Honouring God in the statistics of census time

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I must say that I like statistics. I like numbers and I like how they can teach us about our world in ways we otherwise might miss.

But for many, statistics and statistics gathering processes like a census can seem irrelevant and boring and thus like a harmless part of life, which doesn't even register on our radar as to whether they are God-honouring or not. 

But if we are meant to do all to the glory of God - ie all that we do should be done within the definition of what glorifies God, that includes how we deal with statistics….like in a census!

So….What about a census?

Both my home country of Australia and my country of residence have just undertaken their latest census. 

In Botswana

….the census data gathering process part has recently been completed. 

…. data is gathered by pairs of census officials who come to every home over a period of weeks and ask a series of questions. A sticker is put on the gate or door afterwards so it can be seen that that person/family's data has been collected. For the first time this year, it was inputted directly into a tablet computer in our presence, by the census official.

 

All kinds of information was asked in the Botswana census, including some interesting things like:

• whether or not we had 'pipes' (plumbed water into the house), or 
• if we owned a wheelbarrow or not (a means for carting firewood or water buckets/barrels from the village 'standpipe' (tap) if you don't own any other means of transport such as a donkey-cart or car).

photo credit: Creative Commons

Only preliminary data is out, including facts like population growth has slowed, and that there are now 64 villages with populations of 5000 people or more.  I look forward to learning more, when more data is out.

In Australia

The census was done last year (everyone filling in and submitting their own data and doing it on one day) and now the data has been released and the statistics are very interesting.

Here are some:

• Australia's population has more than doubled in the last 50 years, but
• half the population growth in the last five years was from overseas, 
• and unlike a few decades ago when most immigration was from Europe it is now having a major Asian flavour (primarily from China and India) 
• 27.6% of Aussies were born overseas and almost half have a parent born overseas 

…thus….the country is increasingly multi-cultural as a 'norm'.

Other stats like religious affiliation are even more interesting. 

• Only just over half of Australians said they are religious in any way, and 
• this is the first census in which less than half Australians identify as Christian. 
• About 40% of the population say they have no religion up from only 15% two decades ago

Health data is also interesting on this census as it asked some questions never asked before. 

• One in three Aussies stated they have a long-term illness.
• the major health problem increase is in the area of mental health and is has the highest incidence with more people saying they have a mental health issue than those saying they have arthritis or asthma.

Family data was also interesting

• for the first time over 1 million families are single parent families

...find out more about the Aussie census data here and here, plus a great commentary on it here  especially in relation to the declining 'Christian' figures.

In the Bible

We know about how Israel had times of census - sometimes because God instructed it (Numbers 1:3), and other times because someone wanted to use it as a form of pride (1 Chron 21:1).

But the more I thought about this, the more I realised Scripture is full of statistics. Statistics are really collections of numbers…and of course there is a whole book of the bible called 'Numbers', which is just basically a compendium of statistics. 

God ensured his bible writers recorded statistics, from how old each one was of Adam's decendants was when their first son was born and how long they lived, to how many days it rained in the Flood, to how many soldiers in Israel, to how many years each king reigned, to how many concubines Solomon unfortunately had to how many days Jonah spent in the belly of the great fish.

Even in the New Testament, think about how many events have numbers recorded with them. To name just a few:

• 5000 people fed from 5 loaves and 2 fish
• Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness
• Jesus chose 12 disciples
• Jesus spent 3 days in the tomb

Statistics have relevance to prophecy too…such as with the 'sign of Jonah' , which is a reference to a previously recorded statistic of '3 days'.

And in the book of Revelation there are various statistics that we are still not totally certain of all their detailed meanings, but they are there to help us learn, know and thus recognise what God wants to reveal as the centuries progress.

Even the statement 'there is none righteous, no not one' (Romans 3:10) is a statistic!

Have you noticed that: 

• God is interested in orderly life; 
• He is also interested in truth; 
• He is interested in us gaining knowledge; 
• He is also interested in keeping records - written (Is 30:8) records of history for those coming after to reference. 

Thus he is interested in us learning from the truth of historical records so as to increase our knowledge and to use it wisely to live productive, peaceful and orderly lives to his glory. When we start ignoring this, we learn that ignorance in the end, is not bliss!

If we are to get knowledge so as to live wisely, we need a source of that knowledge, and some of that comes from statistics.

Using statistics for God-honouring purposes

I have heard quite disparaging remarks about statistics, dismissing them as 'you can make statistics say anything'. 

But while statistic gathering and sharing can be deceptively selective at times, a census in itself is not wrong as Scripture shows us. God is interested in people gaining knowledge and using the knowledge wisely for the good governance of people to his glory.

Sadly, though, it can be used for purposes of pride, or by people wanting to push a particular agenda. 

In Australia there is concern that statistics which show a decline in Christianity might be used to push legistlation that makes less consideration for Christian living and beliefs. It has been reported that there was an active campaign to have those with loose cultural affiliation with Christianity and Christian beliefs (who might tick that simply because they say they are not Muslim or Hindu or Buddist etc), to rather choose to say they have no religious affiliation at all.

But….Gathering data that is accurate and revealing can also begin to expose what Satan might want to keep hidden or mis-understood or ignored, either for society in general or for the church about their society. Thus there is maybe a need for more Christian statistics gathering!

