July 21, 2017 - KarlVaters.com

The 3 Biggest Problems With An ‘Every Number Is A Person’ Approach To Ministry

July 21, 2017 / 1 minute of reading

When a pastor says “we count people because people count” and “numbers matter because every number is a person,” I agree.

Everyone in a church service, a discipleship class or a small group is a person for whom Jesus died. And knowing how many of them are in the room is a vital first step in ministering to them.

But it’s just a first step.

Every healthy church knows this, both large and small. But when we’re constantly bombarded with the importance of numerical growth, it can be easy to forget that attendance figures are only the first – and often the least helpful – step in determining how well we’re meeting people’s needs and challenging them into a deeper walk with Jesus.

As important as it is to keep accurate records, there are three big problems with allowing attendance figures to become a primary determiner of effective ministry.

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11 Advantages Of Having 50 Churches Of 100 Instead Of 1 Church Of 5,000

Church planters are some of the great heroes of the faith. Especially when you realize how many church plants fail within the first few years.

But I wonder, how many failed churches might still be alive and well today if we didn’t pressure them to reach numerical goals that most churches, even after decades of existence, fail to achieve?

What would happen if, instead of sending one church planter to start a church, hoping for it to reach (to pick an arbitrary number) 5,000 attendees, we sent out 50 church planters, and resourced them with the tools to grow to 100 on average?

Not that every church will reach 100. Some will be bigger, some will be smaller. But if the expectation was 50 churches of 100, instead of one church of 5,000, how would it change the way we plant, resource and encourage churches?

And what if we applied that same logic to our existing churches?