Then there are those who say each number represents a person. They say they count people, because people count. That a growing, healthy church is going to be growing in numbers. They track numerical growth, baptism numbers, and volunteer numbers. Valid points as well.
Personally, I believe numbers do count and I think we should be tracking them. But here is the number that should be the primary focus of our attention. NOT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ATTENDING OUR CHURCH...BUT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO AREN'T ATTENDING OUR CHURCH.
The United Nations released the "2010 Revision of the World Population Prospects" in which they raised their previous estimated global demographic estimates. As a consequence, Worldometers algorithm was updated to reflect the latest data and rate of change projections. World population, according to the UN, will reach 7 Billion on October 31, 2011.
Over 7 billion people will die in the next 100 years. Jesus sees them. They are His focus. He is not willing that anyone should perish, but that everyone should come to Him. He wants to have a life-changing relationship with every single one of those 7 billion people.
The point is not how many people are currently attending your church. Rather it's how many people in your community are still lost and need Jesus. That's the number that matters! It doesn't matter if you have 50, 500, or 5,000 people attending...take a look outside the walls of your church. You are surrounded by people who need Jesus!
Let's keep our focus outward instead of inward. Our motivation should not be to see how large our church can get or how small and intimate we can keep it. Our motivation should be the people in our community who have no clue about Jesus.
That's the number it's all about.
That's the number it's all about.