Skip to content

Growing in Grace

"Watch your life and doctrine closely"

Menu
  • Recommended Reading
  • About
  • Writers’ Guild
  • Contact
Menu
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, church numbers

Lloyd-Jones on Numbers

Posted on September 23, 2019 by James Williams

At a Westminster Chapel discussion group in 1944, the topic of numbers came up and many were concerned. Attendance had dropped due to WWII, and many “doubted whether the plain services now established, with forty-five minute (or longer) sermons and not even an organ…would ever bring back the numbers which once crowded the building.” A woman name Mary-Carson was in attendance that night and she wrote about the meeting years later. She states:

“The question was admitted for discussion, and members of the group began making suggestions along the lines of more music, livelier music, special musical numbers, shorter sermons, sermons not so deep, more variety in the services, etc. I was listening to all this with mounting consternation, and when, in response to the idea that the church members could help fill the galleries by inviting others to the services, someone said that such invited visitors would not return a second time if they did not enjoy the service, I was finally constrained to raise my hand and request the floor. I do not recall my exact words, but I presented myself as one who had come among them as a stranger, had come a second time, liked everything that I saw and heard, and was obviously continuing to come. I said that for my part, no changes whatsoever were needed to keep me coming. Dr. L-J smilingly thanked me for ‘the first kind words I’ve heard this evening!’ He then rose and asked the group what they would say if he told them he knew a way to ensure that every seat in the Chapel would be filled on the following Lord’s Day. He assured them he did, in fact, know how this could be accomplished. ‘Tell us, tell us!’ they said, and ‘Let’s do it!’ ‘It’s very simple,’ he said, ‘simply put a notice in the Saturday edition of ‘The Times’ that I shall appear in the pulpit the next day wearing a bathing costume!’ This was followed, of course, by a period of shocked silence. He then went on to expound the biblical basis for proper worship, using as a counterpoint the error, then just beginning to be prevalent, of introducing various forms of entertainment into the worship service as a means of enticing people to attend.”

(From The Fight of Faith by Iain Murray, 111-112)

To listen to the audio blog, you can subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Play, or Podbean. Thank you for reading/listening and I pray it ministers to you!

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet

6 thoughts on “Lloyd-Jones on Numbers”

  1. John Schultz says:
    September 24, 2019 at 7:45 am

    I had no idea who Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was until Dr. Patterson got up in the pulpit at the 1969 Pensacola Theological Institute to introduce him. I was so taken by his preaching that sermons that lasted nearly an hour did not seem that long.

    Reply
  2. Candy Luther says:
    September 27, 2019 at 6:53 am

    Subscribe

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Growing in Grace- Links 9/27 – Growing in Grace
  4. Pingback: Lloyd-Jones On Numbers - The Aquila Report
  5. Joel says:
    October 30, 2019 at 2:12 pm

    Thank you brother for posting this!
    Great to be encouraged in such things.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Top 10 Posts of 2019 – Growing in Grace

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to receive all new posts:

About Me:

My name is James Williams and I serve as one of the pastors at FBC Atlanta, TX. I love preaching, writing, reading, growing vegetables, and running. My wife, Jenny, and I have four children and are actively involved in foster care. Read More…

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Instagram

Check out the audio blog:

A Single-Issue Voter?

Some issues are so important, so urgent, so vital to human flourishing that being a single-issue voter is understandable…even commendable.

Blog: www.growingingrace.blog

Follow me on Facebook or Twitter!

I pray this episode served you well! Please consider leaving a rating on Apple Podcasts as this will help others find the podcast, and please share on social media!

A Single-Issue Voter?
A Single-Issue Voter?
September 16, 2024
When Fear Assails…
September 2, 2024
Distracted By Things We Can’t Know
August 26, 2024
If God is Sovereign, Why Do Missions or Evangelism?
August 20, 2024
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?
May 12, 2024
Ready To Go Home
April 15, 2024
Born This Way?
March 11, 2024
When Consequences Are Irreversible
February 29, 2024
Healing Words or Sword Thrusts?
December 4, 2023
Thankful In All Circumstances
November 21, 2023
Search Results placeholder

Subscribe:

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Instagram
  • Book Reviews
  • Christian Living
  • Church History
  • Devotional
  • Driven by Awe
  • Foster/Adoption
  • History
  • Links
  • Martyn Lloyd-Jones
  • Poetry
  • Theology
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing

Recent Sermons: Revelation 12- The Great Accuser

https://www.growingingrace.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Revelation-12.m4a

Psalm 91- Fear and Foolishness

https://www.growingingrace.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Psalm-91-Fear-and-Foolishness.m4a
©2025 Growing in Grace | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb