Successful Churches?

I thought occurred to me the other day .. If Christ is there when two or three are gathered together... why do we tend to think large numbers attending a church service is a mark of success?

Comments

[Richard]

Because a large congregation means I can sing my heart out without worrying about leading everyone else astray or offending them. That’s success in my eyes! I'm lucky to sing in the same octave as everyone else, leave alone the same note!

Seriously, I'm not sure the two statements are related.

Jesus' comment that, where two or three are gathered together, he would be among them, refers to the fact that he is not limited to large congregations. This has nothing to do with our success (or his success, through us) in bringing others to Jesus.

Considering a large congregation as a success refers to the number of people who have, hopefully, come to God. I know that going to church is not limited to Christians but the chance of finding Christians in a large congregation is surely greater than in a small group of two or three. Knowing Christ, as I’m trying to, means that I want others to share the joy that I have.

[Whitewave]

I think it's because humans suffer from accute inner disassociation and isolation from ourselves and that our own witness to what is going on "out there" is never enough to satisfy our need for the security of certainty. More witnesses! Yeah, that's the ticket! But there is never enough of that drug until the problem is solved inside ourselves. It's an inside job.

?!

There's that word again...