IN REGARD TO COMPLAINTS
ABOUT NUMBERS OF "MISSING"
CHURCH MEMBERS AT CHURCH SERVICES
[02/24--2006]
From time to time I either read or hear complaints made
by some of the brethren who seem to be very passionately concerned in regard to
churches who may have a large membership rolls but many of the members are
"missing" at the church services. I often see where "percentages" are referred
to ostensibly to prove the case, and how judgments are invariably made which
question the salvation or spirituality of the "missing" numbers. In the case of
some very large "mega" type churches, we are often informed about how many
hundreds or even thousands do not show up on Sunday morning -- even though there
are hundreds or even thousands who do show up at such large churches. Perhaps a
church of 5000 members will have only about 2000 in attendance, and the focus
for criticism is upon the "missing." Why not on the 2000 that do show
up?
When I hear such complaints -- which are almost always accompanied by
a presumed dire judgment made regarding the spiritual state of the missing ones
-- I recall that even during the ministry of Jesus and the early church, there
was a similar condition, with many professors and temporary followers, but a
minority of the very faithful and enduring ones.
Jesus often had
multitudes following Him and listening to Him, and even being fed and healed by
Him on various occasions, but only a handful of followers showed up at the
Lord's Supper, less at the crucifixion, and even after His resurrection only 120
in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.
I also recall the parable of
the sower (Luke 8:5). Only one out of four that heard the Word received
it and brought forth enduring fruit. Also, of the ten lepers that were healed by
the Lord, only one of them returned to give glory to God (Luke
17:15-18).
Ought we to be concerned about the "missing" numbers of church
members? Of course. But ought we not be more concerned and focused upon
those in attendance? We can't do much ministering at church services to the
missing ones. So we need to be devoted to making sure that we minister to those
in attendance in a positive way rather than waste time and energy complaining
and griping and setting forth presumed judgments about the missing ones.
I once heard a tale about the preacher who had only one member to show
up at the service on a cold winter day when the snow was deep on the ground. He
had long wanted to get a message "thru" to this fellow, but couldn't seem to do
so. This time he thought had that member "right where he wanted him" -- he
couldn't fail to get thru to him this time! He preached right at the man and
thought he would surely hit the target.
After the sermon, the member
went up and shook the preacher's hand and said, "That was a great sermon! You
sure hit the nail on the head! I just wish those that needed it had been
here!"
It is far better to have people coming in such large numbers that
perhaps one out of four, at least, can be reached with the Word and then
go forth to bear enduring fruit, while the others eventually are numbered among
the "missing." Wouldn't it be nice if every church today could report, "We had
1000 members at the services," even if they also had 3000 missing? Sure, it
would be wonderful to have a higher percentage, but in the light of the parable
of the Sower, if we could just always have a one-out-four average, it would be a
blessing.
This matter of the "missing" hundreds and thousands is not
really the problem in most cases today. The problem today seems to be that in
all too many churches there are not enough hundreds and thousands being added to
the churches to even have the large number of "missing ones" about which to be
concerned! -- Bob L. Ross
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