The annual general meeting of Benoni Baptist Church will be held on 21 September 2025, after the morning service. Below is a report which will be tabled at the meeting.
When my oldest daughter Kaitlyn was born she entered the world with 10 fingers. And 10 toes. 3.45kgs. 52cms. She was a healthy bundle of joy. Liezl and I went in for regular checkups. At 1 week. At 1 month. At 2 months. At 6 months. And each time the paediatrician measured her. And weighed her. And confirmed that she was on track. Hitting important milestones.
How is Benoni Baptist Church doing? Is she growing? Is she healthy? It is not easy to measure the health and growth of a church. But here are a couple of the metrics I have kept my eye on all year. I share them with you. For your encouragement. And for God’s glory. Because Jesus is building His church, and He gets all the glory.
In short, these are the metrics I track: Sunday morning service attendance. Undesignated giving. Small group Bible study attendance. New members. Baptisms. And volunteer involvement.
Sunday morning service attendance
The word church translates the Greek word ekklēsia. Ekklēsia is a compound of two Greek words. The first word, ek, means out. And the second word, klēsia, means to call. Church is the called out ones. The assembly. Our church assembles on a Sunday. Morning. At 9:30am. It is the most important activity in our community life.
From 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, our attendance, on average, was 187 souls in the building. Since March we have been counting cars too. The average number of cars was 103. Our member attendance, which we carefully track, was 109 (or 72%).
Undesignated giving
To give is an act of worship. It is a tremendous privilege. Not a heavy burden. It should be anonymous. Cheerful. Sacrificial. Very often it is our wallet which acts as the litmus for our heart. Undesignated giving is the normal offerings of the congregation. It excludes amounts given to specific people or ministries (benevolence, missions, interns).
From 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, our undesignated giving was R1,8m.
Small group Bible study attendance
Our mission is to Reach Benoni with the gospel, and equip all for life. One of the key mechanisms where that equipping happens is in small group Bible studies.
We have 9 weekly small group Bible studies. And 2 monthly Bible studies. We have 119 people across all our Bible studies. Of our 162 members, 91, or 56%, are in a Bible study.
New members
Our church is our people. Not our steeple. In Acts 2:41 we read, So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. Membership is how we describe those who are added to Benoni Baptist Church.
On 1 July 2024 we had 122 members. We lost 15 people over the year. Mainly due to relocation and death. And we gained 48 new members.
Baptisms
Our mission is to Reach Benoni with the gospel, and equip all for life. One of the ways we test if we are reaching our city is to monitor baptisms. Baptisms represent new converts making a firm, public commitment of personal faith.
We had 12 baptisms over the period.
Volunteer involvement
The Holy Spirit gifts the church. Every believer is empowered to contribute within the life of the community. In a healthy body each individual functions as he or she is gifted.
90 of our members serve at least once a month in a Sunday morning service. That is 56%. And 110 serve in a ministry during the week. That is 68%.
A vision for the future
What do these numbers mean? They mean God is at work. They mean Christ is keeping His promise. They mean the Spirit is alive in His people. Growth is never the end. Growth is the means. The end is God’s glory.
I see us continuing to grow. Continuing to worship faithfully. Continuing to serve sacrificially. Continuing to invite our neighbours. Continuing to disciple our children. Continuing to reach our city. For our mission has not changed. We will Reach Benoni with the gospel, and equip all for life. Until Christ comes. Until glory dawns. Until the work is done.