In the parable of the lost sheep, we're taught that a 1 percent attrition among believers is too much, and in a conversation with Peter, we're told that forgiveness should be extended 490 times. And so on. It's easy to poke fun at our preoccupation with numbers, but there are good reasons to take seriously discipleship by numbers. Vows to put a check on gluttony are all well and good. Saying I'm going to be a better father amounts to only so much hot air until I set it down on paper that once a week, for one hour at a time, I'll do something with my daughter.
Numbers also inspire.
Though unrealistic, the logic is inexorable, and in some small way it encourages me to share my faith. In one, an evangelist went around slashing a cucumber held in the mouth of his son. Of course, a church's growth has no intrinsic relationship to its spiritual growth. Many big churches are filled with tiny souls, and many tiny churches are filled with big souls. Even more insidious is the idea that everything in the spiritual life can be quantitatively measured.