(We are posting the first two chapters of our book A Healthy Church. At the conclusion, we’ll tell how to order the book.)
CHAPTER ONE: HOW TO SPOT A HEALTHY CHURCH IN 30 SECONDS
Something about those children intrigued me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
For several weeks during my daily walk on the Mississippi River levee, I had been noticing three small children playing in their yard which joined the green expanse of the levee.
They seemed unusually happy and physically active, which the pastor/grandfather in me found charming.
The oldest child might have been seven or eight. There was a younger brother and a little sister. The yard held all kinds of play equipment.
No matter how cold it was, they were out there laughing and running, jumping and hiding, having a big time.
You could hear them a block away. They were always enjoying themselves and seemed to love one another.
“Whatever the parents are doing,” I thought, “it’s working.”
Then one day I noticed something different. Another kid had joined them, and they had several large-wheel vehicles on top of the levee which they were riding down into the yard. Two women sat near the house keeping an eye on them. One was the mother, I assumed.
As I drew closer, the children coasted off the levee, all except the oldest boy. He looked up at me and said, “Hi. I’m Harley.” I was so taken aback, I had to ask, “That’s your name?” It was.
I said, “Hi Harley. My name is Mister Joe.” He gave a big grin and said, “Hi, Mister Joe!” Then, off the levee he went.
I walked away thinking my first impression of that family was correct. The parents were doing many things right. Here is a little kid with a great attitude, confident enough to look an adult in the eye and to introduce himself.
A few days afterwards, my curiosity got the best of me. I walked off the levee and introduced myself to the adults in the yard. It turned out they were grandparents, caring for the little ones in the daytime while the parents worked. Yes, they owned a television, but no cable. No computer games. They didn’t care for movies.
The kids just wanted to play.
I affirmed the grandparents on the terrific job they were doing and wished them well, and went on my way.
And that started me thinking about healthy churches.
I wondered…
Is it possible to visit a church and within a few seconds determine that it’s healthy?
I ran that question by a number of friends.
Some said it’s easier to tell an unhealthy church in a few seconds than a healthy one.
One pastor said, “If the building is in a state of disrepair and the people are unfriendly, those are dead giveaways. if there are no greeters for the church and no helps for first-time visitors, you decide very quickly this must be an unhealthy church.”
Other signs are so obvious they require little comment: a sparse crowd, lackluster singing, uninspired sermons, and unfriendly congregations.
But the question persists: Can you tell a church is healthy in just a few seconds?
College minister Corey Olivier gave several possibilities. “You notice if the people are excited to be there. That works for me.”
“Also, if the people are generous, that’s a great sign. Not necessarily rich. The people of Macedonia were generous but dirt-poor (Second Corinthians 8).”
“If there is strong pastoral leadership, if everyone is in the right place serving. Those are great signs. It’s what I call a ‘good Ephesians 4’ model.”
“If the people love their ministerial staff and follow them, they are going to be a healthy church in most cases.”
Pastor Mike Miller said, “I need a little more than 30 seconds to determine if a church is healthy. I want to hear their preaching and learn what the preacher is telling the people theologically.”
Here are more answers from friends. At the end I’ll give you mine.
–people are friendly and speak to strangers.
–there’s evidence of mission involvement and evangelism.
–there’s an air of expectancy.
–the church has children.
–people are carrying their Bibles.
–warmth.
–a variety of age groups.
–in the parking lot and at the front door, servants are showing me Jesus in their very actions.
And my answer to the question….
If I could choose one moment, a sliver of time that would tell the story on a church and allow me to decide on the health of that congregation, it would be: how they handle conflict.
How they deal with a problem.
Yes, healthy churches can have problems. But they have great skills in dealing with them, which sets them apart from the typical congregation.
For years, like most of us I imagine, I saw Acts 6:1-7 as the origin of the first deacons in the church. One day it hit me that that is only a minor part of that story. The thrust of that story is how the church dealt with a challenge to its fellowship and peace.
Dissension arose in the Jerusalem congregation when some minority widows began complaining that they were being neglected in the daily distribution of food in favor of the majority. While the church considered the problem and began to deal with it, people throughout the city kept an eye on that situation. Would this bunch of Christ-followers be ripped asunder by conflict? Would they show themselves to be all too human and abandon their high-minded purposes in order to fight and bicker?
