Numbers Don't Lie--Or Do They?

The political season is all revved up. Ads, phone calls, and junk mail are taking up time, space, and attention. I am so tired of it all--the half truths, innuendoes, and political posturing. The news media spends much of its valuable time covering this rat race. The other big story is the economy. Are we doing better? Are we doing worse? What is the outlook for the next year? Power and money, numbers and manipulation. Everything focused on changing some number, some count, some indicator. Its all about numbers.

This world runs on numbers. Most of our attention is on counting numbers--seeking to get more money, or lower that cholesterol number, or drop those pounds we gained last year, or pay off that student loan, or save for a vacation, or hope for a better job evaluation, or raise our grade average, and so on. Even in the church we find that numbers count--the size of the offerings, the number of people attending Adult classes and Divine Worship, the number of Baptisms. So, before I criticize numberolatry, please understand that I understand that we cannot get away from numbers. They are everywhere because it is one of the main ways in which we evaluate things.

Recently Matt Harrison was elected, and will assume his duties tomorrow, as President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. (Elections rely on numbers too!) His election can be accounted for by a reaction against the wrong use of numbers on the one hand and a desire to recapture a faithful confession and practice within the LCMS on the other. God grant him the grace and wisdom to be a faithful confessional pastor to us all!

The previous administration had emphasized church growth/seeker friendly theories and methodologies. A central aspect of that movement focuses on numbers--how to attract larger numbers to the church. It drives their methodologies. Thus, the Law is toned down, the Gospel muddied, the Sacraments are confused, "how to" sermons predominate, musical content is replaced by catchy praise bands. We are all familiar with the standard package designed to sell the church. The whole point is to attract crowds. But what attracts crowds becomes the means of keeping them also. What happens to content, to the message when crowds are the point?

We were told that we must change or die. (Who is the Lord of the Church anyway?) So the new methods would save us! They would lead onward and upward to new heights of glory! The call was to do something different. The liturgy holding up the Word and Sacraments was not enough. They are old hat. We've moved on. Our society doesn't relate to them. My question is this--what establishes the Church and keeps it? Is it not Christ and his Word?

I believe this perversion of the church has happened in our country because we have adopted political/business models for the church. In so doing we are trying to control things. We want a positive change in numbers. This requires power to do it our way. Centralization of authority, muting the opposition, doing whatever works to attract more people. Look at the bottom line, the numbers don't lie. Or do they?

The Church is a unique. We live in the world but are not of the world. We are to be harmless like sheep. Using brute power is not our way. We are to be wise, but not deceptive or manipulative. Our only weapon in the battle for hearts and minds is the Word of God. We are simply witnesses to the truth in word and deed. But it is God who changes hearts not our methods. The simple message of the Gospel is powerful because the Spirit of God is at work through it. Of this we can be certain even when the numbers don't seem to be there!

If we want to evaluate ourselves--which I don't think is that useful other than in confession and absolution, and in preparation for the Lord's Supper--what standard can we use? Attendance, the budget, the bank account, our facilities? Would it not be better to evaluate ourselves at the one point in which God requires it of us? "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." (1 Cor.4:2) We are called to be faithful to the mysteries of God. This means first of all faith in God's Word and faithfulness in our proclamation of that Word in our preaching, our teaching, our music, our practices, our personal witness. Everything should focus on getting the message right and getting it out. Each of us has a part in this through word and deed, both as congregations and individuals. And even if we have a heart to do this, we won't get it right all of the time. But God is greater than our failures. He is greater than our best attempts. He is greater than our successes! He alone is the Mighty God, the Lord, the Captain of the Host.

In the Old Testament two interesting narratives of counting heads occurred. In the book of Numbers there are two census takings, Num. 1:2-46 and Num. 26:2-62. This records all the men of fighting age by families. The story between the first and second census is the story of human failure and unfaithfulness to God. The reason for the census is to show that God means what he says. God's evaluation of this story is found at the end of the second census, "But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun." (Num. 26:64-65) Why were Joshua and Caleb allowed to survive their generation? Because they were faithful. They trusted God's promise even when it was not popular, even when they faced the threat of death (Num. 14:6-10). The second account records David's census of the people (2 Sam. 24). This is also a narrative about God's judgment upon his people. God was angry with them because of their rebellion against God's anointed king. In the pride of his heart David wanted to know how great he had become once his kingdom was restored to him. The plague that resulted was curtailed only by God's mercy. As a result of this David built an altar on the place where the plague was stopped. That threshing floor later became the site of Solomon's Temple.

