Counting What Really Counts
Jul. 29, 2010
The Illinois district of The Wesleyan Church has profiled the Church’s most important statistics. District Superintendent Dr. Ray Barnwell said in his recent newsletter, "Converts are the clear focus of the Great Commission." According to its 2009 statistical report, 719 people made decisions for Christ through the district’s ministry. He adds, “Christ’s passion was to seek and save those who were not yet part of His spiritual kingdom. Should ours be any less?”
To further emphasize the point, the Illinois District will include converts reports from its churches in its monthly newsletter. Dr. Barnwell calls it a way to “record each church’s first step of progress in the new district year.” As churches first report decisions for Christ, they will be listed in a designated column entitled “Countdown to Converts” in the newsletter.
Superintendent Barnwell is challenging his pastors and churches to strive for every church to report converts this year. “May the same passions that took Christ to the cross become the ongoing passion of the Illinois District of The Wesleyan Church,” he said.