“We had 900 people at church today!”
Why are you telling me?
“So you can celebrate with us!”
What are we celebrating?
“The mighty work that God is doing in our church!”
We had 90 people at our church today.
“That’s great!”
Not as great as 900.
“It’s not about numbers!”
Then why did you tell me how many were at your church?
“Because God is doing amazing things at our church!”
More amazing than at my church…
“That’s not true! God works in any church, no matter the size!”
Then why did you tell me how many were at your church?
“Man, I just thought you would want to rejoice with us.”
I’m not clear on why you’re rejoicing.
“Because 900 people were in church today!”
Don’t you mean 990? Because we had 90 at our church…
“Oh yeah. That’s what I meant!”
Sure.
“When a bunch of people show up on Sunday morning, it’s a sign that you’re elevating Jesus!”
A bunch of people show up at rock concerts.
A bunch of people show up at riots.
“But we’re all about Jesus! That’s the difference.”
If it’s about Jesus, why does it matter how many were at your church?
“Numbers are how we know we’re doing our job with excellence.”
Your job?
“Leading people into the presence of God through worship.”
So the 900 people were there because of you?
“No! They were there because of Jesus!”
Why were they at your church instead of mine?
“Because we have a better worship service!”
Congratulations.
“Thank you! Praise the Lord!”
0 Responses
I am a member of a small church in a larger community. There are many churches in town that are much larger by comparison. Sadly many Christians at the larger churches around here have the attitude that the man at the church of 900 had in this example. It’s sad and spiritually ignorant to be honest. But I see it all the time. God has never cared about numbers. The angels in heaven rejoice over the one sinner who repents. He cares about hearts who are authentically chasing Him. Even Jesus gave up numbers over speaking the truth. Jesus had the opportunity to compromise truth for crowds but He refused and many deserted Him and went elsewhere. (John 6:66) He didn’t care about the numbers. In fact having a lot of followers was utterly pointless if He wasn’t also speaking the truth. The same is true for churches today. It doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 in your church if you are compromising the gospel. God can and does do amazing things in small churches.
Well stated. It’s a sobering thought that a larger flock makes heresy spread to a larger number of people.
Right on point! We also forget the multitudes in Heaven that we join in praising and worshiping. Not just on Sunday, but every day, without ceasing. It’s the one thing I can still do with my son. . . we can sing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” together. It’s not about us, or the talent of the worship team, or the numbers. . . it’s ALWAYS about HIM! Thank you John for pointing us back to where our focus should always be!
The first 3 commenters read my mind. Thanks friends! And thanks John for nailing it again!
* starts laughing heartily at the humour of it until tears come to her eyes, then starts to sob and curls up in a fetal position, weeping at the truth of it *
Bwahahahahahaa!!! Zing!
Modern Christendom in a nutshell, sadly.