Worship Attendance and / or Discipleship

I recently read Hey Brother, what's your numbers? on New Church Marketing. This post got me thinking about the difference between growing worship numbers and effectively making disciples of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that growth in numbers does not equal growth in discipleship, but I also think that the people who gather for public worship matters. Being a part of a community of worship can be a part of an individual's growth in discipleship, but a community of faith cannot measure effectiveness in making disciples of Jesus Christ solely in worship attendance.

I think that part of this question is, perhaps, the difficultly in measuring growth in discipleship. It is easier to measure worship numbers than it is to measure individual's growth in following the way of Jesus Christ.

• How can growth in discipleship be measured?

• Is there a relationship between growth in discipleship of a congregation and worship attendance of that congregation?

• Can a community be growing deeper in discipleship and not experience growth in worship attendance?