Question:  Dear Greg,

            I am a fairly new Christian (two and a half years), and have grown closer to Christ tremendously in that time, but I have a little bone to pick.  Why do we Christians talk so much about the great stories of conversion and lives being radically transformed without looking at the other side of things?  As opposed to putting a number to the number of converts, why do we not closely monitor how they are doing as new Christians?  Are they growing, “have they stuck with it”, or worse yet, how many give up on or convert from Christianity?  There are many that convert from Christianity to Islam or other religions.  What are those numbers, and why does it happen?

            In Christ,

            Kurt

Answer:  Dear Kurt,

            I completely agree.  We Christians often become illogical in our zealous assertions.  For example, crusades and revivals often draw crowds that are 98%-99% already saved Christians—and the majority of those who make public commitments at such times are often making re-commitments.  To be fair, some evangelists and organizations do offer statistics of “re-commitments” when they speak of the success of such events.

            At the heart of what I hear you saying is the idea of the numbers game.  The Bible does not direct us to play the numbers game, but it is seen as important, especially in our 21^st century western world, the way we judge success and failure.  Big churches can think that they are better/more successful than smaller churches, etc.  God is after the heart—not things we can count, but things like grace, that we can’t quantify.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht