I’m reading a book called Radical, by David Platt. I should say that I’m reading it again. It was really too much to handle in one read. This book will probably change you in significant ways, at the very least, it will cause you to question and even defend some aspect of your life and worldview.

One of the areas it challenged me is my view of church. I’d say that’s a pretty central part of my world, so this was quite a shift. I have spent much of my life thinking that success in church is measured by the increase in numbers. Don’t get me wrong, numbers are important, but have I been seeing them correctly?

From my perspective as a pastor, it felt like a victory when people would leave smiling and come back next week. The more they did that, the bigger the church would get and the more “successful” we would be. How can we make people happy enough to not only come back, but bring friends?

Don’t get me wrong, we should want more people coming to church. Big crowds are a good thing. The question is, “What do we do with the big crowd?”. My first inclination is do what it takes to make it bigger. Entertain? As Jesus taught, the crowds began to shrink. We might call that a problem. What is He doing wrong? When attendance is low, I tend to think, “Uh-oh what did I do wrong?”

Jesus continued to teach this way so that, at the culmination of His earthly ministry, on the cross, He was nearly alone. He took thousands of people who were curious and turned them into a handful of radical disciples who, in turn, changed the world.