We teach them that the key to reaching God's ultimate goal is through healthy church. However, many church planters do not know what healthy church is, so we have to teach them and show them what healthy church is from the Bible.
- 1 Goal and Purpose- God's Glory- The church has to have the same purpose as God- that his glory cover the earth; and same goal- that every person come to salvation. If the church's purpose and goal is not in line with God's, there is no health and the rest does not matter.
- 2 Authorities- God's word and the Holy Spirit. This does not excuse us from other authorities as believers. In fact, we are directed by God's word to submit to authority, so we are not free from following the law. The Holy Spirit is given by God, and we know that the Holy Spirit will not do anything against God, so the church must be led by God to be healthy.
- 3 Offices- Pastor, Deacon and Treasurer. We know from scripture- Ephesians 4:11-12- "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" The term used here is pastor, and is also seen in some translations as "shepherds." It means to give care to the believers in the church and to teach/equip them for works of service. The job of pastor is one who equips the body of believers. If 80% of the work in the church is done by 20% of the people, and much more done by the pastor, whose fault is it? It is the pastor's fault for not equipping God's people for works of service. He is to equip those to be apostles (missionaries), prophets, evangelists and even other pastors. Paul gives the qualifications for pastors in 1Timothy 3:1-7. Deacon is the second office that is needed in the healthy church. We see this modeled in Acts 6. The Apostles told the church to appoint deacons to take care of the needs of the believers. The deacons are the servants of the church, and are to take that responsibility. The qualifications for deacon are given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:8-12. The third is a treasurer who takes care of the money taken in church as tithes and offerings. This keeps the pastor from accusation of dishonesty with the money. Also, his job is already busy enough equipping the believers; he really has no time to deal with the money. The same goes for deacons; they are busy serving the church. The church planter doesn't need to handle the money because he is probably working around other places and also might be seen as untrustworthy after handling the money. The treasurer, however, should be one who is trustworthy, but is given responsibility to hold the money. He is not the one who decides what to do with the money but only the one who holds it and gives it out at the decision of the church. We do not have any scripture references regarding the qualifications of a treasurer, but we know they are needed and we can assume that the qualifications are similar to that of deacons. Actually, we can follow Jesus' example of this. Jesus was accused of many things- being a drunkard, associating with sinners, breaking the Sabbath, being demon possessed, and even blasphemy. However, He was never accused of mishandling money. Why? He had a treasurer, though maybe not the best choice for the job in Judas! The treasurer's job is to protect church leadership from accusation. If any one of these three offices are not present, the church cannot be healthy.
- 4 Marks of Maturity/Self Sufficiency- Self-Governing, Self-Supporting, Self-Reproducing and Self-Correcting. By Self Governing we mean that a healthy church can make decisions for itself without any outside influence, such as the church planter or missionary. Who was it that chose the first deacons in Acts 6:1-7? The church! The apostles instructed the church to appoint them, but there was no debate when the decision was made. The apostles trusted the leading of the Holy Spirit in the church to choose the right men and they left the decision to the church. They empowered them to govern themselves and it went well for them in the future when the church was scattered by persecution. A church dependent upon the apostles may have been destroyed by this troubled time. A Self Supporting church must have ownership of its function. It means that the ministry and outreach the church performs is fueled by its own resources. Acts 2:44-45, the believers had everything in common and gave to anyone as they had need. Acts 4:34-36, there was no needy person among them. People sold land and the money was distributed to any who had need. Other scripture regarding self-supporting is in Acts 11:29, 2 Cor. 9:10-15, and Philip. 4:14-19. If funds continually come from the outside, the church cannot be self-sufficient and becomes dependent upon others to provide. Also, the church never have to be taught about giving because of the support they receive. Until the church practices disciplined giving, dependence will keep the church from becoming healthy which limits the spread of the Gospel. Self-Reproducing means that the church is able to send apostles from its own body and plant other churches. The healthy church will take responsibility to evangelize its field and reproduce other churches. Paul talks about this in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8; that they became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia, and that their faith in God has become known everywhere. The church is called to be an example and multiply, and only by multiplication will the kingdom of God grow quickly. Healthy churches reproduce new believers and new churches. The last is self-correcting. A healthy church has a firm grip on scripture as its guide, and a proper use of scripture shows that health. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," Scripture must be the source of teaching and training and can be trusted for rebuking and correcting as well. Again, we can say that the two authorities of the healthy church are scripture and the Holy Spirit. Just like an infant is dependent in the early part of its life, so is the developing church. However, when the child is helped to grow correctly, it grows into a self dependent and self sufficient adult. If the early church is developed correctly and is encouraged and taught to be dependent upon itself, it can grow into a self-sufficient healthy body. On the other hand, an adult who is still dependent upon its parents to feed it and make decisions for it is silly. In the same way, an older church that is dependent upon a church planter for teaching and decision making or outside funds for support is just as silly.
- 5 Functions of Healthy Church- Worship, Fellowship, Evangelism, Discipleship and Ministry/Service. We get these functions from two passages of scripture- In the Great Commandment, Matthew 22:37-39- "Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " From this we get three of the functions. Worship is the expression of love toward God. Anything that the church does as an expression of love toward God is worship. That could be singing, giving, praying and acts of obedience to His word. Fellowship is loving the body of Christ. Believers have two kinds of neighbors- lost people and believers. Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is fellowship, and any act of love toward our spiritual family is fellowship- praying for one another, giving to those brothers/sisters who have needs, and carrying each others burdens are all acts of fellowship. Ministry- we are also to love our lost neighbors. Showing the love of Christ through our actions and attitudes is ministry. In order for the church to be healthy, it needs to consider these acts of love as a strategic aspect of its function. In other words- serving the sick and the needy but not sharing the Gospel with them while doing this is not the function of a healthy church. God wants to draw people to Himself through our actions, but those actions need to lead to an opportunity to share Christ with the lost. Serving people's earthly needs is important, but their eternal needs must also be addressed. The last two functions are found in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20- " Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Evangelism means to go and make disciples; share the Gospel with those who have not heard. It may also be called missions. According to Acts 1:8, this can be done locally and at great distances. For a healthy church, doing evangelism/missions should be a part of everyday life. Discipleship means to teach others to obey everything Jesus has commanded. A healthy church is actively focused on moving believers forward in their relationship with Christ. The church must plan to provide tools and accountability. The five functions of a healthy church can be seen in the 1st church in Acts 2:41-47. If you look at the passage of what this church was doing, you can find the five functions happening. All 5 functions of the church should be happening for the church to be healthy. If any one of them are missing, then the church is unable to be the key to reaching God's purpose and goal.
I realize this has been a long post, but I felt since we have been really stressing to our church planters the need for them to plant healthy churches, that I needed to share this. Test your own church in these and see if they are happening. I'm proud to be part of a church that is doing all the above mentioned things to grow God's kingdom not only locally but globally. I am also proud to be witness to national brothers here in South Asia who are catching this vision and working within the plan of God- that they see the key to realizing God's purpose and goal fulfilled in this place is through healthy church.
