Assess the Health of Your Church

By Kempton Turner

Only a healthy church can properly develop leaders to plant new churches. Here’s helpful advice drawn from our new (and free!) Sending Church Masterclass.

As the pastor, you feel the church’s highs more than anyone. But you also feel the church’s lows more deeply. And though no leader gets excited about this, you’ve got to be really honest about your church’s health.

But first, you need a clear definition of what a healthy church looks like. What are some key qualities of a healthy church?

5 Habits of a Healthy Church

In Acts 2, Luke records at least five habits of a healthy church, taken from the first church. Use this inspired list to humbly and honestly assess your local church.

  1. A healthy church is a learning church – serious about reading, learning and living the Bible together (Acts 2:42).
  2. A healthy church is a gospel-celebrating church – committed to regularly celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus together (Acts 2:42).
  3. A healthy church is a praying church – passionate about crying out to God together in prayer (Acts 2:42).
  4. A healthy church is a loving church – together often and devoted to selflessly sharing their lives and resources to ensure every member’s needs are met (Acts 2:44-46).
  5. A healthy church is a growing church – experiencing salvation growth as the Lord adds souls in response to their faithfully proclaiming the good news of Jesus (Acts 2:47).

Next Steps

Assemble a team of diverse leaders within your church to help honestly assess the church’s health. This team should include younger and older people, men and women and multiple ethnicities. This diverse team can see blind spots a singular leader cannot.

Don’t be discouraged when you see areas of weakness and opportunities for growth and change. This is true of every church. Instead, be encouraged, because you are not the one ultimately responsible for your church’s health. Nor is any team. None other than the church’s Lord, Jesus of Nazareth, is responsible!

Be encouraged because your church is in good, nail-scarred, glorified hands.

Adapted from “Sending Church Masterclass,” which provides training and development for kingdom-minded leaders and churches in this Great Commission work. Understand your church’s role and get practical help reaching the nations with the gospel, one church at a time. Click the link to start the Sending Church Masterclass.

 

Published June 22, 2022

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Kempton Turner

Kempton Turner is the lead pastor of City of Joy Fellowship, located in East St. Louis, Illinois. He previously served on the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for seven years. Kempton and his childhood sweetheart, Caryn, have been happily married since 1999 and the Lord has blessed them with four children: Christian, Carysse, Kalia and Caleb.