40 Days of Praying - Day 22

New Members in LifeGroups: Ask God to help us connect all new members in a LifeGroup.

Acts 2:46-47 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 5:13-14 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Acts 19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

I have been doing some thinking about our numbers for the last couple of months. Some of the things I have learned are not very good. For instance, only about 23% of new members find their way into a LifeGroup. (Have I written this before? I know I have shared it with several. If I repeat myself I am sorry. It just demonstrates that I think it is important.) We are improving with Kimmee Brandon's help, but it is still less than 30%. That means that when we introduce new members, no one is inviting them to LifeGroup. That means we are letting people slip through the cracks. It means that most new members stay strangers to our fellowship and never become a part of our life. It also means that they will probably fade away very quickly.

You might think that focusing on numbers makes people insignificant. I think just the opposite. I think if you don't know the numbers you don't know the people. I am more concerned about who the new members are now that I know what the percentages are.

One last number. At a conference we held here this weekend, the speaker suggested that healthy churches grow by about a 10% conversion growth rate. That means that for every 10 adult members we would see 1 baptism per year. If we just limited that to LifeGroups we would see 90 conversions this year. How in the world could that happen? I am not sure, but I have a new goal for us. For me. Let's ask God to make is so.

One last scripture: Colossians 2:19 ...the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. We can plant and fertilize and water but only God can make us grow.

O Lord, help us grow. Not for our glory or reputation, but for your sake and for the love of those who will come. Help us to love those who aren't among us yet. Help us to love our neighbors. Help us to declare boldly the riches of Jesus Christ. Help us to so live that our fellowship is precious and many demand to be a part. In Jesus' name, amen.

Grace.