I ndeed, this agenda serves the larger theme of God's restoration of Israel through the mission of the church. There is a theological motive behind Luke's fondness for statistics. The growth of the community is grounded in Luke's theology of restoration. Just as Israel multiplied and increased in number in the Old Testament, so restored Israel would multiply and increase.
Numerical growth is a covenant blessing.
Instead, he argues that a primary theme is the reluctant legitimization of the Gentile mission in contrast to a thorough-going triumphalism. Critics of the Church Growth Movement have legitimately called attention to the lack of theological foundation and formulation within the movement. It appears to have begun more as a sociological pragmatism thatn a theological understanding of the New Testament documents. The perceived lack of theological reflection in church growth literature has grounded the presumption that certain emphases, especially numerical growth, are sociological rather than theological. It is the issue of numerical growth that is particularly disconcerting to the New Testament scholar.