Presbyterian Idol

It seems that Presbyterians in general have been freaked out about their numbers since at least the mid-1970s.  It's noted in the book The Big Sort that the decline, for Presbyterians and Catholics and Baptists and everyone, actually, began in about 1965. But now that our numbers nationally have dropped to around 1.9 million, we think that the end of the world is near.

Of course I would like it if we won the popularity contest, and had more numbers than all the other mainline denominations combined. But I don't remember reading anything about "Blessed are you when your membership tops 5 million" anywhere in the gospels.  Not even in John. Not even in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.  The book of Acts does talk about the day when three thousand souls were added to their numbers, and also that "day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47).  But did you catch that?  We're not the ones that do the adding.  That's a gift from God. That must mean that our job is something else.

In the last few verses of Acts 15, we're told that Paul invited Barnabas to go with him to check out all of their "new church developments" and see how everyone was getting along.  Barnabas agreed, but said "Let's bring along John Mark too."  Nothing wrong with that, right?  The more the merrier and all that. But Paul said no. His objection had to do with the fact that John Mark had "deserted" them in Pamphylia and "had not accompanied them in the work." So quite the blowup ensued.  Barnabas and John Mark ended up going one direction, and Paul then invited Silas to go with him in another.  Funny, from that point on we read a lot more about Paul than we ever do about Barnabas or John Mark.

Some would write off this passage to the hard-headedness of Paul. But there's more going on here than that. For one, it shows me how bent we are on "church growth" these days, to the point that we are willing to take in anyone who will join our church, whether they are interested in our mission or not.  And we dare not say anything, even if it's the truth, to make anyone mad lest we lose a member. To me, that means that we have made a false idol of the numbers game, to the detriment of faithfulness. I hate to say it, but you know I'm right: sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is to bless certain members on their way, trusting God as we do. Not everyone is meant to go along. If we drag someone along who is less than committed at best and dangerous at worst, we have not gained anything and we have not furthered the cause of the Gospel.

But what about the poor John Marks of the world? Do we leave him behind to his own devices, and therefore to the wolves? Have we forsaken him?  Perhaps our job is to trust that God has not left John Mark behind. Perhaps someone else will help him, or he will help someone else.  We don't have to know that. But we do have to discern that accompanying Paul, or accompanying us, may not be his call in life.

Systems theory teaches that gearing towards the lowest common denominator does not strengthen the system. Rather, focusing on the health of the system will strengthen all of its members. That dram of wisdom, along with trusting God for the results, spares us from the idolatry of numbers.

Yes, of course, I want for there to be millions of happy and healthy Presbyterians.  That's not what I'm saying. What I do NOT want is for that to be our goal in life. Our goal is to witness to and to serve the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of Holy Spirit. If that's all that we do, we're going to be just fine.