Reading: 3.3—Quality and Quantity

3.3 Quality & Quantity: Broadening our discussion of quantitative metrics, effective Great Commission Objectives address quantity as well as quality. Dealing with numbers in ministry can be tricky as we surely don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that bigger, or more, is better, and that the biblical idea of growth is simply about growth in number or size. However, there is danger in ignoring or shunning numerical realities. Consider that the vision of John in Revelation 7:9 is of a great multitude that no one could number, the massive body of Christ, the innumerable family of God. Is that vision about numbers? No! It’s about souls; it’s about eternal lives, yet, the number of them is so large that they can’t be counted. At least, they can’t be counted by us, but they are counted by God, just as He counts the stars in the heavens and even names them (Gen. 15:5; Ps 147:4).

Tension regarding numbers has often surfaced over the course of my ministry. The two poles on the numbers continuum position those who fight for numerical growth in their churches with a whatever-it- takes attitude that can lead to compromise on one end, and those who virtually boast of the ever- declining smallness of their churches as a red badge of courage that testifies to their unwavering faithfulness on the other.

I found this issue so important and so conflicting that I dedicated my Ph.D. dissertation study to this one central concern. My guiding questions were these: 1. What does God say in His word about numerical growth? And 2, What does God mean by what He says in His word about numerical growth? Let me save you about four years of study by zipping to the bottom line. God says a great deal about numerical growth in His word, so to dismiss the importance of numbers is to be unbiblical. However, as you might suspect, these numbers are not about numbers, per se. Rather, they are about names, names that are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, written before the foundation of the world. These names form a roster of the saints, the ultimate family tree of God’s family. All throughout time, redemptive history will feature the gathering of these saints from the plentiful harvest of souls that Jesus had in view in Matthew 9. One by one they will be gathered until the full number is brought into the family of God and that innumerable multitude is assembled for worship in the throne room of heaven. My findings and more are included in my book, Vacancy: Finding Who’s Missing & Bringing Them Home. 

Indeed, quantity is important and should be reflected in GCOs. Also, quality is important for several reasons. First, God makes a clear distinction between good and bad, between good and evil, between right and wrong. For example, one of the first things we learn about God in the opening verses of Genesis is that He created light and says that the light was good (Gen. 1:4). When tracing the rule of kings in 1 Kings, a leading metric in God’s evaluation of kings is that they either did what was right or what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. In short, God has qualitative expectations for His leaders and for His church.

Second, Paul explains in his first letter to the Corinthians that all things, regardless of what they are, are to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). All things, even the smallest and seemingly inconsequential, are to be done to the glory of God. Great Commission Objectives are neither small nor inconsequential because they contribute to the gathering, nurturing, and growing of the saints. Surely, then, GCOs must reflect quality that is glorifying to God.

Third, there is a strong relationship between quality and quantity. I want to take you back to our discussion of Levels of Commitment included under Skill 2.3. We noted that the deepest Level of Commitment and the highest level of ownership is revealed when someone begins to invite other outsiders into the ministry of the church. Studies have shown that there is one element that stands above all others as to whether or not someone in the church will invite someone from outside to attend. That one element is confidence, meaning, people on the inside are inhibited from inviting folks from the outside if they are not absolutely confident that their guests are going to have a very positive, first-time-visit experience. What is it that bolsters their confidence? Being certain that everything that happens during that first visit is of high quality from the initial greeting to the child care to the worship service, etc., etc. If the quality is not consistently there, the confidence will not be there, and, without the confidence, the invitation will not be extended. Since the largest percentage of first timers to a church comes through personal invitation, if those invitations are not being extended, a church will not grow, the harvest will not be gathered, and the potential for increased quantity will be handcuffed by the lack of quality.

Setting Great Commission Objectives (GCOs) and establishing accountability effectively requires that consideration be given to quality and quantity in the crafting of GCOs. Quantity might be easier to address in actual GCO statements, but high quality should be built into the ministry culture so that, over time, quality is embedded into all that a church does, including its GCOs, to the glory of God.