is dying since numbers are decreasing. I told her that I wish that people would know about the movements in Africa and Asia, where Christianity is growing constantly. That is why we can’t call Christianity irrelevant, it is growing in places that most people would not think of… and it is changing their societies. Over here, the church may not be growing quickly, but from my own experience, I know that we are still able to make a difference in people’s lives.*** So my question today is, “why do we do ministry?” Are we in it for the numbers or are we in it to be Christ-like towards other people? Sometimes we will be in front of the masses, other times it will be a small number. But when it is a small group, will we quit because we feel that the small numbers make us feel irrelevant? My hope is that instead of seeing the small venue as a failure to be on the big stage, that you would be able to see it as an opportunity to intimately change people.*** That is the way I try to use every small opportunity that God gives me. There are times where I have felt the pressure to stop because it seemed that nobody cared, but it is not about me or about my ego or about my resume. It is about loving God and loving others. Whether it is a packed sanctuary or a living room, I have to remember that the message I give may be one that changes someone’s life.