Posting church numbers online

September 30, 2010

I am on twitter.com/revbtgilligan and I follow most people, but I make sure to follow as many pastors as possible. I think that by following these pastors that I can learn from them and we can share ideas with each other. However, I have noticed a trend that a lot of pastors do. It crosses denominations, congregation sizes, and seems to be more folklore than actually being the body of Christ. It is posting church attendance numbers on line for the world to see. Is this right? wrong? needed? Just a way to make the pastor feel better? Do numbers really matter? Click the picture to have a read and share your opinion.

I guess I have two concerns with pastors who post their attendance numbers online.

1. Is it just to brag about how big the numbers were? If that is the case then pastors seem to have forgotten that numbers don’t matter. Numbers are one indicator of growth, not the only indicator. Just because there were 450 in church, doesn’t mean anything. How many were changed because of the service? How many heard the gospel? How many are going to make the world better because of what they heard? Shouldn’t those be better indicators of growth? Maybe we should brag about what Jesus has done to our people instead of how many people are sitting and listening in the service?

2. Is it to compare with others? Is that pride when you win? Is that shame when your attendance is smaller than another person’s numbers? If this is the case I think we have missed the point that church is never big enough or small enough. Until the whole world knows Jesus and is in a church community then church isn’t big enough. Until the entire church body feels connected to their church and has ownership over some aspect of ministry in their church then the church hasn’t gotten small enough.

So what is the purpose? I think it is important to keep track of attendance numbers in church but is there ever a reason to post them online? Or should they be kept confidential as an indicator of growth? What do you think? Leave a comment below.