10 Reasons Why Church Attendance Numbers Matter

In two of the three Christmas Eve services at our church, we had good crowds but they were not standing room only – and as a leader in my church I took notice of that.  I’m keeping a healthy perspective as I worked only two services so maybe the third had an overflow crowd.  Maybe we just had a lot of people out of town.  Maybe it was an anomaly.  Even though we were SRO in the two services I worked in 2010, maybe it is nothing.  Time will tell. 

I’m keeping a balanced approach but the key is that I am paying attention because attendance numbers matter.

In December/January issue of Inc. magazine, Evernote was named its Company Of The Year.  In the article, CEO Phil Libin had two statements that have specific application to church leaders:

1.  “A billion dollars isn’t cool (referring to the Sean Parker to Mark Zuckerberg statement).  What’s cool is impacting a billion people.  Whatever I ended up doing, I wanted people to get excited about it.  I wanted long lines forming for it.”

2.   “We want to go from being one app to being a family of apps, all of which have something to do with memory.  Our test for whether we should build something is: Will 100 million people use it right away.”

I deeply desire for our church to impact thousands and thousands of people.  I want there to be so much excitement about our church that there are long lines formed to get in.  I also want us to launch ministries that impact the maximum number of people possible.  That would be cool.

I don’t want to rationalize or sanitize plateau or decline.  I want to lean in and address the issue.  For the record, the best thing going for our church is our senior pastor so that is one of areas of strength just in case you were wondering.

There have been many posts on the biblical value of numbers.  Rick Warren has regularly done incredible teaching on this subject.  But here is what numbers mean to me:

• Numbers reflect how many people have been freshly redeemed through your ministry.
• Numbers reflect how many marriages have been healed.
• Numbers reflect how many people have been freed from addiction.
• Numbers reflect how many have chosen to invest their marginal time in serving others.
• Numbers reflect how many under-resourced and the poor are being given hope.
• Numbers reflect how many are discovering financial freedom.
• Numbers reflect how many people are getting to know Jesus more intimately.
• Numbers reflect how many people we can help find employment.
• Numbers reflect how many new friendships I have the opportunity to make.
• Each number represents a person that Jesus bled and died for. 

Numbers are a big deal because they tell life-changing stories.  If  Phil Libin and the team at Evernote can feel that way, how much more should the local church?   

I pray all three Christmas Eve services in 2012 will be standing room only.  And for that matter, I hope our regular Sunday services are as well.

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