The Good Count

Anglican churches keep a number of different registers where they track things like Sunday attendances, 'acts of communion', baptisms, weddings, etc. Over the years, this has grown into an important collection of historical social data and is even valuable for individuals who are interested in tracing their family trees as lots of information about ancestors can be sourced from the church records. In addition, the Anglican Church (at least here in Melbourne) uses this data to work out things like how much 'assessment' (essentially an internal tax) needs to be paid to the central administration by different local churches.

Some local churches also use their stats to actively track their growth - or decline - over time. Unsurprisingly, there are frequent objections to this practice from members who think that church leaders should not be focussed on numerical growth, but on 'spiritual' growth. Quality, not quantity, they say.

But while counting numbers can be done in such a way that it depersonalises the church, when it's done with the right attitude, I'm all for it. This is because every number is a person and frankly, the more people being served by local churches the better and the more a local church seeks to increase the number of people it serves the better. Often, I think the gut reaction against counting can go too far such that opponents to it can actually have a reverse pride in being part of a deliberately small church or a church that's above tracking numbers. But in my view, every local church should be striving to grow numerically because that's the tangible fruit of seeing people brought into the Kingdom and it's something to mark and celebrate.

Of course, we see exactly this in the New Testament - egs -

So those who welcomed [Peter's] message were baptised, and that day about three thousand persons were added. Acts 2:41.

But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand. Acts 4:4.

Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. Acts 9:31.

None of this is to say that spiritual growth is not what churches should be striving for, but just that numerical growth is genuinely good too. (The reality is that the two are probably quite closely related.)

I've recently been wondering more about what's best to count. Raw attendances are a good starting point. Adult attendances indicate voluntary members. Number of visitors tells you how many non-members are coming along. Number of adult baptisms measures new converts. People who take communion measures the number of believers. People serving in different capacities measures commitment to the church. And then there's what you can or can't track by considering the different metrics around financial giving.

Ultimately (and this is probably the scientist in me coming out), I think local churches should capture as much of this sort of data as possible. The real issue for me isn't about whether or not to do this, it's about how to use the information - it needs to be soberly assessed, well interpreted, appropriately weighed and openly shared. Then, it can be one encouraging tool for the local church to think about where it's  come from, where it's at and where it's going.