The discipleship processes in many “count the hands” churches seems to end right there—with the counting. This is nothing new, however. The Victorian-era London pastor Charles Spurgeon also criticized this practice, routine even in his day: Some of the most glaring sinners known to me were once members of a church; and were, as I believe, led to make a profession by undue pressure, well-meant but ill-judged. Do not, therefore, consider that soul-winning is or can be secured by the multiplication of baptisms, and the swelling of the size of your church. What mean these dispatches from the
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