Church Health Precedes Church Growth

For many decades in the church world we have heard an emphasis placed on church growth whether through conferences, workshops, pastors and leaders summits and various types of facilitation from so called “known experts” in this arena. The goal is to increase numbers weekly in the pew with the objective to retain those who attend. I get that and I understand that. Having served the Lord’s church as a Pastor for 25 years and 30 years total in the ministry you want to see numerical increase among those you minister to. Who wouldn’t?

According to the laws of nature, increase is natural but decrease is unnatural. We have to be mindful that increase occurs internally before it manifests externally. The goal to recruit persons to physically gather in a worship setting can be a fruitless task if it ends there. In addition we have to make the distinction between churches that are swelling and churches that are growing. There are congregations that are “event driven” to bring people in for the event only in hopes of large offerings and media coverage to convince others they have sizeable crowds on a regular basis. If you decide to attend a Sunday or weekly service that’s not “event driven,” it reveals an entirely different story. The origin of swelling in the body often occurs from deficiencies of vitamins and nutrients necessary for the body that causes the body to become vulnerable for infection because the body has no defense for inflammation. The focus is on correction and not prevention. How many churches are not receiving a necessary spiritual diet that produces spiritual health that produces spiritual growth to prevent infection and inflammation that often occurs internally among that body?

American churches for the large part have what I call “heart monitor attendance,” the numbers are up and down. But in my three decades of ministry, I haven’t heard church leaders place any emphasis on “church health.” If there is no spiritual health among congregations there will be no spiritual growth. Health precedes and facilitates growth. Unless there is spiritual growth as a result of spiritual health emphasis, there will be no numerical, evangelistic, and resourceful growth. Spiritual health is seeing to it that believers understand who God the Father is and who they are as children of God in relation to the Father. We have been reconciled to God and we have the Ministry and Word of reconciliation and we are to spread those glad tidings around the planet letting all humanity know that they are to “BE” reconciled to God. To return to the Father’s favor and presence and conduct one’s life as such. In addition there must be an awareness of our state and standing with the Father coupled with the spiritual gifts we possess and the divine assignment we have been entrusted to complete on earth with those gifts activated for the specific target group we’re called to reach with the influence the Father has given us. The goal is to have complete well being in our spirit, mind and body. Spiritually healthy believers produce spiritually healthy churches.

Acts 2:42 gives us four directives for Church Health that will automatically produce Church Growth. “And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ Doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers.” As a result, the Lord’s Church went from being added to to increased in number daily to being multiplied. It’s obvious that we have abandoned apostolic teaching, spiritual fellowship, sharing our resources and becoming a spiritual family and Lord knows we are deficient in our individualized and corporate prayer lives. Once we recover these principles and put them into practice we can conclude that healthy churches will automatically become growing churches free of the infections of false doctrine, a wrong view of God, teaching and preaching law based messages instead grace based messages, being entertainment and event driven and focusing on the unnecessary and getting back to apostolic essentials. We no longer have to make up excuses not growing, it’s an indication we’re not healthy. We have to cease putting growth over health and place health over growth. When we become healthy, growth will be inevitable.