Shifting from Numbers to Vitality
Eric Marvin, Pastor
In the final week of Becoming Future Ready, Pastor Eric Marvin challenges Journey Church to rethink the way we measure the health of a church by shifting our focus from numbers to vitality. Attendance, programs, innovation, and numerical growth can all be good things, but none of them alone can tell us whether a church is spiritually healthy.
Looking at the early Church in Acts 2 and Acts 4, we see believers devoted to God's Word, fellowship, prayer, generosity, worship, and life together. Their focus was not simply becoming bigger. They pursued holiness and faithfulness, and the Lord was the One who added to their number.
Throughout Scripture, the Church is pictured as a family, a body, a temple, and a community in which God's glory remains present regardless of its size. These pictures give us a much richer understanding of church health than numbers alone ever could.
Instead of simply asking whether our church is growing, perhaps a better question is: Is our church beautiful? Are we becoming people characterized by love, humility, generosity, hospitality, encouragement, service, holiness, and faithfulness? Journey Church wants to reach more people, but our greatest priority is becoming the beautiful, faithful, Christ-centered body God has called us to be.
