The Week In Review

The Life of a Healthy Church (part 3) 

There are reasons that a leader may be enticed to base their ministry on selfish pursuits.  These pursuits, however, will only lead to failure.  For a biblically based foundation, the first place that one must begin is in the word of God.  "It demands that we begin with God and the Bible rather than man and culture in order to understand God's will in ministry" (Mayhue, 11).  God's word tells us "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  To have a successful ministry, one must look to God to understand his or her purpose, and depend totally on God for the strength to carry out the mission. 

 
 

In the book, Natural Church Development by author Christian A. Schwarz, he lists several characteristics that are needed to produce a healthy church.  He lists as the eight characteristic needed to grow a healthy church as, empowering leadership, gift-based ministry, passionate spirituality, effective structures, inspiring worship service, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism and loving relationships. 

 
 

To understand how important these things are, we first look at what statistics show us important to individuals as they are looking for a church home. The first was the pastor/preaching at 90%, the second was doctrines at 88%, friendliness of members at 49% and after some other listings he states sensed God's presence/atmosphere of Church at 37% (21).  These statistics show us what we need to do to become more effective in what we do.  Let's look at some of the characteristics.

 
 

The first characteristic is gift-based ministry.  What does gift-based ministry mean?  Schwarz explains it this way, "The gift-based approach reflects the conviction that God sovereignty determines which Christians should best assume which ministries.  The role of the church leadership is to help its members identify their gifts and to integrate them into appropriate ministries.  When Christians serve in their area of giftedness, they generally function less in their own strength and more in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus ordinary people can accomplish the extraordinary!" (26).

 
 

To begin implementing the gift-based ministry characteristic, one must first start with the leaders and teachers being taught the importance of all believers understanding their giftedness.  The general church population will not have a great understanding of the importance of gifts, if the leadership does not teach that it is important first.  This cannot be achieved until the leadership understands that this is not simply a fad, but a vital part of the building of the body of Christ.  Schwarz states, "Unfortunately, in recent years some have misunderstood the gift-based approach as just another passing church growth fad.  But the discovery and use of spiritual gifts is the only way to live out the Reformation watchword of the 'priesthood of all believers'" (26).

Therefore the teaching starts at the top with those responsible for teaching others the importance of gifts and their usage (train the trainer).  The teaching starts with what does God desire for the believers?  Donald A. McGavran, author of the book, Understanding Church Growth, states, "The finding God wants them found – that is, brought into a redemptive relationship to Jesus Christ where, baptized in his name, they become part of his household…The chief and irreplaceable purpose of mission is church growth. Social service pleases God, but it must never be substituted for finding the lost.  Our Lord did not rest content with feeding the hungry and healing the sick. He pressed on to give his life a ransom for many and to send out his followers to disciple all nations.  Service must not be so disproportionately emphasized at the expense of evangelism that finable persons are continually lost" (21-22). (Come back next week for the next installment)