There is an epidemic in the American church. It is an obsession with basing fruitfulness in ministry on a numbers game.
The American way is bigger and better, and I am troubled that the church in many ways has bought into this method of evaluation, and continues to do so.
I would hope that all pastors want more people to come hear the gospel preached, experience the warm fellowship of our people, be baptized, discipled and flourish in the church. If you do not desire these things, please do not be a pastor.
Yet, in my experience of serving on staff at two different megachurches, closely knowing many other churches and observing the envy that some small churches possess toward larger churches, there is a great deal of focus on numbers as that which deems a ministry fruitful and faithful.
There are several problems with a pastor allowing numbers to be the measuring stick of our ministries, but here is the greatest:
It does not appear to be how God evaluates our ministries.
According to Hebrews 13:17, God is evaluating our ministries based on our faithfulness to “care for souls as those who will give an account.”
Increased numbers may communicate all kinds of good things about one’s ministry, but whether God is pleased with a ministry or not based on numbers is a dangerous conclusion to make. Especially if the Chief Shepherd will hold a pastor in account for all those “reached” and brought into the church … but whose souls are neglected.
For pastors who are feeling the pressure of this numbers game, there is some helpful counsel for you. However, I had to seek it from outside the American church scene and from a different century altogether.
The 19th-century Scottish pastor and trainer of pastors, John Brown, wrote a letter to one of his students newly ordained over a small congregation and extended this word to him:
I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ at his judgment seat, you will think you have had enough.
Pastors, regardless of the pressures you face in your congregation to “produce the numbers,” focus on caring for souls. Be faithful to evangelize, preach the gospel every week, pray for conversions, but make sure your primary focus is on caring for souls.
When we stand before God to give an account for the souls of our flock, God will not be concerned with our increased numbers as much as how faithfully we cared for the souls of those that make up that number.
