Almost every time I stream songs on online platforms, I find myself checking the number of views.
I am pretty sure I am not alone.
It’s just our numbers-conscious minds unconsciously trying to gauge the success of the song and by extension the artist.
It’s expected.
In a world in which numbers are king, we tend to measure success in virtually everything in terms of numbers.
Even the church has imported that metric. Many believers perceive or measure success in ministry in numerical terms.
For instance, the number of branches/ campuses a given church outfit has, the number of people a missionary leads to Christ, the number of people who attend church service on a given Sunday, the number of views a song has on music streaming platforms, and so on.
Though a common measure in the world, numbers are not the best metric to use when measuring success in Christian ministry. Faithfulness is a far more accurate measure.
The numbers metric falls short in many respects.
We’ll explore the dangers of relying solely on numbers to measure success in ministry but first let’s see what the Bible has to say.
Biblical Basis
God primarily calls His servants to be faithful, not successful.
That’s clear from the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
The master (who represents God) is more concerned with how faithful the servants are than the numbers they bring in. When settling accounts, He calls them to account for what they did with whatever He gave them, and not the numbers they turned in.
The commendation is more explicit.
The Master calls all the servants who worked on their talents and made more “good and faithful servants”, not successful.
If He was after numbers, the commendation would have centered on numbers and perhaps only the servant with the largest returns would be mentioned.
In Luke’s equivalent –the Parable of the Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27), the Master gave all the ten servants ten minas. Equally, He is also more concerned by what they did with the minas they got, not the numbers they added to it.
The Master commends and rewards all servants who worked on their minas and produced more as they were able and rebuked the servant who did nothing with their mina.
It was about how faithful they were, not the numbers they produced.
Moreover, when you read between the lines, both parables show that God does not expect all His servants to achieve great success numerically.
In the Parable of the Talents, the text notes that the Master gave each servant a different number of talents according to their ability (vs 15).
The keyword is ability.
The fact God created us with different abilities is evidence we can’t have the same results. We all can’t pull the numbers.
The servant with the God-given ability to manage five talents will tend to have more numbers than the one with the ability to manage one.
What’s more, God who created you knows your ability. He won’t demand of you more than He gave you.
If God knows you and your ability, why kill yourself chasing numbers?
Just live to your full potential. Focus on working faithfully on your God-given talents and abilities.
When all is said and done, no matter how focused, determined, or hardworking, you name it, a person is, no human being has full control of fruitfulness in their endeavors.
Success is a function of grace. God sovereignly apportions fruit to effort.
Success is a function of grace. God sovereignly apportions fruit to effort.
Paul underscores that fact in 1 Corinthians 3:5-8. Neither he who planted the seed nor Apollos who watered it matters but God who made it grow.
In other words, servants will do their thing but ultimately it is God who causes growth/ success.
Freeing, isn’t it?
Working hard in ministry and not seeing much fruit in a space where numbers are everything can be frustrating.
But it needs not to be.
You are not responsible for the numbers, God is.
Your work is simple –serve faithfully and let Him apportion fruit as He sees fit in the perfection of His purposes.
The quicker we appreciate that the more joyful ministering/ service will be.
Fixation with numbers is counterproductive. Dangerous in fact.
The Dangers of Glorifying Numbers
They say numbers don’t lie. However, relying solely on numbers to measure success in ministry is dangerous at various levels. Let’s highlight a few. Obsession with numbers:
- Leads to discouragement
When a minister puts in the work and does not see numbers, they may feel like failures or may be labeled so by others.
If this is not contained, it might grow into disillusion and discouragement.
Some have ended up quitting ministry altogether.
If only they knew how heavens might be celebrating their faithfulness, perhaps they would have held on a little longer.
- Gives false assurance
Numbers can give false affirmation or assurance.
A servant who is not so faithful to the call or living in sin can easily assume God is approving of their sin because they minister and see numbers forgetting that God’s gifts are irrevocable (Romans 11:28-31).
Great reception and following can dupe a minister into thinking they are doing well spiritually when they long since left the way of the cross and are just going about the motions.
That’s a scary prospect.
Don’t be blinded by numbers.
If God Has graciously given you much fruit in ministry, don’t put your faith in it. Continue carrying your cross daily and following Christ (Matthew 16:24). Cooperate with God as He works on your salvation (Philippians 2:12-13).
- Triggers infighting and division
Christians have long been described as a self-destructing army.
Shamefully.
Instead of uniting to fight our common enemy –the devil, we turn on fellow believers and ministers.
If you are keen, you will notice that at the center of many such wars is usually the numbers game.
It’s about who can pull the masses and who can flex it the most. Who did what to whom to snatch their numbers or steal the show. Ministers fighting for or to control the flock as if they were personal property.
Ministers who command comparatively higher numbers may coalesce and only relate among their ‘class’ and avoid those with low following against God’s desire (Romans 12:16).
