The Truth About Numbers
After the last two posts, I thought I might put myself into the spotlight for a minute. Honestly, all that I wrote here and here is what I have to tell myself constantly. It is a constant struggle for me not to look at the numbers to measure myself. Here is the best part though.
A year and a half ago, I was just starting out at the church I am now at (St. Peter’s). I had been at a pretty large church before and St. Peter’s is fairly small comparatively. I had spent most of the summer trying to get to know kids in the church and had planned a big back to school launch. I knew that I wouldn’t get the kind of crowds I was used to, but I had confirmed that about 12 teens were coming. That night, we had 2 kids and one was the pastor’s daughter. I was so disappointed. I couldn’t help but think that I had done something wrong. Where were the ones who said they were coming?
The next Monday, I trudge into the office and see the pastor. Uh oh, he knows that I had a very poorly attended event. My hands started to sweat. He asks how I am and I say something like, “a little disappointed with the event.” He says, “I was disappointed for you. Let’s go get some coffee.”
The conversation that followed was the best thing that has happened to me as a staff person in a church. My pastor actually commiserated with me and told me not to worry about it. He urged me to think for the long term and not let little things get me down. He encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing. It was the first time in working for the churches I had worked when I felt like a person and not a resource. For the first time, I had been discipled by a pastor.
What I learned from that is that relationships always trump numbers. I could tell you the number of times I was made to feel like I did something wrong when an event didn’t go as planned, but it didn’t do anything for me or the ministry I was involved in. That one time changed the way I look at ministries and our plans for them.
