Why I Find It Hard To Report Conversions

Every once in a while, missionaries get notes from supporting churches requesting statistics like how many hours they spent on door-to-door visitation, how many people were converted last week, how many churches they planted last year, etc. Fair enough. Some missionaries complain about such questionnaires, but I've always thought that if I'm eager to accept their support, I should be eager to answer whatever questions they deem important.

Nevertheless, I've always found it a little hard to answer just how many people have been converted, because there is so much in the Bible about true and false conversions. Tares mix in with the wheat, and Jesus said, in essence, "No, no, don't weed out the tares, because you might accidentally weed out some wheat!" We are notorious for judging spiritual conditions based on outward appearances. I have too often rejoiced over a weed who said a nice prayer and learned how to talk fluently in wheat-ish. Many, Jesus taught, will fall away; not losing their salvation, but revealing that they never had anything to lose--they'd never been regenerated in the first place.

I'm not on an anti-numbers, no-statistics bandwagon. In the book of Acts, we surely read of great, specific numbers of people converted. Of course, the difference is that the Holy Spirit said it, and He is a bit more qualified than me to make that call! As much as I rejoice whenever someone prays the sinner's prayer and/or professes his repentance and faith in Christ, I find myself a little skeptical of its authenticity. Oh, I admit it, that sounds awful, like a bucket of ice water on holy fire. But the Scriptures indicate that fruit reveals the veracity of true faith: fruit which endures trials, survives temptations, and passes the tests of time. As the new believer develops, so develops my belief that this guy has indeed been born again. With each faithful year, my rejoicing increases and my skepticism decreases.

So how many people have I seen saved thus far in 2008? I will have a better answer to that in 2018.