It's Next Week Already?

Had a really nice morning at church, seeing folks after a long week of small groups and getting ducks in a row. Some ducks have needed help getting in the row properly, but I'm encouraged that everyone's working together, watching for what God's got in store. Now Week Two kicks off on our 40 Days of Community adventure. My unofficial tally is 240+ in small groups last week for our campus, and I'm hoping that'll edge closer to 300 this second week.

Let me throw this out real quick: it's not about the numbers. Lots of churches and organizations measure growth or success by numbers. In my mind, numbers will go up because of real growth, but those numbers can be overinflated reflections of something that might not be that successful in the first place. Real growth will draw people, but might also draw persecution, conflict, confrontation. So when I say I'd like to see X number of folks, I think I'm more encouraged to see people trying to connect, having a good time together, and opening opportunities to grow in community. It's like the number reflects what can happen, the potential for something to happen, more than it's a reason to really pat ourselves on the back yet. Real growth might be something that happens in spite of the numbers, not necessarily because of them.