Everyone wants to be a part of a healthy church, but not everyone knows how to get there. There are voluminous resources on what a healthy church is and what a healthy church should look like. But, if we were to boil all of that down to five necessary components, what would they be and what would that puzzle look like?
The building of a healthy church often looks less like a flow-chart or a pyramid, and more circular. Each of the necessary components of a healthy, biblical church depend on the other. Good preaching leads to scriptural fidelity, but at the same time, it is necessary for a church to trust in the totality of scriptural truth for good preaching to be received from the pulpit. A healthy church will be excited about evangelism, but unless there is an understanding of the gospel, they can’t actually share the gospel. Likewise, sharing the gospel without an intentional process of discipleship is a failure, and so on it goes.
Is your church healthy? Does it have a foundation that can lead to growth and faithfulness? Are there healthy practices and commitments within your church that interact with other practices and commitments to lead to organizational health and faithfulness? These five components are essential for a healthy church:
- Expositional Preaching: Expositional Preaching is preaching in which the main idea of the biblical text is the main idea of the sermon being preached.
- Intentional Discipleship: Intentional Discipleship is the effort to engage each member of the church in a small group for fellowship, discipleship, and accountability.
- Evangelistic Fervor: Evangelistic Fervor is the application of the Great Commission into every day life so that church members become missionaries.
- Scriptural Fidelity: Scriptural Fidelity is the practice of taking God at his word and seeking to obey all of the Bible with joy and gladness.
- Biblical Leadership: Biblical Leadership is practiced when a church uses scriptural principles instead of worldly practices to identify and appoint leaders.
But what about worship and prayer? Prayer is an overarching principle and encompasses all aspects of church health. If we were to re-imagine the circle graph above, prayer would be the central hub around which all of the other components would turn. And as it relates to worship, a church that prays, disciples and preaches will naturally lift her voices toward the heavens in worship. The most important questions to be asked about the music and worship of any church are the same as those mentioned above. Does the worship of the church cling to the truths of scripture, does it promote discipleship, is it evangelistic, and does it preach the the word faithfully through song.
Healthy churches come in all shapes and sizes. They are made up of blue collar people and white collar people. Some are growing rapidly, others are healthy in rural communities and do not experience dynamic numerical growth. Some healthy churches are very well off with large staffs and other healthy churches empty bi-vocational pastors. Some healthy churches are very modern and others are very traditional. But, regardless of what else characterizes a healthy church, you can rest assured that healthy churches hold closely to the five principles listed above.
Is your church healthy? Use the checklist below to help you begin to determine if your church is healthy or unhealthy. I would urge you to look past numbers and dollars. There are large churches that are unhealthy and there are small churches that are incredibly healthy. Look past the numbers, look to the heart. Is your church characterized by these five principles? If not, where do you need to change?
Keep in mind, this is just a checklist, really more a set of questions. This is a starting point, not a destination. From these questions you can begin to determine just where the unhealthy in your church may lie. But, don’t stop here. Start here, and then get busy working tow see your church grow in health and faithfulness.
Who is this checklist for?
- For pastors who are trying to lead their churches toward health.
- For church members who are trying to lead their churches toward health.
- For search committees and transition teams trying to move toward new leadership.
- For denominational leaders who desire to see churches push back against the darkness in their area.
It is my prayer that we would see healthy churches reign across our nation and ultimately our world. We can’t change them all today, but you can make a difference in your church or in the churches where you have influence. If I can be of benefit to you, please do not hesitate to reach out to me craig2381@gmail.com.
