Church conference season is upon us.
Now, if you know me, you know I love me some conferences. I think they provide a unique opportunity to gain some inspiration and make new connections. They make a great excuse to travel.
At Christian conferences when you’re introducing yourself, it’s fairly common to say what church you serve at, what you do there, and more commonly than not, how big the church is. And, if applicable, how many campuses or satellite locations your church has. Now, the numbers part is always said casually, but let’s be honest… the numbers impress [most of] us.
In our fun little subculture, the numbers game is a measurement of “success.”
“I serve at The-Church-You’ve Heard-Of, we’re a church of about 10,000 on the weekend and we have 3 satellite locations,” sounds much more impressive than, “I serve at The-Church-You’ve-Never-Heard-Of, we run about 800 on the weekend.”
I got lost in that trap for awhile.
I’m not saying megachurches are bad, the fact they are mega means they must be doing something right [most of the time]. But I do think when it comes to how we measure success, our metrics can be a bit off.
What about the church of 800 in a town of 8,000? What about the church that is under the radar but is known in their community for doing a tremendous amount of good? Again, not bashing megachurches, but I think we pay attention to size and don’t look at impact and influence as a measurement of success.
I actually went to a conference once where you had to indicate the size of your church when you registered and were then assigned a color-coded name badge so you could “network” with other people who served in churches that were similar to yours. Cool idea but it seemed like a big competition or bragging right.
Personally, I’d rather learn from a pastor or leader that’s leading a church of a few hundred in a community of few thousand than a pastor of a church of 10,000 in a city of a few million people. Both are doing great things, but I think to be reaching a greater portion of your population says something… and it’s something I want to hear. Again, I love megachurch leaders… I’m just sayin’.
This morning I saw on twitter that the church I first served at, Riverside Community Church in Peoria, IL, made the front page of their city’s newspaper for a week-long missions outreach they are doing bringing hundreds of teenagers into the inner-city to better the community.
Riverside started Dream Center Peoria and has united area churches in their community to create something that the city can’t ignore. They do numerous programs and outreaches throughout the year and have gotten people outside of the church and in the community involved. They are truly helping to unite people to change a city.
Riverside, along with 4 other churches in the community, also does something pretty remarkable to show unity among churches across racial and denominational boundaries. For the last couple of years the pastors of the 4 area churches took the idea of LifeChurch.tv’s “One Prayer,” but did it locally by switching pulpits. For four weeks, each of the four pastors went on tour, vacating their own pulpits and went to speak at the other churches. How cool is that? I don’t know of many stories where a group of pastors in a community would be willing to go and share the pulpit with other pastors who, in some cases, don’t share the same set of beliefs or theology.
Riverside even recorded a live worship album that’s available on iTunes. I think it’s fantastic. You should check it out.
When I worked at Riverside I would be a bit shy about introducing myself at conferences. I worked for an averaged-sized church in an average-sized town in Illinois. But you know what? They are making a huge impact. And, had it not been for my work experience there, I would have never ended up where I am today… not that I’ve come very far.
I’m not saying all this to promote Riverside, but just to highlight my point… they are doing some great things and they are under the radar. I think their story needs to be heard… and John King, the lead pastor, is one of the most remarkable pastors I’ve served with in ministry. He needs to write a book and lead leaders.
I’m realizing now, much later, that I should have been more proud of my church and the work they are doing.
So, as you go about networking, going to tweetups or MeetUps, be careful about how you measure success. Don’t let the numbers fool you. And, if you feel like an underdog, you’re not. Size is size. It’s numbers. Your church is doing something unique and you need to be proud to share that story.
Measure success by the depth of the impact a church is making in a community and by life change, not by the number of people in seats on a weekend.
