![]() ![]() 7I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. The passage in Luke 15, if you will endulge my placing it here. However, you make a fundamental error in supposing that filled pews equals a winning team. Steve, I can appreciate your fervor for reaching the lost, as I too, share such conviction. there are some great mega churches that focus on small groups, relationship building, discipleship and the ability to do amazing things in their cities and in missions that a smaller church cannot. The truth is the vast majority of church growth seminars appeals to our own pastoral egos. Numbers gives us a false sense of success. Partially it is because we have created an appetite that cannot be sustained in the real world or the real church but we justify it by numbers. We create things that youth want to attend because it is dynamic, fun and entertaining and then wonder why they lose interest when in adulthood or college. Youth ministry is one of the great concerns I have for the mega church mentality. We spend way too much time trying to get the church filled with "people" and we miss the fact that the priority should be doing everything we can in filling the church with the presence and person of God. Leadership is primarily paid professionals with little opportunity for development of gifts and talents. Worship is professional (you had better be very good) in musical abilities and vocal abilities. In a large church setting there are few opportunities for the development of ministry and gifts. I am sure those churches exist but they would be the exception. Numbers are so deceiving and I have not served with a large mega church where the numbers did not compete with the quality. I have served on staff of mega churches and small to medium churches and would have to say that if we had 20 churches of 250 we would accomplish much more than one church of 5,000. God bless you and keep you all in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. Scripture is also clear that narrow is the path and few there be that find it.we need to feed the flock to put them on this path, so that we fill Heaven and not just pews. We have robbed the power from the Gospel through our hypocrisy and focus on the things that are of this world and not the Kingdom. The reason, in my humble opinion, is that we have words with no power. The fact is that Christian marriages fair no better than the secular world. The fact is is that the church in America is not saving the teens and youth, for the vast majority leave the faith. Pastors, this is not our church, it is the church that Jesus is building and our role is clear as under-shepards. Your mention of peter's pentecostal sermon it truth behind what I say, for he preached the Gospel without adornment and yes, 3000 were saved. It is the Gospel that saves, not our manufactured efforts to appease the sensibilities and personalities of the masses.God is sovereign and it is He who will bring His children to salvation in Christ. I don’t want to waste a single dollar or second on a program, piece of equipment, or ministry position that isn’t the best option for reaching the most people." You shouldn't be wasting dollars meant for evangelism, meeting the needs of the brethren, and missionary work on such things.period. We’ve got to make sure we’re measuring ministry numbers to measure our effectiveness and enlarge the Kingdom of God. You wrote"we need to track every scrap of statistical data at our disposal. Honestly, I think that that preoccupation with adding numbers to the pews, as created a seeker sensitive mentality that has adversely affected true discipleship. Whatever your reason is, remember: every number is indicative of a story. But it’s just as possible for that to happen in a church of 10 people as it is in a church of 10,000. Maybe you think it steals away from discipleship. If that’s the case, you wouldn’t have liked the New Testament Church. ![]() Maybe you don’t like the idea of big crowds. You might be averse to numbers for a number of reasons. I don’t want to waste a single dollar or second on a program, piece of equipment, or ministry position that isn’t the best option for reaching the most people. And in order for that to happen, we need to track every scrap of statistical data at our disposal. It’s unacceptable to me as a pastor that we would stop growing when the Lord wants to add to our number daily those who are being saved. Apparently, God is all about the numbers. ![]()
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