Those with relatively fewer followers, perhaps feeling threatened or looked down upon, may also team up and fight back against the highflyers.
Throw in envy and jealousy and it becomes total chaos.
Such factions and wars around numbers are unhealthy for the church.
Regardless of numbers, ministers should team up and advance God’s kingdom.
Such issues would be non-existent or reduced significantly if we didn’t focus too much on numbers.
- Reluctance to take up the call
It’s a subtle but equally dangerous consequence of obsession with numbers.
Now that success tends to be measured in numbers, people might be reluctant to take up the call especially if they are not sure they can martial the numbers.
Who wants to be labeled a failure or feel like one?
This inadvertently might be robbing the body of Christ of otherwise good and faithful servants who could have impacted many.
- Promotes celebrity mindset in church
Now that we glorify numbers, people, Christians included, idolize people with a huge following.
This has led to the rise of Christian celebrities.
Isn’t the huge following a good thing?
Well, ideally it should be. Ministers with a huge following should use the big platform to minister and draw many to Christ.
Unfortunately, numbers get into the heads of some of these servants with huge followings and they start playing God. Adopting a larger-than-life personality, they think of themselves more highly than they ought (Romans 12:3).
Some even behave in a manner to suggest that even the Almighty God should submit to their influence. It’s like they are doing God a favor by serving.
Now that’s dangerous.
Dear minister, if God gives fruit to your ministry, use the numbers for His glory.
Don’t become conceited. Or allow fame and the money it comes with to cloud out Yahweh and His call on your life.
Remain humble and allow God to use and exalt you all the more.
Do what servants do, serve. You might be a celebrity but you are not the boss.
Remember, the numbers are a gracious gift from God. He can sovereignly take it away in a twinkle of an eye and there is nothing you can do about it.
By the way, celebritydom is not a Biblical concept. It is the making of the world where the gods self, fame, money, etc. reign.
In God’s kingdom, Yahweh is King (1 Timothy 1:17). He alone is to be worshipped.
All believers, stature and extent of influence notwithstanding, are equal in God’s eyes (Galatians 3:26-28). We are all sons of God through faith.
There is no place for playing God.
- Assumes uniformity in calling
Let’s explain this point using the example of pastoral ministry.
Focusing on numbers as a measure of success assumes that all pastors are called to pastor mega-churches. That is, ministers should strive and use any means possible to grow the numbers of the congregation.
That’s a wrong notion. Certainly, it’s not how the real world works.
Some churches start small and grow. Others remain small despite the best efforts to grow them.
It’s then easy to label the pastor of the mega-church as successful and the pastor of the small church as a failure.
If you do so you will be in error.
I see the sovereign hand of God in it. He calls one minister to pastor a mega-church and another a small church.
God’s call is not uniform.
You might be struggling too much to grow your church into a mega church but what if God called you to pastor the twenty people He Has brought your way?
Don’t condemn yourself.
Focus on serving faithfully where God Has you at that time. Pastor those twenty people with all your heart and with a smile on your face.
If God brings a thousand, pastor them faithfully.
Ministry does not start and end with numbers. It’s faithfulness that counts.
In God’s eyes, the pastor of a small church might be more faithful (hence receive a greater reward) than the pastor of a megachurch.
See beyond the numbers.
Eyes on the goal
There is nothing wrong with numbers per se. Don’t feel guilty because you are experiencing great numerical success in ministry.
Count it a blessing.
What you need to avoid is the temptation of thinking that you are successful in ministry or looking down on others simply because you have a huge following.
Yes, you have numbers but are you faithful?
That’s the eternity-long question.
In the same breath, not experiencing great numerical success in ministry does not necessarily mean you are a failure or you are not faithful to the call.
Far from it.
Faithfulness tends to lead to fruitfulness but at times you may labor hard but not see fruit. Well, at least not as fast as you desire.
See, God may sovereignly delay or deny numbers altogether.
So, don’t beat yourself into discouragement or quitting. You might short-circuit a good thing God is working in and through you.
Just labor away faithfully, whatever the numbers. Serve wholeheartedly and joyfully. Simply do your best with that which God Has placed in your hands.
That’s all that matters.
The key is serving faithfully and letting God decide how and when to reward your service.
If He gives the numbers sooner, well and good.
If the numbers are not coming as quickly as you wanted, just remain faithful to the call, they might catch up with you later.
If the numbers do not come at all, you will look back from heaven and be glad you were faithful to the end.
The ultimate reward will make every struggle and frustration you went through worth it.
Talking of rewards, the Parables of Talents and Ten Minas reminded us that God will judge people by how faithful they are/ were to the call, and not necessarily the numbers they churned out.
In the kingdom economy, faithfulness fetches more than numbers.
So, don’t die chasing numbers. Instead, just focus on executing your call faithfully.
If you do so, you can be sure that the commendation every Christian dreams of – “well done, good and faithful servant…”- will usher you into heaven.
That’s the goal.
Keep your eyes on the goal.