A friend lamented that the number of members in her local church was down. Fewer people were coming to the services, older members were passing away, and fewer neighbors seemed interested in attending. She feared the end of her church.
As it turned out, the little group of remaining members decided that the real substance of their church was not the size of their congregation, but the love of God that had inspired them to join, and that was not in decline. In fact, their love of God was growing!
As they lost concern about numbers and stayed focused on living true to God, a renewed freshness and energy took over, and to their delight a surprising number of new members joined their ranks in a short period of time.
