A Vision For Church Health
The Congregation Side Of Church Revitalization

Introduction

My first ordained ministry position was in a church plant that grew from just under 200 to over 1,000 in less than five years. As pastor of evangelism and discipleship, I was busy helping people who had made professions of faith find avenues of discipleship through small groups, one-on-one Bible studies, and Sunday School. Each week it felt like we were living out Acts 2 as the Lord was “adding to our number” almost daily those who were being saved.

Simply put, our church grew—and fast.

Since then, after serving 23 years as a Senior Pastor and currently as Pastor of Church Revitalization at a large PCA church, without exception every church I am aware of that has experienced a similar growth was committed not to growth but to faithful obedience to make disciples.

 

A Healthy Church Is A Growing Church

A healthy church desires to impact its community at-large along with its families and individuals in particular. A healthy church wants to grow. Though it is God who brings growth, he employs means to bring that growth (1 Corinthians 3:7). These means characterize a healthy church: Faithful exposition of Scripture, emphasis on Biblical doctrine, a vibrant covenantal Community, consistent emphasis on the sacraments and worship, a life of prayer, and a love for and commitment to sharing the Gospel.

None of these means can be missing nor weak if a church is to see significant spiritual growth and, as God wills, physical growth in the number of members of the body. God does not guarantee explosive physical growth to every church—but when he does it is always because there is healthy spiritual growth within the body. Simply put, healthy bodies grow.

 

Think Church Health First

For this reason, it is better to think in terms of church health than church growth. First, when Paul refers to doctrine, the word that is translated as “sound” (1 Timothy 1:10, 6:3; 4:6; 2 Timothy 1:13, 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13, 2:1) can be translated as “healthy.” Second, though he does not use the word, Paul clearly has health in mind when he describes the operational goal for the church:

…speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15, 16).

There are other passages that teach us that God desires for his church to be healthy in principle and in practice. So, when we ask what is necessary to implement as a vision for church growth, we are really asking “What is necessary for a church to intentionally pursue good health?”

Assuming that a church is humbly and intentionally committed to all of the means of grace, both Scripture and experience tell us that, if a church is to grow, the following characteristics are necessary.

 

A church must want to be healthy.

No person is accidentally or incidentally healthy. Even though we may not think very intentionally about our health when we are young, as we mature we realize that to have a healthy body we must desire a healthy body. We will not eat well, exercise, or rest unless we want to eat well, exercise, or rest. We must want to be healthy—because that will lead us to implement healthy practices. Likewise, a healthy church wants to be healthy, both in principle and in practice, so it is willing and disciplined to implement what is necessary for biblical health.

 

A church must be willing to accept change.

When a body grows it changes. Clothes may grow too tight because muscles grow—or they may become too loose because girth is lost! The point is that there is change. A healthy church is willing to accept the change that comes with growth, both spiritually and physically. Spiritually, we are changed by the renewing of our minds as the Word of God transforms us and the way we live and think about our place and purpose in the world. We grow to become more patient, outward facing, servant-hearted, and welcoming to those we may not naturally be attracted to. That, in turn, makes us willing not only to accept but even pursue the kinds of physical changes necessary to accommodate additional people, such as not gathering in cliques, exercising hospitality, putting out more chairs, adding more space—whatever it takes to welcome and enfold those the Lord brings to us.

 

A church must have all hands on deck.

On a ship, when the captain issues a call for all hands to be on deck, the entire crew reports, ready for action as the captain directs. The Great Commission is, essentially, Christ’s call to be “all hands on deck.” Looking back to Ephesians 4:16, Paul says the church is “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly.” Every member of the body has been given gifts, and those gifts are to be used for the health of the whole body (1 Corinthians 12:7). It is critical that the pastor and leadership of a church not only teach this truth but practically engage and equip people to know their gifts and put them into practice. As this happens it creates a culture of expectation in the church that God can—and will!—lead his people to discover and develop their gifts.

 

A church must be mutually accountable to one another.

Biblical churches have ordained or selected leaders—and it is important that these leaders understand they are accountable both to God for their calling (Acts 20:28) and to the congregation for their care (1 Peter 5:3) Accordingly, members are to be accountable to the leadership as the faithfully shepherd (Hebrews 13:17, 1 Peter 5:5). The entire congregation must be committed to holding everyone to the accountability of love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). 

 

A church must want God alone to get glory.

The Psalmist pleads in Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your Name be glory, because of your steadfast love and faithfulness.” The implication is that our human tendency is to take God’s glory for ourselves. When a church begins to experience growth—especially growth in numbers—it is so incredibly easy to begin to take credit for means that God has used to facilitate that growth. We must run from this with all our might! Paul may plant and Apollos may water—we may have done all the things that make for a good garden—but God alone brings the growth, and so God alone deserves the glory.

 

Conclusion: What Makes All This Happen?

I doubt if any of these points are new ideas or profound “game-changers” to most. Pastors, church officers, and faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus know these truths. And that, I would submit, is the most important point! Our understanding and embracing these truths grows out of faithfully availing ourselves as pastors, officers, and disciples, of the means of grace.

Pastors must preach Christ, not growth, because God has designed his people’s apprehension by faith in their Savior as that which captures their hearts and grounds their desire to love him and his bride. In the sacrament of baptism we see the beauty of God’s covenant promise to be our God and our children’s God, and in the celebration of the Lord’s table we are nourished and grow in our fellowship with Christ. In prayer we are both humbled and fortified, becoming convinced, as Calvin said, that God is the only one who “has both the will and the power to take the best care of us” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 20, Section 2.). In worship we are drawn to confess both our sins and our trust in the forgiveness of those sins and our assurance of pardon—and our mouths and hearts are filled with praise.

In sum, it is the proclamation and adoration of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads a church to have and pursue a vision for church health, because a healthy church ultimately desires what Christ desires—for him to build his Church. Such churches are fast-bound in their love of the Gospel and long to see Christ’s Kingdom advance. In the words of Dr. Harry Reeder, “The Gospel is the foundation, the formation and the motivation of a ‘first-love’ Church where the Christ is the sum, the circumference, the substance and the center of all things.”