Crowd size does not equal God's favor

A famous pastor that I appreciate greatly was preaching on the parable of the talents and began to speak towards his fellow ministers. He said that pastors should not compare ministries as each is called to their own, and they must be faithful to what God has given to them. After all, few small town pastors could handle the weight of ministry given to this pastor. The talents he had received were much greater, and so comparing the size of talents would be discouraging and unfair.

His conclusion felt off base. It felt like he was using the parable to brag on his own position, while putting ministers of smaller congregations in their place.

Comparison is the thief of joy, there is no doubt. All should be faithful with what God has given them, not concerning themselves so much with what others may be gifted with.

But to say that the “talent” in the parable is equal to influence or follower count or weekly attendance seems to cheapen the overall message of God’s gifts. And in the age of virality, it seems that the servant who is granted the most is best at playing the game of algorithm than actual faithfulness.

John the Baptist

My immediate thought goes to John the Baptist.

John’s ministry rises to meteoric fame as people swarm the desert to see what the strange prophet has to say about them and their condition. The pinnacle of his ministry is actually baptizing Jesus. It doesn’t get much greater than that.

But shortly after, his fame seems to decrease and those who once came to listen to his messages leave to follow Jesus. Did he do something wrong? Shouldn’t his influence and follower-ship continue to grow? After all, look at the things he has done to bring for the a return on the talents given to him!

John concludes that he must decrease so that Christ may increase.

And here is the key clue to what the “talents” actually are all about: those who are faithful in bringing a return on the gifts given them by Christ reveal Christ more through their actions while also spreading their own name and fame less.

John’s reward was more talents, but the talents were not counted by the number of followers but an innumerable amount of unseen blessings that allowed Christlikeness to shine most brightly in his living and doing.

The same could be said about other heroes of the faith like Jeremiah, who preached a message that no one wanted to hear. Was the favor of God not on his life or ministry? We would never conclude that.

Neither, then, should we conclude that a mega church pastor is favored by God and a small town pastor is not favored. We also should not conclude that one’s gifting is greater than the other, or calling, or any of that.

Have we forgotten that the greatest in the kingdom of God are those who serve the least of these? Then why put these loud and charismatic preachers on a pedestal? Simply because they are excellent marketers.

A quiet life versus the chase for more

Francis Chan had this powerful quote after stepping down from his mega church role, that if he and Jesus were preaching in the same town he was sure more people would listen to him than Jesus. It was one of the reasons he felt it was necessary to step away. Because he realized the gathering around him was focused on him and not Christ.

I would much rather join John in saying more of Christ and less of me.

The American culture has trained us to think that progress is always better. That GDP always has to go up. That company profits have to go up. That technology always has to move forwards. Bigger, better, faster, and more.

We certainly want “more” in that we want people to know Jesus, and so if a crowd of people are coming to follow Jesus more faithfully then it is good. But, if a church is growing simply because there is emotional music and an entertaining speaker and wonderful kids programs, then maybe we are gathering people in a way that is more damaging than good.

This seems especially true when we assume crowd size equals God’s favor.

I can’t help but wonder if this is actually one of the devils greatest tricks. Allowing mega churches to form because the people in that church struggle to find themselves formed in the image of Christ.

Maybe the more Christian way is to love your neighbors intentionally, living quietly and faithfully (think 1 Thessalonians 4:11).

A better metric

Honestly, I like the pastor that said this. I also like many large/mega churches. I don’t want this article to come across as a complete critique of that model. Many people have truly experienced Christ in those spaces, praise God!

But when we die, Jesus is not going to check Instagram for your number of followers. I choose to think that the person with five talents very well may be the individual doing the thankless and unseen work of meeting with dementia patients and the person with one is the person preaching from the stage for thousands.

God will judge us by our fruit, by what we have done with what we have been entrusted with. If that is to draw crowds to hear of Jesus, great. And if that is to provide those crowds work and salaries, even better. We all are to be faithful to make the body work and the kingdom of God shine in and through us.

The metric is faithfulness, not size.

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It would help me a lot. Thanks for reading! 

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