Friday, January 18, 2008

QUALITY OR QUANTITY

We hear some pastors justify their lack of evangelism by boasting that they are more concerned with quality than quantity. This may sound pious and accurate, but in the real world, no one believes it; not even those who say it.

I have five children. Let's suppose they all get lost in the nearby mountains. We gather a search party, spread out and begin our search. About four hours into the hunt, someone yells, "I found one over here!" My wife and I run to see who it was found. We discover it is our "quality" child. I spread the word that we can now call off the search. We found the best of the five.

Of course, some will scoff at this illustration, but the argument is the same. God does care about numbers, and He cares about those who are weak and inferior. The parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son make that abundantly clear.

Let us first worry about the quantity of lost people we can win to Christ and then labor to make them quality Christians. There is no conflict between the two. It does not have to be one or the other.

By Ken Blue

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