What Difference Does it Make?

'Tis the season of church Christmas events. There are pageants, children's musicals, live nativities, candlelight services, living Christmas trees, cantatas, Bethlehem recreations, full Broadway-style musicals and even Radio City Music Hall clones, all designed to attract people to church during December. And churches are right to be outreach minded at this time of the year when people who normally don't attend church might actually want to come.

Don't fall into the trap, however, of measuring whether or not your event is successful by counting numbers. Too often I hear pastors and worship team leaders talking about how many people attend an event (or church services, for that matter) and assuming that large numbers imply their "work for the Lord" has been accomplished. Several have reported Christmas outreach events that attract thousands, yet, it's almost impossible to measure whether attending the event made any difference in bringing the attendees closer to a relationship with God. Few outreach events include any type of follow up. The people come, we record the numbers and hope we see increased attendance in subsequent Sunday services.

Where some follow up has been reported, the results are thought provoking. At one church with about 2,000 in attendance each Sunday, a yearly Christmas outreach event which attracts thousands results in weekly attendance increase of no more than five persons. Another church bringing in more than 4,000 for an annual Christmas event has an average of 25 people attending adult Sunday school classes on a weekly basis. Another had about 1,000 at an outreach event-- but most of them were regular attenders.

The reality is that many Christmas events become social traditions. In some communities a particular event may be the "cool" and popular place to be seen. Some feel that attending an event at Christmas time makes up for not attending church during the year and somehow earns them points toward heaven. People have tons of reasons for attending, but the real question is what difference does it make?

My challenge to church leaders and worship teams evaluating this year's efforts is to look beyond the numbers. Don't be lulled into a sense of accomplishment if your numbers are large. Find out what impact it had for Christ in the lives of those attending and in the lives of those involved in presenting it. Also, if your event drew just a few, or smaller numbers than for which you were hoping, don't be lulled into a sense of failure. Evaluate the impact. If only one person attended, but that heart was changed, your event was a success. If 5,000 attended your event and then went out to finish their Christmas shopping, look for ways to make a more personal impact next year.

The personal invite, the event, the difference:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."
(John 4:39-40 NIV)