Every year we have the October count and use it as a measure of the Church membership. I’m not sure that this is fit for purpose. It shows,
for the British Methodist Church, that we have lost 1/3 of the members in the last 10 years and are now below 200,000. However is this an effective way to measure Church?
We know that every day there are 16 deaths but 7 new members, 8 transfers out but 10 transfer in, and 11 ceased to meet. This is a daily reduction, but let’s focus on the 17 new people who join every day.
I think we need to reconsider how we measure Chuch. Simply counting those who are in a building on a Sunday between 9am and 12 noon seems very old fashioned. What about prayer groups, youth groups, community lunches etc. Perhaps one thing that will come from our online model is a recognition of the need for Church to look at how we worship and recognise the great range of genuine worship activities beyond Sunday in the pews.
