Membership has been used as the gauge for a long time, but I don't use it as a gauge anymore. Dr. Langford, co-pastor with his wife the Rev. Sally Langford of St. Stephen's United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C., parts company with Drs. Johnson and Carroll. Dr. Langford asserts that membership numbers generally reveal more about a church than attendance figures. I think there is huge pressure out there to show that something good is happening.
Pastors tell district superintendents and bishops what they want to hear.
The membership numbers go right to the rolls and there's not that room for guesswork. You've got to be able to name everybody. Dr. Langford said membership and attendance statistics have to be looked at along with population and population growth numbers to get a realistic measurement. The percentage of population, I think, is where the real statement is made. If we are 3 or 4 percent of the U. S. population, we're really a marginal church.