Stats or Status?

First, thank-you to all who offered their thoughts on my last blog's question. It seems if I want more responses, I just have to stop blogging until you write them! I am amazed at how many people tell me they read my blog, but never actually respond. I guess that's like talk radio- many listen only a few get interactive. I encourage you to give it a shot!

Well, I'm still working through a lot of things- some of them frustrating, so I don't want to necessarily blog openly about them. And because some of them concern real, live people who might just read this blog (don't insert yourself here, unless you're paranoid, in which case you probably worry that all my blogs are about you anyway!), this is certainly not the place to air them. Hence my lack of daily blogging. The last thing I want to do is fill this blog full of complaints and grousing. Yes, I too go through those rough times now and then. I'm in a long, hard one right now!

I was challenged by many of your responses:

1) Yes, in some ways discipling and getting people saved is the same thing, but not really where it matters. I can get someone saved without ever discipling them or even ever seeing them again. Getting someone saved is the initial work; discipling them is what should happen from then on, as they are trained in what being a Christian is and does. That's where the rubber meets the road. Discipling is what Jesus told us to do- "Go and make disciples of all nations (ethnos; races)." - Matthew 28:19. His concern is that we reproduce ourselves into reproducing disciples who continue the process of reproduction. And so on, and so on. Discipling goes on and on . . . Getting someone saved has a period at the end of the process.

2) Loving people no matter what. Sounds simple, but it's really full of deep truth. IF you really love someone, their best interests are at the heart of your relationship. In order to fulfill their best interests, you will be teaching and/or modeling so that they can grow and use their gifts in/for the body. If we had more true love in our midst, we'd not need to be concerned with "what is the most important thing."

3) One person can't do it alone. Ah, right up my alley! We all need each other- get busy using your gifts! We are not all programmed to do the same thing. Therefore, we cannot be expected to do it all. Nor should we all be expected to get the same results. We should be focusing on what we do well and those things in which God gives us results.

4) Being more concerned with stats than with status of people's souls. Now THAT seemed to hit the target for me! When the call is to "get more people saved" because our stats are down, the result is not what we expect. When our focus is the wrong place (numbers), we can too easily overlook the people behind those numbers. And Christianity is all about relationship with those people- not the numbers. If we focus on the right things, our numbers will grow . . . in the right time.

There is a time for all things. We cannot expect to grow all the time. There is a time to pare back, to prune or our plant gets unwieldy and wild. Pruning actually produces more and better fruit over the long haul. And a much better plant. The vintner who refuses to trim his vines will eventually destroy his whole vineyard.

If our foundation is crooked, what we built on it will never be straight or sturdy. It always takes longer to fix the foundation than to just start all over again. But sometimes starting all over again is just not an option- you've got to fix the foundation. And that takes time. Numbers will have to be tabled for awhile, while you repair cracked bricks, replace others and just plain remove those that don't belong in the place they've ended up. Through it all, God guides, because it's not up to us to sort all these things out.

What's more important? I say discipling, because it concerns itself with the people, not just the numbers; the status instead of the stats. In the long run, if discipling is the focus it will produce more salvations. Conversely, in the long run, if salvations are the focus it will probably not produce disciples and the process will end.

Is that what's happened to our Army?