My church does a reasonably good job in addressing the nine marks of a
healthy church; however, there could be some improvement. The three
areas my church can improve on are evangelism, church membership,
and discipleship and growth.
Evangelism
Dever asserted that "one of the distinguishing marks of a healthy church
is a biblical understanding and practice of evangelism."[1] He described
evangelism as sharing the good news. He rightly pointed out that
evangelism does not include how the other person responds to the good
news.[2]Unfortunately, many Christians do not share the gospel because
they are fearful of being rejected. They believe they are a failure if the
person rejects the gospel. While we have some in my church that are
gifted evangelist, many people do not feel comfortable sharing their faith.
There are a plethora of reasons, but for many, it comes down to fear ―
fear of not knowing what to say and fear of rejection.
The one thing that my church could do to improve in this area is to
provide more discipleship. Corporately, we can place more emphasis on
evangelism and spend more time in our classroom settings instructing
and teaching evangelism. We can also include practical applications of
evangelism as part of our biblical instruction. For instance, in-class
instructions should be complemented with practical and real-world
community evangelism. This would provide students an environment to
grasp what was instructed by actual doing. Individually, those who have a
better understanding of evangelism can mentor others and demonstrate
what and how to evangelize. Similar to how the apostle Paul mentored
and instructed Timothy. Dever is correct, "we don't fail in our evangelism
if we faithfully present the gospel and yet the person is not converted; we
fail only if we don't faithfully present the gospel at all."[3]
Membership
Church membership has always been one of the areas I believe my church
needs to address. Dever contended that the church is a group of people
committed to Christ, to assemble and obey God's Word.[4]My church is a
fair size church, and like many churches, the number of people on the
membership roster is far more than those that attend church regularly.
Along the same lines, of the members that do attend church, only a
fraction of them actively participates in church activities outside of
Sunday service. I'm not sure how we got this way, and I know there is no
easy fix. However, I believe it is vital for my church and others to start to
address this issue. The problem can be complicated when lay members
see that some church leaders, i.e., elders, ministers, deacons, etc., do not
consistently support the church.
Dever mentioned that some churches required new members to sign a
church covenant that lists responsibilities such as attending services
regularly and giving.[5]I believe if my church should adopt a similar
approach for everyone in a ministry role. In other words, we should
require everyone in a ministry role to sign a church covenant detailing
expectations and their commitment. Every year this covenant should be
reviewed and again signed. Once the congregation sees everyone in a
ministry role actively supporting the church, they may be encouraged to
become active participants. Over time, everyone on the membership
roster should be required to sign a church covenant annually. I realize
this may offend some that have been inactive and inconsistent in
supporting the church, but on the other hand, I believe it will encourage
everyone that is committed to following Christ. As Dever stated, if you
are a church member, the church should treat you as if you're converted.
[6]
Discipleship and Growth
The third area I believe my church can improve on is discipleship. The
dictionary defines a disciple as "an adherent of a teacher that learned,
studied, and passed along what they learned to others."[7]I believe only a
small number of believers truly understand the meaning of discipleship,
and fewer realize that it is the responsibility of all believers.
Like many churches, my church is much better at making converts than
making disciples. I agree with Dever when he says that discipleship is an
individual project as well as a corporate activity to follow Christ and help
others along the way.[8]Jesus commanded all believers to "Go … and
make disciples of all the nations" (Matt 28:19).[9]However, somewhere
over the years, the church has lost its direction and has long neglected its
mission of making disciples that make disciples.
The church has a significant role in making disciples. Vajko contended that
the church is a living organism and is meant to generate life by
reproducing believers.[10] Shirley argued that the primary responsibility for
making disciples belong to the local church, and in fact, the church is
biblically ordained to make disciples.[11] Paul proclaimed, Christ "gave
some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:11-13).
One consideration for improving discipleship is forming small groups.
Small groups could host Bible study and provide a relational and safe
environment for asking and answering questions with the purpose of
spiritual discipleship. We should also assign our spiritually mature
members to mentor and disciple less-mature members.
[1]Mark Dever,Nine Marks of a Healthy Church3rd ed. (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 2013), 128.
[2]Ibid., 130.
[3]Ibid., 136.
[4]Ibid., 157.
[5]Ibid., 172-173.
[6]Ibid., 174.
[7]Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, s.v. “disciple”.
[8]Dever,Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 169.
[9]Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the New
King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
[10]Robert J. Vajko, "The Transformation of Society by Planting New
Churches,"Ogbomoso Journal of Theology16, no. 3 (2011): 100.
[11]Chris Shirley, "It Takes a Church to Make a Disciple: An Integrative
Model of Discipleship for the Local Church," Southwestern Journal of
Theology 50, no. 2 (2008): 208.
