Dever outlined the nine characteristics of a healthy churches, providing
the readers with areas of focus that enables them to measure the health
of their church and to discern where there is room for growth. When
considering the various characteristics outlined three areas stand out as
potential areas where there is work needed to improve the health of my
home church. Out of the nine characteristics discussed it is apparent that
my home church needs to improve in expositional preaching, Biblical
church discipline and evangelism.
Often ministry leaders seek to make the message relational and relevant,
but in doing this they lean more topical preacher, which is often indicative
of the manner in which my pastor presents hi sermon. This method is
often geared towards being pleasing to the ear of the congregation and
often focuses less on exegeting the text in a manner that is expositional
(Dever, 42). In church today the only time some in attendance hear the
word of God is when sitting in the pews, therefore it is incumbent that the
pastor focuses upon delivering the message in a manner that is relational
but scripturally based. Staying in the scripture and using current day
analogies will present the word of God as Jesus presented the gospel and
avoids the possibility of making about the self rather God. This plays an
integral part in biblical church discipline.
Attending a church with well over three thousand members gives the false
sense of Christian discipleship. I believe this is an issue with my local
church. The pastor has become so focused with getting people in the seat
that sometimes ensuring that your addressing the whole person and
feeding the whole person with the word of God is lost. If the church wants
to grow disciples as the Great Commission commands it is incumbent that
they are selective in membership and the discipline required of Christians
(Dever, 184). In this vain the church needs to invest time and efforts in
determining their purpose and then seek to membership that fulfill the
purpose (Warren, 77). The lack of church discipline has a significant
impact on the churches ability to engage in evangelism.
Attending a church of more than three thousand members should have a
high participation in evangelism in and outside the walls of the church.
However, if you are not training the congregation in a manner that is
consistent with building disciples then they lack the desire or skills to
evangelize. As a person that served the community often this ministry had
less than thirty people that participated in outreach, with a congregation
of over three thousand, the disparity is a very present representation of
the lack of focus upon preaching the word outside the four walls of the
church. Spending time in Sunday morning worship training the
congregation in the importance of relationships in the church and in the
community to be considered good Christians will refocus the purpose of
the church. The Great Commission mandates that Christians go out and
make disciples to grow the kingdom, this is accomplished by developing a
strong foundation in evangelism for all not just ministry leaders.
References
Dever, Mark“Nine Marks of a Healthy Church”, Washington, DC,
Crossway, 2013
Warren, Rick, “The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without compromising
your message and mission”, Grands Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1995.
