Do you attend a healthy church? Do you know the signs?
That’s probably a tough question to answer, unless we know the parameters of what makes a church “healthy”. This week one of my assignments for my Master’s program was to define the church.
I’m certainly open to additional wisdom on this, but I believe a local church, in it’s purest of definitions, is:
“An assembly of believers who are organizing and congregating under the principles of the New Testament, to submit to God-empowered leadership to fulfill the Great Commission.”
- An Assembly of Believers. This means that the local church is not a social club with a mandate to execute social change in their community. It is an assembly of Christians who have placed their faith alone in Christ alone to save them (Acts 2:47).
- Organizing and Congregating Under the Principles of the New Testament. This means that the group is not simply coming together for a Bible Study, but that they are interested in duplicating in their community what was started in Acts 2 and continued through the course of church history.
- Submission to God-empowered leadership. A church has a head, which is Christ, but the Bible requires that each congregation has leadership (Heb. 13:17). The leadership of the church equips the attendees to do the work (Eph. 4:11-12).
- To Fulfill the Great Commission. A church received her marching orders from Christ to the Apostles before His ascension. His clear instructions were to teach all peoples what He had taught them, baptizing them in the process (Mt. 28:19-20).
The above characteristics are all that is needed in order to be called a New Testament church. A church does not have to celebrate communion or have corporate worship in order to be a “church.” They would be a dysfunctional, disobedient church, but they would still be a church in the truest sense.
What Was ‘Health’ in the Early Church?
Acts 2:42-47 gives the clearest picture of what the New Testament church was focused on accomplishing in the first days of the church. From that we can derive from that passage, the following are characteristics of a healthy church:
Teaching
This means that the Eldership’s primary ministry is to equip the saints to do ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), and to teach sound doctrine (1 Tim. 4:13). This means that a church needs to have a clear authority structure that is making decisions. Authority structure does not mean autocratic, but rather, servant-leading.
Fellowship
The early believers were breaking bread with each other and having a general spirit of openness and togetherness. They were not simply seeing each other once a week for a worship service – their lives were intertwined. Genuine believers are involved in relationships with other genuine believers.
Prayer
Prayer was a regular, vibrant part of the early church. It certainly contributed to the growth of the early church. Prayer was the engine that the Holy Spirit used to see miracles happen. Today programs have replaced prayer, and this is likely why the western church is in such great recession.
Participation
They were getting work done together (in Acts 2 it was helping those who had need). The idea was that the leadership was empowering the people to do this work. No one was on the side-lines. There was no 80/20 rule (20% of the people doing 80% of the work). It was a fully engaged team.
Proclamation of the Gospel
“The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Evangelism was the major thrust of the early church. They were diligent to preach Christ as the major component of their work (as opposed to something that just gets seasoned into a service here and there).
What else would you add that are the hallmarks of a healthy church? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Scott Foreman is the Executive Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Mullica Hill, N.J.