When people ask these questions, they generally mean, "what was our attendance? how much was the offering? and what kind of enthusiasm was felt as we gathered?" These things matter because they are, to some extent, signs of vitality or lack of it. Of course numbers do not tell the whole story of a congregation's vitality. So we must also be willing to ask deeper questions. In this post I will deal with the first type of question first and then move to the second type.
May 1, 2011
On our first Sunday of the new schedule we had 284 in the classic (9:30) service, 398 in the contemporary (11:00) service, and 322 in the Spanish language (12:30) service for a total attendance of 1004. It was one of the top five Sundays in attendance for this calendar year, including Easter. The classic service attendance was much higher than usual. The combined contemporary attendance was about normal and the Spanish language service continues to go up.
The offering for this Sunday was $47,585.85. It is the highest offering for the first Sunday of May in four years. And although it is just one Sunday, it is consistent with what we have received for the first Sundays of February, March and April of 2011.
Many of the comments received is that there was a new sense of excitement in the worship services. We thank God for that and we pray that it is His presence that we are experiencing together.
It was observed that the attendees to the contemporary service need to do a better job of filling up the front and middle pews in order to give room for guests and late comers. We have to leave room for growth!
In terms of the Bible Fellowships, the report was that attendance was lower than usual in all areas (adults, students and children). The reason for this maybe because families are still trying to figure out where they are going to fall in the new schedule. It may also bring to light that some students and children were attending Bible Fellowships while their parents were in worship. Bible Fellowships are a central part of our disciple-making strategy. We need vibrant congregational worship but not at the expense of group life. We expect that this will get sorted out in the next couple of weeks and we hope that families are taking advantage of the opportunity of both: Bible Fellowships and Congregational Worship.
Offering and Attendance in the Last Nine Months
While it has been observed that we are struggling to meet our current budget, it is also important to be aware of our income relative to previous years. The January 2011 offering was the third lowest offering of any month in four years. However, the February 2011 offering was the highest February offering in four years. March 2011 was higher than last year but lower than the previous two years. April 2011 offering was in line with April 2009, which was the highest April offering in four years.
In terms of total (English and Spanish) worship attendance 2011 is overall the highest attendance year in five years, following very similar patterns to the 2009 attendance. So our church is showing some growth. However, in terms of the English services, 2011 attendance is following the same pattern as 2010 which was lower than the previous three years. This means that our primary growth is taking place in the Spanish service. While we rejoice with this growth, we believe there can be an upward trend for the English services in the near future.
The Deeper Questions
Beyond the statistics of attendance and offerings, there are deeper questions about the health of our church. This past Sunday night, the pastoral staff met with representative leaders from all of Calvary's ministries to explore some of these questions.
One of the questions that was posed was how is Calvary doing in the areas of spiritual and relational vitality?
By spiritual vitality we mean, how are the individual members of Calvary and the entire congregation giving evidence of "abiding in Christ" as described in John 15. In other words, how are we giving evidence that we are seeking God's presence, abiding in the Scriptures, listening to God's voice and obeying Him?
By relational vitality we mean, how are the individual members of Calvary and the entire congregation giving evidence of "loving one another" as also described in John 15. How are we building community with one another in honest and open relationships? How are we experiencing relationships of truth and grace among us? How are we confronting, forgiving and restoring each other? How are we building relationships with those that do not know Christ in healthy ways that could lead them to faith in Him?
Another way to ask this question is, "How are we loving God and loving people?" (The Great Commandment).
I believe that if we focus on these questions, the attendance numbers and the offerings will be "fruits" of that reality. They will become secondary issues. Let us ponder on that in a personal way and at a congregational level.
This month we are considering the "radical: invitation to extreme living" aspect of discipleship. We don't pretend to have it all together. We don't assume we will arrive at this instantly. We just want to acknowledge where Jesus has set the bar for us and then seek him to take us up to that extreme level. This is a walk of faith! It is an exciting invitation. I don't know exactly what all it means for me personally. I don't know exactly what it means for Calvary. But I want to follow Christ wherever he leads us.
If we take this invitation seriously, Calvary's brightest days are ahead of her.
You give the questions that were discussed,but what did the representative leaders say regarding our spiritual vitality?
ReplyDeleteDear Latte,
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent question. The truth is that we had a good discussion but did not come up with a definitive answer. If I could summarize the comments that were emerging from the tables' discussion, I would say the following:
1. There are "pockets" (their term) of spiritual and relational vitality but it does not permeate the whole of congregational life.
2. There is optimism and hope but there is lack of clarity about what this kind of congregational health look like.
3. There is a lack of unified purpose across the entire church.
In summary, we have some but still have much room for improvement.
Thanks for your question.