Ask any of my graduate students and they will inform you just how fond I am of using statistical data to support statements and opinions. For example, this is a statement from their instructions in a sport sales course: Jones (2015) discovered that 60% of all people born between 1990-2000 are regularly checking social media apps on their smartphones each day which means a sport organization such as the Memphis Grizzlies, must continually update their sites to attract this younger generation of fans.

Whether we are using statistical data in academic writing, reading reviews for a new purchase, or compiling a monthly budget, numbers become essential for framing our understanding of a concept. By placing a numerical value on my expenses, I have a deeper knowledge of why my income seems to vanish into thin air so quickly each month. In the world of sports, numbers speak volumes about the performance of specific athletes, it helps us determine who is crowned the winner of a contest and gives validity to team rankings. Numerical figures provide a framework to assist us in comprehending our world from standardized measurements to dates on a calendar to the concept of time. However, numbers aren’t always able to provide the entire story.

During the COVID pandemic, it was challenging to view the way the media utilized daily case numbers to raise anxiety and fear; yet at the same time, because I did not know anyone who had personally been infected, it was easy to view the data through the lens of a distant observer. Tim Roehl in Fit & Flourish shares this insight regarding numbers and how our perspectives change when those Numbers Become Names. “Statistics can be informative, insightful, overwhelming, even manipulated…but rarely do they generate passion and action. For that to happen, numbers must become names. Information must be identified and infused with the pain of real people. Passion then becomes personalized.”

One of the truths I have learned in my life which transforms Numbers to Names is through participation in short-term opportunities to join with ministry partners through GO Trips at Union, mission trips at West Jackson, and service through Campers on Mission. The significance of being a Christ-follower and learning to share His love with others changes dramatically when a people group that you’ve studied become faces and names of people you are serving alongside. No longer is the statistic that only 5 percent of the residents in Calgary are evangelical or that 80 percent of Madison County is unchurched just a number, these are now individuals with personal stories and who desperately need to experience the transformation that can only happen through a relationship with Christ.

Personally, I wrestle with the fact that reading statistics that around 50 percent of Gen Z rarely or never attend church doesn’t break my heart; however, if you modify that fact and switch the Number to Names of students I personally know at Union, then a passion is stirred within. Or when prayers for the outreach in Calgary shifts to prayers for the Reid’s, the Hatfield’s, the Connor’s and all the others connected to the Tapestry Network, the needs become real because they have faces, personalities, families, and struggles that are no longer so distant and vague. I hope to share more about the critical work our missionaries and church planters are doing in future posts, but at this moment, I just request that you consider statistics that have been shared with you and how you can alter those Numbers to Become Names that are near and dear to you!

Roehl continues after sharing a story about a neighbor, “I knew all the statistics about unchurched people in my area and the theological importance of the Great Commission. The burden the Lord gave me for Shawn made all the impersonal statistics and theological statements become urgent, passionate, and personal.” Once he learned his neighbor’s personal story and opted to befriend him, no longer was he just a neighbor, he was Shawn, Tim’s friend.

In what other ways have you witnessed the importance of changing Numbers to Names? What experiences can you share that offer examples of how when we view things differently, God uses that shift to change our lives? Please feel free to share in the comments below.

References:

Roehl, T. (2018). Fit & flourish: Discover how God created you to make a difference. Tim Roehl.