Were these Christians like the rest of the world?
The community watched and was most impressed by what happened.
So. What exactly did they see?
They saw the leadership–the Apostles–move quickly when the dissent broke out. They saw the leaders and the congregation work in harmony to address the matter.
They saw the congregation do something totally unexpected. They selected some good people from the minority–the complainers!–and put them in charge of the food project.
The townspeople saw how it all worked out, how it pleased everyone and how the congregation settled back down in harmony to resume their ministry.
That’s when many in the community decided.
They wanted to know more. They wanted what these Christians had.
Acts 6:7 reads, “So the preaching about God flourished, the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.”
Question: When was the last time your church impressed the outside world by the way it dealt with conflict?
When was the last time newcomers walked into a business meeting at your church and were so impressed within one minute they were ready to sign on the dotted line? What could they possibly have seen that would have brought about that kind of reaction?
I do not have all the answers on this. However, this would be a great subject for a discussion with your church leadership.
And that’s the next chapter.
CHAPTER TWO: WHEN TO START THE CONVERSATION ON CHURCH HEALTH
The time to begin talking about church health with the congregational leadership is when things are going great.
Someone may insist that you are “going to stir up things” by asking them to discuss problem-solving within the congregation.
Quite the opposite. You are trying to head off problems.
One thing we know is that problems will come. Church growth may create some conflicts. Some members feel they are not being heard or that leadership is being unfair. At other times, troublemakers may arrive from the outside with plans to disrupt the fellowship, divert the church from its mission, and destroy the ministry of God’s servants.
Expect the trouble. Watch for problems. Have a plan.
Don’t be blind-sided.
A healthy church will give advance thought on how to deal with problems when they arise.
Pastor Rick was serving a church not far from where I live. One Sunday, a man with a reputation as a troublemaker joined their fellowship.
“We didn’t find out until later that the man had tried to tear up several churches. So, I quietly informed our deacon leadership and we agreed to keep an eye on him.
“Sure enough, after a few months, that guy phoned a deacon to ask if they could meet. As they sat at the table chatting, the fellow abruptly said, ‘So–what are we going to do about Pastor Rick?’ The deacon was ready. ‘We’re going to love him! Isn’t he terrific!’
“That was the end of the conversation. Pretty soon that fellow was gone and we never saw him again.”
They had been prepared.
A healthy church will try to head off trouble before it gets started. Like white corpuscles flowing to an infection, key leaders rush to the scene of the trouble and deal with it.
A healthy church will have people in place and on the alert, always watching for the first sign of trouble.
One more thing about the chapters that follow. Since much of this came from my blog originally, there is some repetition in it, some scriptures used more than once, some works cited a couple of times. I decided to leave these in, since each chapter should be able to stand on its own. (I’m going to assume that people read books the way I do–a chapter or two today, another chapter next week, and so forth. So, we will assume that those reading chapter eight, for instance, will have the points of chapter four in mind.)
I once inserted a small card in the Sunday worship bulletin to ask, “Do you have a question about how things are done around here? A problem? A criticism? Please let us know. Then, drop the card in the offering, please.”
The chairman of deacons said, “Pastor, you sure you want to do that? You’re going to stir up dissent.” I assured good friend Mike Skiles that the opposite was the case. “If people are unhappy, they’re going to talk about it. And I’d rather they say it to me so we can do something about it.”
What I found was that the very act of giving people a means of voicing their questions or criticism lessened the complaints. It was a nice discovery.
I wish for you a healthy church.
(There are 14 chapters in all. Some other chapter titles are: “Ten Signs You May Be Part of an Unhealthy Church,” “Nothing Tells the Story about Church’s Health like its Leadership,” and “What to Do with the Problem of Immature Members.”
The book is $10. Please include $3 for postage. If you order numerous copies, the price remains the same and we will appreciate a few dollars more for postage. My address is Joe McKeever, 203 Garden Cove, Ridgeland, MS 39157. Make checks to me. My Venmo account is @Joe-McKeever-7.)