Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, KJV)

What follows below is a good devotional from A.W. Tozer on how easy it is to get caught up paying homage to the “goddess” Numbers in our work for Christ. Please know this is offered as encouragement and with much empathy for my brother pastors who are pressed hard from the congregation side to grow, as well as from the associational side for monetary and numeric growth.

It’s not really applicable in my particular case however, because pastoring a fellowship called Connecticut River Baptist Church–even though we are in revival–of 4-5 which meets in the home of one of its members, my associations left us for dead a long, long time ago. If I can be of further encouragement please feel free to drop me a line here at Apprising Ministries.

Take heart my brothers and let us ride to the sound of the guns! It’s to the end in Christ!

The emphasis today in Christian circles appears to be on quantity, with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality. Numbers, size and amount seem to be very nearly all that matters even among evangelicals. The size of the crowd, the number of converts, the size of the budget, the amount of the weekly collections: if these look good the church is prospering and the pastor is thought to be a success. The church that can show an impressive quantitative growth is frankly envied and imitated by other ambitious churches.

This is the age of the Laodiceans. The great goddess Numbers is worshiped with fervent devotion and all things religious are brought before her for examination. Her Old Testament is the financial report and her New Testament is the membership roll. To these she appeals as arbiters of all questions, the test of spiritual growth and the proof of success or failure in every Christian endeavor.

A little acquaintance with the Bible should show this up for the heresy it is. To judge anything spiritual by statistics is to judge by another than scriptural judgment. It is to admit the validity of externalism and to deny the value our Lord places upon the soul as over against the body. It is to mistake the old creation for the new and to confuse things eternal with things temporal. Yet it is being done every day by ministers, church boards and denominational leaders. And hardly anyone notices the deep and dangerous error. The Set of the Sail, 153.

“Oh Lord, convict us! Forgive us! Deliver us! Amen.” (Tozer on Christian Leadership, October 25)