‘And there were added that day about 3,000 souls’ (Acts 2.41). Very few of us have seen our youth group grow by as many as that.
After all, where would we put 3,000 people — the small groups could be quite large. But, although there were some struggles in the early church, there does seem to be a growth factor in the first century. Churches grew as the gospel was preached and we should expect the same.
Under pressure
However, numbers are sometimes used by church leaders and parents to pressure those of us who do youth ministry. Because so many young people have been lost to the church, the anxiety is to get them back and to restore our ‘numbers’. Of course we should care and try to follow up on those who go missing. But we need to look at the reason why numbers may decrease.
