Healthy Church?

Question: What does it mean by the “health of the church?”

In order to answer this question, we first need to define the word church. According to the bible the church is a living, breathing organism, a body. So what it all comes down to is that the church is not a building, the church is people, you are the church. So the question should be, what does a healthy church look like?

1 Cor. 1:10 says, “Let there be real harmony so that there won’t be schisms or splits in the church.” Notice Paul says that the key to a healthy harmonious church is to be united in purpose. People working together; Because people who are working together don’t have time to argue over trivial issues. So why do we exist, what are we here for, what is our purpose as a body of believers?

First let me say that JSBC doesn’t belong to you or to me, the church belongs to Jesus Christ who founded it, who died for it, who sent his Holy Spirit, and will one day return for it. And Jesus, as owner of the church has already laid the foundation for what a healthy church is. So while the programs must change with every generation, the purpose always stays the same.

So if I was to ask you, what is the purpose of JSBC, would you be able to answer that question. I believe in order to answer “do we have a healthy church”, we should ask, “what are we to do that makes a church healthy?” In my opinion there are four things that we should be doing as a church.

1) Worship: There is corporate worship as we are doing here today. Are we creating an environment that lifts up God and not ourselves? Are you making an effort and not excuses to be here? We shouldn’t worship out of duty, we should worship because we want to.

There is also private worship. Are you having personal and private devotions.

2) Growing: or we call this discipleship. Discipleship is the process of helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Things such as Awana’s, youth groups, Sunday School, small groups, evening service. It is the church’s responsibility to develop people to spiritual maturity. Are we doing a good job at that?

3) Serving: The bible says to, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The church exists to minister to people. That’s why we have church work days, Angel Food Ministries; you can be a greeter, helping out flood victims, volunteer to do something! Ask yourself this question: What have I done in the last year to get involved in a ministry to serve someone else. It is the church’s job to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” As a church, are we giving you opportunities to serve, and as church on a whole how are we doing at loving our neighbor?

4) Evangelism: It is every Christian’s responsibility to share the Good News wherever we go. Someday each of us will have to give an account to God regarding how seriously we took this responsibility. So, when is the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you told someone or lead someone to Christ? Are we as a church doing a good job on outreach?

So, on a scale of one to ten, how healthy is our church? Maybe as you fill out this survey you should think about how well we are doing in these 4 areas, what needs to improve, what needs to change.