Healthy Growing Churches

I am the church; you are the church; we are the church together.
I am the church; you are the church; we are the church forever.

I am the church; you are the church; we are the church when we're gathered.
I am the church; you are the church. we are the church when we're scattered.

The other day I heard a Minister respond to a question about the location of his church in the following manner. "My church is wherever my people are at any time of the day or night."

I don't read much from scholars and theologians that convinces me that they know much about the real Christian life or the real life of a church. What I read sounds so sterile and neat. They envision nice Christian people living perfectly straight lives because they have their Bible knowledge all squared away and their theology untainted by works or New Age Mysticism.

That certainly is not the Christianity that I see on a daily basis. The Christianity that I interact with is pretty messy. It is a mess that only Jesus can get straightened out. People are facing problems, pains and possibilities large and small. People get sick, fall down the stairs and some even die as a result like one of the members of Fellowship Church did this week.

We had planned to have the second of our series in training folks to be healthier and develop healthier churches and Gary Stringer's congregation was a strong central force in our strategy. But the plan went awry when one of their senior pillars and a beloved friend fell and was killed. The event went on but we all missed Gary's people and were a bit in grief and shock that they could not make it. They were too busy already showing the love, mercy and grace of God to their people.

Local congregations do a lot of good. People are loved and many come to eternal life in Jesus. But even if they do not confess and repent the church is there with kindness, food, money, nurture and support with no strings attached.

One scholar suggests that local churches provide over 1/2 of all the social glue that holds our republic together. Just imagine that! We so often think that our poor, struggling little congregations are pretty weak in those areas. However, researchers in Sociology suggest that if they suddenly withdrew the daily efforts of care and kindness the fabric of our nation would cease to hold us together.

I wish the theologians would show as much concern about the real engine of spiritual health, the local church, as they seem to show over the Discovery Channel's hostile and dramatic program about the bogus tomb of Jesus. Over 90% of all persons who come to faith in Christ do so as a result of family and friends. The local congregation's health is much more important to the future of the church than The Discovery Channel.

I am reading a book by Nobel Prize recipient , Mohamed Yunas who stopped writing and teaching advanced theories about economics because they were unrelated to the real life of starving farmers and exhausted women. He left his lofty office on a hill overlooking the fields and farms of the people to actually be with those people.

He got his hands and feet dirty and discovered exactly what it took to make specific and practical changes that stopped famine and opened up doors for the desperately poor. He started a Bank just for the poor and began giving Micro Loans to them.

Until we release all the church members to know and do the work of the church in the power of the Holy Spirit we will face cycles of spiritual famine in the land. Until every member of the church knows himself/herself and how to minister in love, truth and grace the church will be running on one or two cylinders.

Even now Christians are have a tremendous impact on the world but we could triple and quadruple that impact with just a few practical lessons in ministry skills. I think the Lord is saying, "Let my people GROW and GO!"