Each week before Sunday morning Bible study, we take attendance in our 12th grade class. If you come in a little late, you name doesn’t make it into the book before its sent back to the office. We make light of the fact that its so important that if the book doesn’t get turned in on time, someone comes looking for it.
I joke lightly about attendance taking simply because it would be a bad thing for the students to get wrapped up in the “punching a clock” mentality of church.
I have goals for the 12th grade class. They should be faithful in their attendance to Bible study. They should be reaching out to their friends with the gospel message.
Since I am unable to know the heart of man, I require outside indicators to clue me into someone’s spiritual condition. If you have no desire to be in bible study, that kind of tells me there is a problem there. If you are not sharing the good news with your friends, it kind of tells me you have no good news to share.
Attendance
But attendance doesn’t give me a complete picture of the health of a class.
Examples:
One of our students does a great job with sound equipment. He has been asked to help another church on Sunday mornings during the Bible study hour, with their audio setup. He is using his God given talents to further the kingdom. But the attendance records can’t tell me that.
One weekend a group of students went on a camping trip. We were instructed to mark them all present. Why? Because they were going to have a bible study sometime on the trip. Again, the records have been skewed with inaccurate information.
We don’t take roll on Wednesday evenings for Live. The records only tell me about Sunday attendance they tell me nothing about “continued devotion to teaching” (Acts 2:42)
Witnessing
A true believer witnesses. A mark of a believer is their desire to share the gospel with others.
But no matter how many numeric goals I set, I must remember it is outside my control.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
(1 Corinthians 3:6)
Paul knew the limitations. We teach, we preach, we witness, but it is God, and God alone that draws men unto Himself (John 6:44). To presume that we can meet arbitrary goals through our own strength is to remove God from the salvation process.
Conclusion
Numbers can be used along with other information to evaluate the condition of a class. But they should not be the only criteria used for that evaluation. For more information, you might want to check out the article over at 9marks discussing reports and indicators of growth.