What makes a church healthy? This is importantly distinguished from what makes a church a true church. That would be a subject for another article. But if we assume that the church we are attending, or thinking about, is a true church, then what is it that makes a church more (or less) healthy? We may summarize the signs of a healthy church by its “four loves.”
1. A Healthy Church LOVES JESUS
When you go to a healthy church, the person they want to talk about is Jesus. The person they are focused on is not their pastor, or their building, or even their fancily crafted vision statement. It is not their plans, budgets, and projects. Their focus, their love, is Jesus. This is the “first love” that the church at Ephesus had lost, and so became unhealthy (Revelation 2:4). A healthy church, though, honors Jesus, exalts him, praises him. Jesus is their Lord, their God, the Lord of the Universe, and the love of their lives. At a healthy church, you cannot get people to stop talking about Jesus, just like if you meet a couple in love, it’s hard to get them to stop talking about each other.
2. A Healthy Church LOVES JESUS’ WORD
When you go to a healthy church, you will notice that the Bible is open. A healthy church will not merely pull Bible verses out of thin air, or at random, treating the Bible like a spiritual fortune cookie. The healthy church will have what we might call “the functional centrality of the Bible” very apparent. The sermon will not just give nodding acquaintance to the Bible, but in the sermon, the Bible will speak. They will have Bible studies. They will make decisions consciously appealing to, and deriving wisdom from, the Bible. “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). By contrast, an unhealthy church ignores the Bible, cuts bits of the Bible out, trumps the Bible with other authorities, and generally does not love Jesus’ Word.
3. A Healthy Church LOVES JESUS’ PEOPLE
When you go to a healthy church, you will quickly pick up that they love each other. This does not necessarily mean that they always like each other! We are not called to be best friends with other Christians. But we are called to love other Christians. Church is not like a gathering of friends (united by common interest, hobbies, and background), but like a gathering of family (united by shared blood, in the case of the church, the shared blood of Jesus). As a family, there will occasionally be disagreements, annoyances, and even aggravations. Even healthy families have their moments! But a healthy church, like a healthy family, is still together; they still love each other. When push comes to shove, blood is thicker than water. And when push comes to shove, a healthy church will act in ways that protect, go the extra mile for, even (as the early church witnessed) sacrifice their lives for one another. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
4. A Healthy Church LOVES JESUS’ MISSION
When you go to a healthy church, you will rapidly sense that they are about something bigger than themselves. A healthy church is not a club for the already saved, but a mission to reach the lost. As one long ago Christian leader put it: the church is the only institution that exists for the benefit of its non-members! An unhealthy church, by contrast, tends to think of what is best for it. Their music tastes are geared towards what those who attend and pay the bills prefer. Their decisions are for the stakeholders who have invested time and money in the church. They are a religious social club. But a healthy church has a mission: it has embraced Jesus’ mission to take the gospel to all nations. So a healthy church loves Jesus’ mission. A healthy church will reach out to you if you are new to the church. The leaders of a healthy church practice hospitality, meaning they love those who are new to the church. A healthy church aims to reach its Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
No church is perfect. If you find a perfect church, don’t join it – you’ll only spoil it! No church is permanently and unwaveringly healthy. Every church has its moments. But if you are a leader of a church, a member of a church, your goal is to move the dial of that church towards increasing health – love Jesus, love Jesus’ word, love Jesus’ people, and love Jesus’ mission.
Photo Credit; ©Unsplash/Edward Cisneros
