I was meeting with someone today and he asked about how big our church is and if it was meeting our projections. Truth is, the first answer I could give. I know how many people attend, on average. But the second question? I have no idea. I don’t know if it meets projections because we didn’t have projections, and I’ve tried, really hard, to not have expectations.
I won’t lie. In my worst moments I love a full room of people on Sunday morning. At my most insecure, it makes me feel good about myself. (fyi: if a pastor says that he or she doesn’t really care about attendance, they are either a) lying, or b) waaaay more spiritual/confident/secure than I!)
I’ve been a pastor for almost 11 years now. (I’m pretty sure that I started my first pastoral position on June 14, 1999.) Numbers have always been a tricky thing. But something has happened in me the last couple of years, leading Imago. It’s really captured in this quotation that I came across a couple minutes ago:
God’s goal is not a perfect attendance record; it is a community of people who actually want to be in a community.” – J. Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be
I get super-excited when I hear people say things like “I’ve been gone a couple weeks, and I’ve missed the people of Imago,” or “I’ve always seen church as something I just ‘show up’ to, but, for the first time, I get excited to come to church and be around these people.” And I get encouraged when I hear of groups spontaneously gathering to hang out, serve the poor, or discuss a book together – not because we’ve created a program and asked for perfect attendance, but because they want to be a community that is changing the world.
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i love our community! i love how we are there for each other, challenge each other and respect each other.