I want to share this simple discussion I had with a friend with you. It was a phone conversation. I have received a number of calls lately with questions bothering around certain things. I will try to bring the interpretation of God’s wisdom over those matters. This is one of them.
Friend: Hello Sir, it’s been a while. Sent you a mail. I am not sure you got it.
Me: Sorry, I have been busy really. I’ve been working on our new venue. We have outgrown where we are now and we have needed another place since about 6 months ago. Been trying to get a bigger and better place more comfortable for Gods people where we can hold more teaching meetings without bothering about paying more. He asked me some questions and I gave him certain statistics about the Church and why having those numbers are important to planning.
Friend: Whoa! You take these small things seriously, Sir.
Me: It’s because they are, and you ought to too. As small as they are, taking them seriously will save you from wrong decisions. It’s usually not doctrine that scatters a Church. With what some Churches are teaching, there shouldn’t be a single soul left in the pew. But you notice the imminent looming challenge in Act 6 was lack of proper administration that started breeding room for dissatisfaction, which led to factions and gossips. It’s clear from the narrative in Act 6 how many people were in the upper room in Acts 1. What if they didn’t know they were 120 and got an upper room that sits 24 people? How many people received the life of God in Act 2? How many disciples did Jesus have in his immediate circle? How many deacons were chosen in Act 6? How many gifts of the spirit do we have in 1 Corinthians 12? How many ministry gifts are there in Ephesians 4? How many people does 1 John 5 tell us make up the Trinity? Does the bible have a book called the book of NUMBERS for nothing? How many Churches did Jesus speak to post resurrection in Revelation 1, 2 and 3? How many loaves of bread did the boy have in Matthew 14 and 15? How many men were in that crusade? How many baskets of remnants from the miracles did the disciples gather? I can continue if you want more.
You know all of these because they were counted and were listed. It wasn’t WORD OF KNOWLEDGE. Its foolishness not to take stock of what God is doing around you. IT’S BAD STEWARDSHIP. DONT LET IT BE A FOCUS, BUT HAVE IT. It’s not biblical at all and its poor accountability. It is “African and third world country” in nature. One of the differences between Africa and developed world is that we lack data. We are wasteful in that regard. This mindset has permeated the Church. There is nothing noble about it. People feel, if it’s spiritual it’s should lack numbers. It’s not true, don’t join this crazy wave of people with pseudo-spirituality who say things like “We don’t care about Church growth, we don’t care about numbers at all, we just teach Christ” It is either; God didn’t call you to Church planting and you are confusing running a ministry with running a Church or you have been in the pastoral ministry and you don’t have commensurate results to show for it. You now deny publicly what you genuinely desire in your secret so as to make yourself feel good. Another one is that you are just an uneducated Pastor in Church/ministry.
You see, because I know how many kids are in the children’s Church in our present venue, it helps me prepare for a more spacious place for those darling kids. I have an idea about how many vehicles are parked in our present premise; it helps in informing about how many car parks we need to provide for the next venue so we don’t become a nuisance to our host communities. I don’t do the counting. So it’s not distracting. I don’t even check them regularly but the information is there when I need it to make decisions.
Friend: Whoa! It’s always refreshing talking to you, Sir.
Me: Do have a wonderful evening.
Take numbers seriously.
WELCOME TO FREEDOM.