Covenant Stories: The Math of God

Story #11 in the Covenant series

I first wrote about the Math of God back in 2003 in a dramatic retelling of a story from the gospels. The idea that God's math is not like our math has helped me when I consider the Church and the things we do in the name of Christ. The idea for the math of God was born one Sunday at Fox Run Elementary School.

When you start a church in our culture, it is assumed that you are going to do “outreach,” which is the Church word for marketing and advertising. Churches generally use the common methods - ads in newspapers and the Yellow Pages, going door-to-door, giving welcome gifts to new people in the neighborhood, etc. In the early days of Covenant I used to meet with other ministers and talk about outreach ideas and strategies. I was always amazed at the stunning stories of success I would hear at these meetings.

“Yeah, we started a church a few years ago. Met in a school. We had 200 show up that first Sunday. The people were just hungry for the Word, you know what I mean? Within 6 months we were running about 400 in worship.”

Stories like this always got my anxiety and energy flowing. Guilt and shame can be powerful motivators. I assumed I just wasn’t trying hard enough or hadn’t figured out the magic combination of flyers, ads, and signs. On my bad days I wondered if we weren’t spiritual enough. Sometimes more “successful” ministers will hint that the key to church growth is prayer and yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit and the will of God, whatever is meant by that. If you’re not growing, perhaps God is telling you something.

I wanted our church to grow, so I started doing serious outreach. I had realtor-type signs made up that said, “Covenant Baptist Church. Now meeting at Fox Run Elementary.” Every Sunday morning I put them in strategic locations around the school. We never had anyone come to church because they saw one of our signs. I bought a Yellow Pages ad. We didn’t get a single phone call. I ran ads on Saturdays in the neighborhood newspaper. No calls. No one came. Some of us went door-to-door through neighborhoods, handing out flyers. Not a single response. We posted leaflets in the laundromats and grocery stores. Nothing.

Finally I decided that we weren’t thinking big enough. So I hatched a grand scheme that I felt sure would work.

Direct Mail.

Having done some research on mailing and printing costs, I told our elders that we needed to find $5,000 to send four issues of a newsletter to all the homes in easy driving distance of the school. I don’t remember how we got the money together, but we did. We only had enough money for four issues of "Covenant: A Neighborhood Newsletter," but I thought the the growth our church would experience would pay for future issues. I was so excited and energized about this. I wrote stories for the front page that I hoped were touching and inspirational. Inside were bits of neighborhood news along with maps, photos, and information about our church.

After the first issue was mailed, we waited with great anticipation. No one came. The second issue brought the same result. So did the third. For the final issue I played my last card. Christmas was coming, so we planned a neighborhood Christmas party for kids so their parents could go shopping. I announced it in our final issue. No one called or showed up.

$5,000 dollars we couldn’t afford and untold hours of work and worry for nothing. Not even a phone call or inquiry. I admit I sort of gave up after that. I just couldn’t take the emotional roller coaster ride anymore. Even the stories at the minister’s meetings lost their power to energize me with guilt and fear.

“Did you hear about brother Edgar? They started a church - met out in a barn behind a cemetery. Had to walk about 200 yards through a pigsty to get there. They had 50 that first Sunday. 100 the next. That was about 5 years ago. They got that new building out on the loop now with the big sign. They run about 800 on Sundays.”

“800? Wow…that is…really… so wonderful and good. What a blessing for brother Edgar and the faithful.”

“Dr. Edgar now. He got his Ph.D. last week.”

“Of course he did.”

I am happy to report that not one person in our church ever mentioned the $5,000 dollars we spent, apparently for nothing. Not even Ben or Luke, who counted the offering money every Sunday and huddled together after church, trying to figure out if there was enough to pay my salary and buy Sunday school materials for the kids.

Some months after the newsletter debacle, a woman showed up at the church with her two daughters. Brittney was 9 and Chloe was 2. She said she had saved one of the newsletters, the one with an article about a Christmas tree. She was driving down the highway and saw a tree by the side of the road that someone had decorated. She felt it was a clear sign from God, so she came to church. She became a Christian back when she was in the army but hadn’t been going to church. She told me there was no way her husband Mike would ever come. Or if he did it was going to take a long time.

One little family. A partial family, actually. After church I joked with Ben and said that this family had only cost the church $5,000 and about 75 hours of work. He laughed.

“Yeah, one way of looking at that would be to say it wasn’t a good investment - from a financial point of view. But then again, God doesn’t run the numbers the way we do.”

“That’s true,” I said.

He smiled. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of Paula and Brittney and Chloe. And Mike if he ever comes.”

I thought about what Ben said on the way home that day. "This is like God's math," I thought.

I still don't understand numbers and money in the context of the Church. But the math of God is not something you understand. The math of God is an idea that slowly seeps into your soul until you see things backwards and upside down. I believe in God's way of thinking, Paula and her family are worth more than all the treasures on earth.

So they were certainly worth $5000 and a little of our time.

Gordon Atkinson

Postscript: 13 years later. Paula teaches Sunday school with Ben, and is one of our most faithful members and teachers. Chloe’s prayers have changed our church in their own way. Brittney is my daughter’s oldest friend and has walk-in privileges at our house. And yes, ten years later, Mike eventually came to church.

The math of God. Who can understand the ways of the Lord?

The Covenant News

Mike at our church on a work day.

Chloe (right) and a friend on the same work day.

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