And…there is a lot that Christians can learn from gathered data which gives up-to-date statistics…

⌲ The most simple form of statistics might be a 'feedback' questionaire sheet, like what we give attendees at our 'Highest Honour' workshops so we can better understand how the material being taught is impacting lives and maybe what 'gaps' there are.  Thus it helps us understand  the hearers as we share the gospel and disciple others, and know more of how to better explain truth that transforms hearts.

⌲ Statistics can help us see gaps in where the gospel is reaching, or where a language group is yet to have the bible or even a portion of it in their own language.

⌲ Statistics can help us learn where churches are in the world and what type of churches they are and what type of leadership they have and how many there are…..or like I read just today that in the USA there is 1 trained pastor for every 250 people, whereas in the Majority World  (which is 6.5 of the world's 7.8 billion people), there is only 1 trained pastor for every 450,000 people!…that is why we are excited when Pastors attend our workshops and they say they are learning so much about understanding Scripture and how to teach it carefully and rightly.

⌲ Statistics can be used to shock us into reality….into a reality of realising how much the world needs the gospel, and how much Jesus' great commission, needs to motivate us into actually doing what he has asked us to do…and get busy seeking to make disciples of His…a task that begins with prayer, with training, with understanding where people are at, so as to bring the gospel in terms they relate to and begin to see a need for in their own lives. Just like Jesus approached confronting-truth-sharing situations differently with different people (consider the variety of approaches and interactions styles and words in the stories of the Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19:16-29), and the woman at the well (John 4:4-42), and the woman who touched his garment (Luke 8:42-48), and Nicodemus who came by night (John 3:1-21)), we need to be thinking about who makes up our societies and how best to reach them with the gospel.

Such statistic shocks might be what is needed to prompt us to do anything from talk personally to a neighbour to move our whole family across the world!…in order to enable the gospel to reach hearts.

⌲ Statistics might move us to godly compassion and love as we awake to the needs of people in our communities to be free from the world's lies and come into the freedom of the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). 

I think of the statistic that more people who are transgender commit suicide than any other 'category'. The world might interpret that observation from a godless perspective and say it means we need to affirm transgenderism to avoid such a worrying statistic, but from a godly perspective, we can be awoken to this growing gruesome reality and be more deeply motivated to find ways to reach out to these people, and let them come to gently understand that the reason life seems so hopeless and disillusioning for such folks is that they are trying to live totally outside the way God the Creator designed them to live. It doesn't matter if we feel like we are or might be a gender different from our biological birth sex, it doesn't change who God made us, because he made humans 'male and female'. (as an aside, someone might say "hey but that isn't true since there are biological states that are not just XX or XY, there is XXY or XXXY or XXYY or other variations". But since I am married to one of those variations, I speak with some legitimacy in saying, whatever those genetics say, you either have a 'Y' or you don't…and whatever one's 'genetics' say, God's design is still that we live as either male or female not some other 'gender' form.)

⌲ Statistics might help us see a need for a new or greater ministry that we or our church could have….such as how to better reach, minister to, and care for single parent families, ...and how to help reverse this trend and enable more children, not fewer, in the next census, to have stable families with both parents in a child's home, because the state of the family affects factors like crime levels in society.

⌲ Statistics might even help some people to think about the effects on society when Christians are fewer in number….like whether the reduction in those aligning with Christian faith and Christian beliefs is in some way a reason why mental health issues have increased (although interestingly there are some  in Psychiatry who wonder about 'status' [honour] issues within how these issues are viewed in our current culture)…since people have no foundation outside of themselves and a trust in man will always disappoint and increase anxiety. With no eternal perspective or confidence and peace in God, worry and fear about the world will increase. 

This statistic certainly prompted a news commentator to even be bold enough to talk about it on a major TV channel.  Christians in society also act (or should) as salt and light, permeating it with godly thinking and actions, and preserving it from otherwise more rapid decline. Some others in the media are also raising the issue of how this impacts social cohesion, and if that goes, then maybe 'sport' is the new community glue. But that then reveals another matter as the Christian looks at it…because if sport replaces the church, then we are not wrong to say that sport is a 'god' to our modern world.

⌲ Statistics might wake us up from lethargy and remind us of the urgency of the gospel by revealing hidden truth. Although the Aussie data for the first time might show less than half Australians identify as Christians might be a surprise…maybe its just for the first time revealing the actual truth.  Maybe it is just exposing what the real picture is, and the church has been blind to how few true Christians there are in Australia and been too relaxed about how this impacts society. Is this why the church seems suddenly surprised about laws that allow abortion up until birth being passed in multiple Aussie state parliaments?

⌲ Statistics might also reveal what a great need Aussies have to learn to understand 'cross-cultural' communication and missions. The person you meet in the street has a high chance of not thinking like you do - they might have differing priorities, ethics, family goals and expectations….all things you need to learn about and understand if you are going to reach your neighbour with the gospel. And of course this means coming to understand more about the honour-shame dynamics that this blog speaks so often about!

It also reveals growing opportunities to bring the gospel to members of other cultures including countries that may otherwise be closed to the gospel or that you would never think about visiting. 

When statistics prod us out of complacency and spur us on to stronger godly living and gospel proclamation, then they are a great tool that God can use to awaken the true body of Christ to greater 'Great Commission' living, so that more hearts and lives can be gospel impacted for eternity.

How have statistics impacted you over the years, and in what ways do you think recent census statistics in your country might spur you on to greater honouring of God with your life?