What makes a healthy church? I believe it is the body that makes up the church. Too often we (as in those who are part of a congregation) put it all on the pastors and staff to make things work as they should. If we don’t like how things are going in the church, we look for another one…or worse yet; we criticize the shepherd of the church.
In the past I have seen and heard members of a church criticize and condemn leadership and the church. They come up with all kinds of things that are “wrong,” failing to take time to do a little introspection.
The body of the church needs to be healthy in order for the church to be healthy. So it doesn’t start with the pastors, it starts within ourselves. It then carries into our marriages, our families and eventually into the church.
Too often we are looking to the church to “fix” us or make us “feel good.” But it is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that is going to impact the health of a church. A dead church isn’t necessarily the result of poor leadership. It could be that the dead church is full of dead believers.
It’s kind of like the scripture verse that talks about removing the plank from our own eyes before we worry about the speck in another’s eye. No matter what your struggle is…whether it is with your church, your marriage, your children, your co-workers or neighbors…it all begins with you. You can’t change others. You can only work on yourself and challenge yourself to grow in your relationship with the Lord.
If more believers did this, I believe we would see some incredible things happen in churches everywhere. So before looking to blame someone else, remember that we can’t have a healthy church without a healthy body.
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