Megachurch Pastor With Nearly 40,000 Attendees Says 'We're All About the Numbers'
By Jessica Martinez , CP Reporter
NewSpring Church.
Attendance
numbers in a megachurch are important regardless of the criticism they
might get because churches are not meant to stay small and comfortable,
says Perry Noble, senior pastor of the multi-campus NewSpring Church.
Noble
said he has "caught some flak" in the past for caring about numbers too
much and he admits that NewSpring hopes to attract more people than
they have now because Jesus also cared about attracting multitudes.
"We're all about the numbers because we believe that every number has a name, every name has a story, and every story matters to God," Noble said in a recent blog post.
"We aren't just about NewSpring being a church of thousands of people …
we want all churches to be thousands strong because of the potential
the church has."
Suzanne Swift, public relations director for NewSpring,
told The Christian Post that their church averaged nearly 40,000 people
during the month of August across their 10 campuses throughout South
Carolina.
While they continuously attract more worship
attendees than the average church, NewSpring has a vision to reach
100,000 people or more.
"To do this, we want to make it
as easy as possible for people to invite friends and family to come to
NewSpring and we can do that by having campuses in multiple locations,"
said Swift.
She added, "It's our desire to reach people
who are far from God, so each week we present an engaging worship time
with a message answering questions people are asking with biblical truth
for their lives."
In his blog post, Noble also
mentioned that the term "megachurch" is oftentimes used negatively by
people who scrutinze large churches for simply having many attendees.
But he notes that their criticism only suggests that they would rather
see churches stay small for "convenience's sake."
He
said that if that is what people want, they can continue engaging in the
same strategies that bring them the same amount of people and "never
worry about people outside the walls of our buildings because they might
make us uncomfortable." However, that can bring on consequences, he
explained
.
"All the while people are going to hell
because we're more concerned about our temporary comfort than people's
eternal destinations. ... Maybe they don't like the idea of megachurches
because their doubt is bigger than their faith that God can build a big
church," Noble exclaimed.
To illustrate his point,
Noble shed light on the early church and how, according to Acts 1:15, it
grew immediately from merely a dozen to 120 then to over 3,000 in just a
few days. He notes that Jesus wanted the church to extend around the
world, more than anything else.
"It looks like Jesus
unapologetically grew the size of His church beyond hundreds, thousands,
and maybe He even wants millions or billions of people to be part of
the Church," Noble said.
He then added, "There are far
too many in the world who have yet to experience the life changing love
of God. When the message about Jesus spreads and more people decide to
follow Him, it's something worth celebrating, not debating or negating."
