There’s a saying that I hear floating around quite often in ministry. “Numbers don’t matter.” It always boggles my mind when I hear people say that. It causes me to wonder how a specific individual has come to that conclusion. Maybe through a past disappointment of expectations dashed when it came to obtaining the numbers they desired for an event or ministry? The more it happened it became easier to tell yourself a story that numbers didn’t really matter. If we can just reach “the one” then we’ve done our job for the kingdom of God. Right? Wrong! Now before you pick up your stones shouting, “He left the 99!” Hear me out. One of my mentors and dear friends recommended a book for me to read recently. The book was called “The Story of You” by Steve Chandler. The basic premise of the book is simple yet profound. In a nut shell Chandler exposes the false stories that people tell themselves to protect their own egos. Not going to lie. My ego took a beating several times as I read through the chapters.
The problem with telling ourselves that numbers don’t matter is that overtime we start to believe it. When it comes to children’s ministry NUMBERS MATTER! Only aloof children’s ministry leaders are ignorant to their numbers and disconnected from the capacity of their facilities. Now, just to be clear, we should never let numbers define our value and allow ourselves to become overly obsessed with how many people walk through our doors. That is an entirely different topic. However, that doesn’t mean numbers don’t matter. Modern enterprises regularly assess the health and success of their operations through key metrics and measures. The church is no exception. In children’s ministry you have to know your numbers. So how well do you know yours?
How many children can your facility accommodate?
How much does it cost you to accommodate that many children in the space you are managing?
How many children are there in your zip code that are yet to be reached?
How many children have come through your facility in the past 3 months?
It is a sad day for a children’s ministry that realizes they have a space that can accommodate 300, but they’re only reaching 100 kids every Sunday, in a city that has 200,000 kids where most of them aren’t affiliated with any church. It’s when you gain an understanding of your numbers that you gain a more realistic perspective on how effective you are vs. how effective you think you are.
As a new school year is underway and school classrooms begin to fill up. Let’s try to be just as intentional about filling up our children’s ministries. Let’s shake up the darkness and commit ourselves to going forth with a spirit of excellence in how we reach children and families in our communities for Christ. Let’s get more serious about coming up with innovative ways to extend our reach and not allow any obstacle to prevent us from reaching children and families with the hope of the gospel. Let’s stop watering down the great commission and tear down every false story we’ve told ourselves that says “more” is unattainable. Moving forward, let’s get more serious about asking ourselves the hard questions of whether we are truly impacting the broader community of children and families. If the answer is no, may we not rest until more children and families are reached.
Learn more about this topic and more in Esther Moreno's Book Children's Ministry Wake Up Call.
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