Full House

[225 words] The follow-up question I always get when people hear I am a minster is the “how big” question. “How big is your congregation,” and, “How many kids are in your youth group?”  I guess that is the way they measure success. The assumption is that the more folks, the better things are going. Yet that isn’t true. Just because the house is full doesn’t mean the assembly is productive, united, or informed.  Many church groups are like the large crowd that gathered in Ephesus in Acts 19:32, “Some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.” Rather than just viewing numbers, we need to look at success as we see it defined in Scripture. In Romans 15:5-6 we read, “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you…