c The three marks of a healthy church that could use some work are a biblical
understanding of evangelism, church membership, and church leadership. Many
church members believe evangelism is the pastor's responsibility but in reality,
all Christians are called to evangelize the lost. Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV) teaches
that all believers should share the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ.
“Christians should tell everyone the good news. And we should all evangelize.
We should do so with honesty, urgency, and joy, living a life that backs up our
message — and doing it all for the glory of God.”[1] The church in general has
to do a better job of embracing this biblical precept in all aspects of life, at
home, in our communities, and the workplace.
Church membership also needs to be taken more seriously. The majority of
church congregations do not serve the ministry or tithe to the church regularly.
These things are part of the responsibilities for the body of Christ and in the
modern church, they are severely neglected. “Church membership means being
incorporated in practical ways into the body of Christ. It means traveling
together as aliens and strangers in this world as we head to our heavenly
home.”[2] c If church members do not serve Christ as they should and do not
reflect the attributes of Christ then they will not have a positive impact
evangelizing and discipling others for Christ. Church leadership that reflects
biblical precepts and the love of Christ is essential for evangelism and
discipleship, this type of leadership needs to be demonstrated from top to
bottom within the church. Church members need to be ready to do their duty
for Christ whenever an issue needs to be addressed. “Paul appealed to these
Galatian Christians and made it quite clear that not only were they competent to
sit in judgment of a message presented as the gospel, but they were required
to do so.”[3] Paul made this clear when addressing many issues within the
church including false teachings. Too often many of these duties are seen as
things the pastor or elders of the church should handle but the church is called
to carry each other’s burdens and travel together towards heaven. Most
churches could benefit from work in these three areas. These three areas of
ministry are areas that I need to work in and strive to be better with in the
future.
Bibliography
Dever, Mark. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Publishers, 2015.
[1] Mark Dever. c Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Publishers, 2015, 148.
[2] Dever. Healthy Church, 176.
[3] Ibid., 236.
