People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Characteristics of a Healthy Church
Part 2
by James W. Moss, Sr.
Back to Part 1
3. A Healthy Church Has the Capacity to Act
It shouldn’t take the action of multiple layers of decision-making bodies and months or years of time to decide that something must be done. People need to be set free to act on behalf of the congregation, providing their goals are the same as the church's. Of course, it is important for a church to be doing the right things. Every church must be seeking God's will and wisdom as it acts on behalf of the Kingdom. A church must be doing some of those things that bear fruit and replenish the life of the congregation. In keeping with Christian commitment, the church must do some things from which it never expects a direct return in new people or money.
In January, Rev. Charles Gilbert, the pastor of highly structured Mid-town Church, develops a quality proposal for a new evangelism strategy. He must wait for the February meeting of the Evangelism Committee. The Evangelism Committee at Mid-town hasn’t attracted the strongest members—Pastoral Relations and Facilities Maintenance has claimed those. Finally, after an evening's debate the pastor's proposal is recommended for approval by the council. There is immediately a problem. The Evangelism Committee has only 1.52% of Mid-town’s budget. This project will cost approximately $1,500.00 more than the total budget of this committee for the whole year. Budget restrictions aren't that important to Pastoral Relations or Facilities Maintenance.
In March the Executive Committee of the Council reviews the proposal. Dramatic changes are introduced. The heart of the program is slashed. The proposed cost is cut in half. In April the Executive Committee brings a recommendation to the full council. It is approved a full four months after the idea for the program was first conceived. Any resemblance to Rev. Gilbert's initial proposal is an accident. It is now too late to implement the proposal this spring. The new, emasculated, underfunded, evangelism program begins nine months late. Rev. Gilbert is discouraged and disappointed by what happened to the initial proposal. His enthusiasm and commitment are no longer there. Several council members proclaim, "I told you so!" when the new program did not work. That was five years ago. Come to think of it, that was the last serious evangelism program that Rev. Gilbert presented at St. James.
Organized inactivity plagues churches as several levels of committees wade through the morass of making a decision. The result is often a mere shadow of what is needed. The action is frequently months and even years late. There are obvious risks when people are set free to act. Mistakes will be made. Neither the Christian faith nor its adherents were ever intended to be passive. Christians must act to find satisfaction and fulfillment in their commitment to Christ. "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here...." Acts 17:6 NIV was the comment of the city officials of Thessalonica. The early church didn't "upset the world" by sitting on its hands.
4. A Healthy Church Keeps Its Leaders In Touch With Its Mission
Most church leadership circles spend their time managing programs, raising money, and maintaining facilities. John Mingo left a meeting with the governing board of Christ's Church. The meeting had lasted three hours. There was some bickering and tension. The only items discussed related to programming, money, and buildings. John asked himself as he drove home, "I wonder if this is really what Jesus intended for His church?" An uninitiated visitor observing a church's business meeting would frequently have no idea from the nature of the agenda and discussion that such a group governed a church. Concerns of the gospel or ministry to people are seldom discussed.
Facilities, money, and programs are only important as they make ministry to people a possibility. The gospel and people concerns should be high on each meeting's agenda. Such conversation should not occur sporadically or at the end of a meeting after energies are spent and time is short. Carl Francis is the President of Admarketmedia, a public relations firm. We worked together on several promotional projects. Carl would faithfully ask in every meeting, "What is the one thing you must accomplish in this project. If you can only accomplish one thing, what is the one thing that must be achieved in order to make this project successful?" He constantly attempted to keep us in touch with the mission of the project.
"Why does my church exist? What is the one aspect of ministry that we must accomplish as a church?" are two questions that need continuous repetition. Churches frequently forget why they exist; thus they must be perpetually reminded of their purpose. Exercise: Have the members of the council of your church answer at the beginning of the next three meetings, these two questions: "Why does our church exist?" and "If we could accomplish but one thing as a church, what would that be?"
Jesus defined the purpose of the church by reading these words from Isaiah in his home synagogue in Nazareth. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18-19 NIV
The leadership of the church must be called back to the high priorities of worshipping God, caring for the people of the church, and winning new people to Christ and the church. Christmas and Easter are annual reminders of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of our Lord. In fact, each Lord's day serves as such a weekly reminder. "Remember" is a word used often in the Old Testament in reference to God's deliverance during the Exodus. In the New Testament "remember" refers to the Lord's Supper and what God accomplished through the death and resurrection of our Lord. Each church needs to constantly be reminded, why . . . ?
Continue to Part 3
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July 1, 1999. Volume 2, Issue 8. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.