That is how many people were at our church this morning.
What does that figure tell you?…
What does it not tell you?…
Backyard Missionary
unrefined theological musings, random personal reflections and occasional naughtiness…
That is how many people were at our church this morning.
What does that figure tell you?…
What does it not tell you?…
It tells me that 91 baptists turned up for church this morning.
It depends really… how many do you normally have?
It tells me that you probably shouldn’t invite all of them over to your house for tea all at once.
Perhaps in a few lots of 25… 🙂
It probably gives you an idea of how much is going to show up in the offertory, especially once you have names 😛
But at the risk of engaging seriously with your question – it doesn’t tell you much. It says nothing of how your church is impacting the community around you. It says nothing about the state of your church’s spiritual walk. It doesn’t say that your relationships are showing any kind of authenticity, it cannot give you any idea of the health of your church.
It might tell you how many seats you need to put out. Plus it’ll probably answer the first question you’ll get asked when you talk with another pastor.
Grendel – you must know me too well!
It was a semi-serious question Geoff – because it is the number that seems to matter more than anything else, but as you point out, exactly what it communicates is simply that 91 people felt the need to be there.
Andrew – I am not sure how many there are normally, but I think its 70-90ish. Maybe we’ll break the 100 barrier next week 🙂
The 100 barrier… hmmm… You, Mrs Hamo & 2 kids – that only takes it up to 95!!
You might need to proselytize!! I know a great video clip that will encourage you! 🙂
Hamo, does the extra 10 people add extra prayer ‘oomph’ or is it just a performance indicator?
I remember when these sorts of conversations were the stuff that filled our monday church staff meetings.
“91? is that all? Quick call all your leaders and find out where they were AND get them to call their cell group members and find out where they were!!!” or…
“91? WOOHOO! Praise God, revival is in the air…. new levels, spiritual breakthrough is here! or
“91? sounds bout right… what was the offering like?”
🙂
It means you had 5 times as many as we had. What does that tell you? What does that not tell you?
It is equal to(2M+7)
Where M = the answer to meaning of life,the universe and everthing… Sorry what was teh question/answer????!??!
It tells me we still count!
We get about 70 on a “good day” – what kind of a day is it, when we get 40?
Well, compared to our Sunday morning numbers, I reckon it means you’re now the pastor of a mega-church. Congratulations! 😉
Numbers are interesting things… They tell us various things, although won’t necessarily reveal the truth.
They tell us we’re ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the neighbouring church of comparable denomination. Of course they don’t, but we think they do.
They tell us we’re doing ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than 6, 12 or 24 months ago. Of course, they don’t, but we think they do.
They tell us if we need to ‘do’ it the same, or change it up, depending on what we’ve told ourselves from the 1st 2 criteria.
They tell us if we’re a ‘mega-McDonalds’ or a small/classic-boutique, which will either stroke our ego or pop our bubble, depending on what ‘we’ (members, not just staff) think we should be.
They tell us if we have been effective in communicating the Good News of Jesus to a world that needs Him, whether or not they think they do.
They also tell us what kind of impact we could/ should have on the rest of the community not yet reached.
91 – stupidly small for a megachurch, unweildy and huge for a house church. Possibly ‘just-right’ for what Quinns is trying to be.
91 – a good number of people who have been reached (by someone, somewhere) with the Gospel. Likewise, a good number of people to ‘get out’ and communicate the Gospel further, either as individuals, a number of small groups or as a large(ish) entity.
91 – your ‘starting point’, whether or not you want it!! 🙂
you had two times as many as we did. Yes, alas, I was half a man on Sunday.