People are funny when it comes to talking about numbers in churches. For example a friend of mine asked me,” how is your new church the Gathering doing?” I replied, “Great.” He proceeded to spiritualize to me about how we should not make it all about the numbers. Then immediately he asked, “How many did you have in attendance Sunday?” People are funny! I find it interesting that in the book of Acts chapter 2, Dr. Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, used the number 3,000 to describe the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit’s work on the day of Pentecost. Later on in the Book of Acts the number 5,000 was used to point out how many were added to the church. The point is God used numbers to reveal the effectiveness of His Church and its work. That is not the only measurement to be used, but it is one, because generally speaking healthy things grow and healthy churches will grow.
What one must remember is, that behind every number is a person (soul). A person who is hearing the Gospel, being disciple, equipped, encouraged, in fellowship and worshiping to the Glory of God on that particular Sunday. Therefore the Gathering will continue to focus on reaching as many as possible.