Should we share numbers of attendees?

OK. This is post is just a thought. I feel as though even asking this question may get people (the imaginary people I pretend are visiting my blog) all cold shouldering me.

I want to ask the question, should we share numbers of attendees, baptisms, cards signed, aisles walked, etc?

I know what I'm thinking you are thinking. I'm thinking you are thinking, "Dude! Rik! What's the big deal? Some people are really into recording those numbers so that in a couple years we can graph it all perfectly and show our grand kids what Bildad was telling Job (Job 8:7)"

This is my thought. Simply recording the numbers to show to everyone may be a step that leads minds down a path of Ends Justify the Means mentality (Man! I just spent like 5 minutes trying to think of the word that begins with a P that means the ends justify the means. I gave up if you couldn't tell).

If we put numbers up in public then people are already getting the impression that numbers matter. If numbers didn't matter then they wouldn't have been put up. With this first step taken, churches have followed the logical path into the Numbers Game. Listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort and you will learn that 80-90% of "converts" can't be found in churches a year after they raised their hands or walked the aisle or signed the card.

Potentially that is the problem. So, now you are either like, "Rik, cool it buddy. They are just numbers." or you are like, "Ok, yeah. I am so on board. Down with Numbers!" To which I say, "Nay. We want the numbers to go up, but that is secondary to what we really want." To which you say, "Huh?" To which I say, "Read on!"

I propose something so revolutionary, something so out of this world, so something I stole from my company. I say how about we ... wait. I just realized something. This is not a joke, I seriously just realizes something. My solution is a numbers based solution. I am so lame. Its kinda funny how I could think this out for a whole 10 minutes before I started posting and realize that my logic is flawed. But, I will go on because I kinda built up some tension.

I was gonna say, before I so logically interrupted myself, that maybe instead of focusing on 'numbers' of new converts that tend to be fig trees with no fruit, how about we focus on what matters, a.k.a bearing fruit (John 15:8) . The problem with my logic is that we would have to have some way of recording the fruit (for example. So-and-So came by this week and ministered to me while my children were sick. Or, Yada-Yada called me and really encouraged me to be patient with my husband.) then tallying them up for people to make some sweet pie charts and bar graphs out of.

However, maybe we could still make it work. You see I thought I would record how many of those bearing fruit scenarios a church had and then share the total number in a weekly bulletin, thus the cognitive dissonance occurring with my whole rant about numbers. But, you could instead of tallying them simply share some in the bulletin and allow people to be encouraged from other peoples' faithfulness and love toward their brethren and sistren.

Maybe it could work or maybe I am weird or maybe both.

As an aside. My beautiful and godly fiance called and said the P word from before was Pragmatism. I love her.