Pride, rebellion, and unfaithfulness are themes of these stories. They are warnings to us that our prideful rebellion and unfaithfulness is an ever present temptation even to persons who are otherwise people "after God's own heart." We may think we can do it our way, in our strength, for our aggrandizement. If we think this we are going to die as a church. The change needed is not new methods but repentance for our sins and faith toward God. But a greater theme of these stories is God's mercy. In his mercy he gave David a kingdom and a promise. The Temple was built. Into that Temple the Son of God, David's greater Son, came to proclaim the Kingdom of heaven. Upon that mountain the Lord Jesus paid the price for our sins, including our prideful rebellion and unfaithfulness. So we have life, not death. God's promise to us is sure even when the numbers don't say so!

Finney and the American Religious Mind-Set--Pragmatism Gone Awry

American Christianity is deeply impacted by revivalism. Hardly any "outreach" done by diverse groups such as Pentecostals, charismatics, Evangelicals, Baptists, Emerging/Emergent church, church growth cannot be traced in some manner back to Charles Finney. This short excerpt from a paper I wrote in Graduate School describes Finney's views at key points:
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Of all the revivalists of the nineteenth century, Charles Finney is probably the most famous. His methods were widely imitated and touted even among some Lutherans. However, Finney’s theology and practice has some serious problems for a confessional church. His theology is extremely man-centered. In his lecture, What a Revival of Religion Is, he states, “Religion is the work of man. It is something for him to do. It consists in obeying God.” [1] Later in this same lecture he says that the sinner’s actions are necessary for salvation and that conversion consists in obeying, doing, and acting.[2] In another lecture he asserts that Scripture ascribes conversion to men.[3] This ignores the depravity of man and his inability to do anything for his own salvation. Miyakawa notes that for Finney sin was voluntary self interest not an inherited depravity.[4]

Finney also considers a revival to be something that men have power to bring about. By simply using the appropriate means men can bring revival. These means have a “natural tendency to produce revival.” [5] His view is something like a cause and effect principle or the exercising of the powers of nature.[6] He goes further to denigrate the notion of the sovereignty of God in spiritual matters such as revival.[7] Revivals in this view are not the result of grace alone.[8]

Another aspect of his theology and practice is emotionalism. He says “. . . it is necessary to raise excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles.” [9] Finney does wish for a time in which this spasmodic religion were not necessary. However, in the present economy of things this will remain essential.[10]

Finney’s view of how one should preach the Gospel is also problematic. He states that “All preaching should be practical.”[11] By this he means that all preaching should lead to action. This action is what brings about conversion as noted above. In this view he confuses the Third Use of the Law with the Gospel. His entire lecture How to Preach the Gospel is filled with words such as must, should, and ought.[12] His concept of how one preaches the Gospel has a law orientation. Related to this is the fact that Finney advocated perfectionism.[13]
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The methods of Ablaze, Willow Creek, purpose driven churches, Church Growth, the Emerging/Emergent church, and many Evangelicals all have a mind-set that derives from Finney's Lecutres: "...these means have a 'natural tendency to produce revival.' His view is something like a cause and effect principle or the exercising of the powers of nature." The term revival could be replaced by church growth, relevancy, meeting felt needs, or any other outcome oriented theological term.

The pragmatic oriented methods also make use of group psychology: "Another aspect of his theology and practice is emotionalism. He says '. . . it is necessary to raise excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles.'" This is where pentecostals/charismatics have been very influential upon American religious ideas. The exciting music, the praise bands, the large arenas, the highly charge atmosphere all derive from Finney's New Measures. It is not the Word working by the Holy Spirit where He will in whomever He will that converts. It is the group dynamic.

I do not believe that many Lutherans are aware of Finney's heretical influence. Perhaps some Lutherans simply do not care. Methods do matter. By adopting the mind-set advocated by Finney, sound theologically based evangelism (Word and Sacrament ministry, personal witness) is replaced by a wide range of pragmatic methods. This pragmatism might get "results" but the unintended consequences in many instances will be the damnation of souls for whom Christ died. One cannot be saved by Christ plus something else! The Confessional principles of the Solas rules out the methods of Finney and his theologically bankrupt great-grand-children.

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[1] Charles Grandison Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, edited by William G. McLoughlin (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1960), 9.
[2] Ibid., 18.
[3] Ibid., 194.
[4] Scott T. Miyakawa, Protestants and Pioneers: Individuality and Conformity on the American Frontier (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964), 171.
[5] Finney, 13, 15.
[6] Ibid., Introduction, by William G. McLoughlin, xxiv; Miyakawa, 171.
[7] Finney, 14.
[8] The Oxford Disctionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition, s.v. “Finney, Charles Grandison.”
[9] Ibid., 9-10.
[10] Ibid., 11.
[11] Ibid., 198.
[12] Ibid., 194 passim.
[13] The Oxford Disctionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edition, s.v. “Finney, Charles Grandison.”