I follow a lot of fellow pastors on Twitter and on Sunday I was pumped. Over and over tweets were celebrating the numbers of people that were coming for Easter services and the number of people who were making decisions for Christ. Can I get a “Yeah God!!!”…anyone… you the pastor moving from Florida to Canada, thank you, knew I could count on a “Yeah God!!!” from you. Awesome day!!!
One church I love is NewSpring in SC. They don't just think outside the box, they blew up the box for a sermon illustration years ago. I made a twitter comment (copied to Facebook) about how I thought it was awesome they played AC/DC’s Highway to Hell for their Easter service... and immediately started catching some flak. Some people were well meaning but mostly it came from people at stagnant, dead and dying churches.
Now I have no problem with any “model” of church. Music, teaching style, etc. are all a matter of personal preference. What reaches one person pushes away another. Different is not wrong, just different. Every body (of believers) has to choose their bent and go with their leading and their personality to do what it takes to reach their community for Christ. Traditional music..fine, expository teaching with indept Greek and Hebrew word studies…great, Suit and tie…ok, not my preference but for many it works. I know great, growing, thriving churches using those models, and the ones who are doing those things who are thriving and spiritually healthy don’t have an issue with other churches using contemporary methods, seeker sensitive ideas, modern music, life application teaching and themed series. Healthy churches (and believers for that matter) celebrate all other like minded (theologically speaking) churches successes regardless of their methodological bent.
One of the tweets I posted read “ @NewSpring& @PerryNoble had 100’s, yes 100's!!, of people make decisions of faith and accept Christ today. How many did your church have?” I was asking for a good report, but apparently some took it as an attack. Talk about gas on the fire. Of the responses I received the theme seemed to be “God does not care about numbers”, Church is “not a contest”. OH BUT IT IS...IT IS!!!!
Church Is All About Numbers.
It is about the numbers. Each number represents a person. Each person represents a soul, a soul that will be lost and spend eternity in Hell apart from God…unless…unless someone gets out of their comfort zone and does everything in their power, with all the methods at their disposal, to communicate the Good News of Christ to the lost in their neighborhood, their city, their county and so on. If you say that your church is big enough, if you are not focused on growth, you are ignoring half the Great Commission, literally telling the rest of your community to “go to hell”. It is all about the numbers.
It Is A Contest
It is a contest. Not between churches, but with an enemy that comes “…like a roaring lion, seeking anyone he can to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Our team, the church, verses Satan’s team. So the question you have to ask yourself, “Is my local church pulling its weight on the team, or is it just sitting on the bench griping that it does not like the way others on the team are playing and putting them down whenever they score?”
Perry Noble is right, “When you move to a new community & are trying to find a church--go to the one that all of the "churched" people hate and speak out against, because it is in that place you are most likely to actually meet Jesus and have your life radically transformed by Him!”
Easter weekend, 2009, was incredible for many churches all across the United States and around the world. However, for many churches it was just another Sunday where all the believers heard a message surrounded by the same people they sit with every Sunday. I hope your church was the former, I hope your numbers blew away your expectations and I hope you ran up the score!!!
