Tag: Healthy Church
-
Christianity in Our Current Cultural Context
In March 2019, noted church leader Tim Keller delivered this keynote address at The Hendricks Center Gala. In this address Keller identifies some of the ways that ministering in our present cultural context may be different from ministering in the past. Whether one agrees with Keller’s assessments or not, all would be wise to at…
-
Illustration of a Healthy Church
If our congregation were to be a church with the gospel, plus a group that enjoys being together in community, but we were not on mission to reach out to our neighbors and the Nations, for the sake of advancing Christ’s Kingdom, then we would just be another social club for people to attend. Gospel…
-
Authentic Church: Road to a Re-newed Reality
I have been mulling on something the late Francis Schaeffer said: “There are four things which are absolutely necessary if we as Christians are going to meet the need of our age and the overwhelming pressure we are increasingly facing.” No doubt that the Church, in our culture as well as other cultures, faces increasing…
-
Here AND There
We don’t just go to church, we ARE the church …sent out by the power of the Spirit to BE the church. This illustration above represents two aspects of being a faithful church: Attractional – those elements of a particular congregation that draw people into the church community. Among these would be the quality of…
-
What If We Omitted Gospel, Community, or Mission?
The refrain from an old song says: “Two out of three ain’t bad.” But would this be true for a church, or a Christian, who incorporates 2 out of 3 of the core values: Gospel, Community, Mission? Consider these thoughts, framed as a mathematical equation: Gospel + Community – Mission If we have a Gospel…
-
10 Contemporary Sacred Cows That Need Tipping
My grammar school days were lived out in a plush Philadelphia suburb. My first taste of culture shock came just before I entered high school, when my family made a cross country move and settled into a cul-de-sac home in a nice new development in a then-more-rural area outside Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. It was in…
-
5 Marks of Revived Churches
Ray Ortland proposes there are five constants in all historic instances of biblical revival. Awareness of God’s presence Responsiveness to God’s Word Sensitiveness to sin Liveliness in community Fruitfulness in testimony These are important features. To read Ortlands elaboration click: Revived
-
Living Together as the Church
The late theological statesman, Edmund Clowney observed: “If we lack interest in the church we lack what was for Jesus a consuming passion. Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5.25).” Jesus’ love for his church is evident throughout the pages of the New Testament. In Matthew 16.18 Jesus promises to build his…
-
8 Qualities of Healthy Churches
Christian A. Schwarz, head of the Institute for Natural Church Development in Germany, conducted reportedly the most comprehensive church-growth study ever, drawn from more than one thousand churches in thirty-two countries. His study revealed eight qualities in healthy churches. 1. Empowering Leadership Leaders of growing churches … do not use lay workers as “helpers” in attaining their…
-
The Distinguishing Mark
As I continue to work my way through 1 John I am repeatedly struck by the way John weaves together several themes, yet seems to keep a single idea in focus. John writes to help the reader understand how we may know God – that we may know God. Yet throughout the letter he…
-
Love: The Sixth Mark of the Church
by James M. Boice What is the greatest mark of the Church? I do not mean by this: What is the first mark of the Church, or even, What is the mark that we perhaps most lack? I mean: What is the greatest mark, the one that holds the others together? What is the one…
-
Unity: The Fifth Mark of the Church
by James M. Boice The divisions that exist today are too obvious to need comment. They lie both on the surface and within. Battles rage. Even highly praised church mergers not only fail to heal these divisions but also usually lead to further breakups involving those who do not like the new union. So far…
-
Mission: The Fourth Mark of the Church
A number of years ago, when the well-known conference speaker Ralph L. Keiper was preaching at a missions conference in Deerfield Street, New Jersey, he told about a little girl who had come to see him early in his ministry. She was about eight years old. She had been to the church’s daily vacation Bible…
-
Truth: The Third Mark of the Church
by James M. Boice It is a striking thing that nearly all that God does in the world today, he does by the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of his written revelation. This is true of sanctification. Sanctification means to be set apart for God’s use. So our text tells us that the only way this…
