Counting

We know how many people come to our Church services each week.

Because we count them.

It really helps us to get an idea of which kinds of things are supported well and foresee any changes in patterns which require a change.

At our recent Front Edge Sunday there were 355 present.

I find that exciting.

I am not sure why, but 355 seems way more than 349. Why? Because we are seeking God for 400 and so breaking 350 again feels like another step.

Sure, it was a big week, but the point is our building needs to be able to cope with the big weeks.

I am also pleased because our maximum layout before we went to two services was 360 chairs. 355 people on 360 chairs would have completely wiped us out, with far too little spare capacity.

On Sunday we were 172 and 144 adults on 233 chairs (and 39 children in groups). There was a bit more "wiggle room" for people. Lots of those people were guests, and had there been more there was space.

Just over 70,000 people live in the the boroughs of Shrewsbury. If we were by God's grace to reach the stage where we were 350 people every Sunday, that would equate with being 0.5% of our Town's population, although I realise lots of our people do travel in from outlying villages.

I am not interested in numbers as they don't prove anything, I am interested in people. And when those people respond to Jesus we can count them. What excites me about being able to count them is because they have become part of our number. So I am interested in numbers, because those numbers are people.

I don't actually care about statistics but I do care about the growth of the kingdom of God in this town through vibrant missional Churches.

We may have just touched 0.5% on Sunday, but could we have faith for 1%? Is that beyond the realms of what our God could do?

Exciting times...