Adding It Up

We spend a lot of time quantifying things: how many of this, how much of that? It seems necessary in some areas of life, particularly if you feel an obligation to pay your bills. In other areas, though, I wonder if our obsession with numbers isn’t more of a distraction than a meaningful exercise.

For instance: the church. Whether it is merely small talk, or somehow seen as expected, when someone asks me about the church where I am the pastor, they usually – and quickly – get around to asking, “How large is your church?”

“Hmm,” I ponder, “Do they want to know the square footage of the buildings? Or are they asking about the acreage of the property? Does their inquiry have as its hidden agenda my effectiveness as a church leader? Do they really care how many people show up on a given Sunday? Are they curious about how many people have ‘joined,’ whether they participate more frequently than Easter and Christmas? Or maybe, they are trying to picture the people who attend. Is their average height greater than 5’9”? Are most of the folks overweight?”

Some pastors hit you with figures right out of the box, whether you ask or not. “We had 400 on Easter.” “I baptized 17 people over the last few months.” What is the meaning of those assertions?

The Christian Century shares some survey results in the current issue, uncovered by the "National Congregations Study." After mentioning minor demographic shifts over the past ten years in some churches, the following is reported:

• The number of churches with Web sites increased from 17 percent in 1998 to 44 percent in 2006-2007, and use of e-mail rose from 21 percent to 59 percent.

• Use of drums in church music rose from 20 percent to 34 percent, while people raising their hands in praise during worship services increased from 45 percent to 57 percent.

• The average age of the senior clergyperson in a church rose from 48 to 53. In 1998, 25 percent of the people in the average congregation were at least 60 years old; in 2006-2007, 30 percent were. (Catholic and liberal mainline churches were more likely to have older pastors than other churches.)

OK. And you’re telling me this because…

In the report, as discussed in the article, there is nothing that would indicate whether churches of any stripe became more effective in communicating the hope of the Gospel over the last ten years, or whether the quality of Christian spirituality increased or decreased. Have pastors and church members become more mature in their faith over that time? How many people made the connection between what goes on in worship and how they live their day-to-day lives?

And, of course, therein lies the rub. How do you quantify such matters? You can’t. So, we are more comfortable with something we can count and analyze than we are paying attention to how we might become more faithful.

I find emphasis on statistics, reports, surveys, and other measuring tools less helpful and more distracting.

It seems to me that if the time spent on such concerns were applied instead to spiritual practices and disciplines, we might find other things to be true: fewer wars, less poverty and racism, more fulfilling lives and vocations, increasingly joyous relationships.

But, as long as the goal is always “more meat in the seats” on Sunday mornings, we’ll never get there.

Making History

The profile of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) took a major leap upward with the selection of our General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, to be the preacher at the National Prayer Service on January 21, the day following the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America.

The service will be held at Washington National Cathedral, and is the culminating event of the Inauguration. The service highlights the diversity of faith in our nation, and Sharon Watkins will be the first female preacher ever at such an event. Given the long and rich history of Disciples’ involvement in ecumenical and interfaith relationships, it is fitting that one of our folks takes a leadership role. And, the fact that she will be the first woman to do so, at the Inauguration of our first African-American President, truly makes it historic.

"I am truly honored to speak at this historic occasion," said Reverend Watkins. "My prayer when I preach is always that God will use me to bring a Gospel message that is uplifting and appropriately challenging to those who hear it. I hope that my message will call us to believe in something bigger than ourselves and remind us to reach out to all of our neighbors to build communities of possibility."

The National Prayer Service is a tradition that goes all the way back to George Washington, and Sharon Watkins was selected by President-Elect Obama following a meeting he held with religious leaders from a variety of traditions and outlooks. According to an article in the New York Times, Sharon was asked to pray at the end of the meeting, which was somewhat contentious. “Sharon was able to conclude in a way that tied everyone together,” said the Rev. Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, who was at the meeting. “It left folks on a buoyant note, with a degree of hope and optimism that we could find some common ground.”

We Disciples are proud of Sharon Watkins for her ministry, and I know she will represent us faithfully and well, sharing God’s Word on an historic occasion.

More information can be found here.