Numbers Matter

There seems to be a common misconception that numbers in the Church world don’t matter to God. I know in general what people mean by this… they mean that our focus should not be on how big our churches are, but rather that we should focus on caring for people, making disciples, teaching sound doctrine, and proclaiming the Gospel. In general, I would agree, but I’ve also seen many people use this statement as an excuse for not doing evangelism. The statement “numbers don’t matter” sounds very spiritual. The only problem with it is, the New Testament.As you read through the ministry of Jesus, numbers are specifically mentioned on multiple occasions; massive numbers. The reason numbers matter is because numbers represent people. When you look at it that way, numbers matter to God because people matter to God.

As you open the book of Acts you see that Acts 1:15 specifically mentions that there were 120 people in the church at the time of Pentecost. And then, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:41 “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:47 tells us that, “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 4:4, “Many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” Acts 5:14, “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women”. Acts 6:7, “The word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem”. Acts 9:31, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” Acts 11:21/24, “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord… And a great many people were added to the Lord.” I think you get the picture. I could probably add another dozen passages in the book of Acts that tell us explicitly that numbers matter. Having said that I don’t think we should equate spiritual health with numbers and I don’t think we should get our identity from the sizes of our churches. However, as I read the book of Acts, I see the constant pattern of Gospel proclamation and then Gospel advancement.

I am aware there are men in the Bible, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, who were called to what we might call “fruitless ministry”. Then, there are men who at the last day, who will be applauded for leading 10 people to Jesus in a difficult place, over those who led 10,000. For instance, Isaiah and Jeremiah remained “fruitless” as they preached the message to the unbelieving, in Israel, often doing so with tears. These men, show how the missionary whom is unfruitful can still labor in hope for the lost, even in the hardest of places.  There are multitudes of lost people all around us, and because of that, numbers matter. Let’s not keep making the Biblical understatement that “numbers don’t matter.” We see in the book of Revelation, there is a multitude of saints from every tribe and tongue who will worship the Lamb in Heaven, and on that day I guarantee you that those numbers will matter.

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The Church Exists by Mission

"The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning." - Emil Brunner

 Every verse in the New Testament is in the context of mission. The proclamation of the Gospel is the purpose of the Church. From time to time, I talk to pastors and church leaders, especially those in the camp of reformed theology, that say to me things like, “We are a church that is all about discipleship,” or, “We are just a church that is trying to go deep.” What I have found over the years is that, much of the time, this is an excuse for them not doing any type of evangelism. Also, I have found that it is misleading. I would contend that you are not as deep of a church or a church which excels at discipleship unless people are getting saved and baptized as a church. People geek out on a 72 week series on Ephesians 1:3-14, while there are 17 people in the church who are all from other churches frustrated and discontent. I don’t understand how you can teach the New Testament with such passion and go so deep and not come to the conclusion that you’re supposed to reach lost people.

Think about this: Every verse in the New Testament is in the context of the Gospel Mission. The gospels themselves present the mission of God in Christ as Jesus accomplishes his part of the mission. The Gospel of Matthew presents him as the King of the Mission. The Gospel of Mark presents him as the Servant on Mission. The Gospel of Luke presents him as the Perfect Man on Mission. The Gospel of John presents him as God on mission. At the end of the Gospel of John; Jesus says “as the father has sent me [on mission], so I send you [on mission]." (John 20:21) And of course there are the Great Commission passages in Matthew 28 and Luke 24. These Great Commission passages are the catapults for the rest of the New Testament, which is a handbook for mission. Think about it; the book of Acts - The mission begins and spreads. It would be hard to read the book of Acts or teach the book of Acts without being overwhelmed by the evangelistic emphasis. The book of Romans is the message of the mission. 1st & 2nd Corinthians deal with conflict and church discipline on mission. The book of Galatians defends the gospel mission from religion. The Book of Ephesians is the church on mission. The Pastoral Epistles describes the leaders of the mission.  And the book of Revelation describes to us the completion and goal of the mission. If Jesus sent his people into the world to be disciples who make disciples by baptizing (leading them the Christ), teaching (teaching them about Christ), and then sending them to go teach others, and we then are not doing that… isn’t that disobedience? Is the church even a church, biblically speaking, if people are not meeting Jesus? Look at 2 Corinthians 5:20, this text tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ, that God is using us to make an appeal…. My contention is that the church is not the church unless it’s on Christ's evangelistic mission.

Jesus told his disciples “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”(Mark 1:17)  If you make disciples, that don’t do the same thing as Jesus’ disciples - you’re not making disciples at all. Jesus also said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) 

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