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HEALTHY
CHURCHES ARE HEALTHY
IN
ATMOSPHERE, VISION AND FUNCTION
There is a great deal of talk
these days about church health. I think most of us welcome that
terminology, because we grew weary of the constant emphasis on church
growth that seemed to emphasize bodies, bucks and buildings.
Intuitively, and now experientially, we know that churches can have
large numbers of people, huge budgets and massive buildings and still
be desperately unhealthy.
The work of Ministering to
Ministers is primarily to provide advocacy and ministry to called
servants of God and their families during times of severe crisis.
Very often those crises are the result of the actions of unhealthy
persons and unhealthy churches. So in a real sense, the work of MTM
has to do with helping ministers, lay leaders and church systems
become more healthy and effective. An increasing portion of the work
of MTM is concerned with prevention of dysfunction rather than the
response to dysfunction.
The old saw reminds us that,
"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Church
leaders are realizing more and more that churches can take positive,
proactive steps toward greater health, and in that way prevent some
of the conflict that results in the termination of ministers and the
dividing of churches.
In 1997 I published a book
entitled, Congregational
Wellness: Help for
Broken Churches. My
motivation for writing was a concern for the alarming number of
churches I saw experiencing either overt conflict or benign
ineffectiveness. Both situations indicated that the church was not
fulfilling God's intent that it be a body of interdependent members,
diversely gifted, lovingly related to one another, focused on
reaching beyond themselves, and healthily growing both in quantity
and quality. As we enter a new millennium of Christian enterprise,
with all of the opportunities afforded us by advances in technology,
communication and transportation, it is essential that the Church be
healthy in order to seize the possibilities of this new day.
Three of the important elements
of church health are: vision, climate and function. In the past, we
have often talked only about the functional aspects of church life as
defining health. We have spoken of growing churches as those with
good programs of evangelism, Bible teaching, discipleship, missions
and education. These are all functions of the church, and they are
important. Indeed, no church could be considered healthy if it is not
functioning with some degree of effectiveness in all of these areas.
However, when we define success only in terms of function, we move
toward a superficial and mechanical view of something that God did
not design to be a machine, but a living organism. The church is
infinitely complex, and while humankind may develop the ability to
create wonderful computers and robots, the spiritual and mysterious
elements of church life cannot be understood in terms of function alone.
My favorite analogy for healthy
church organizational life is the concern a good pilot has before
taking off in a small plane, particularly one without sophisticated
instrumentation. Obviously, the pilot is concerned about functions.
She wants the engine to function properly. She wants her radio to
function. She wants the moving parts of the plane's guidance
mechanisms to work properly. But everything functional about the
plane can work properly and there still be a disaster. In the same
way, all of the mechanical functions of a church can appear to be in
good order, and the church can still be unhealthy and headed toward a crash.
There are two other elements that
the pilot must consider before taking off: visibility and weather.
Flying without instruments, and utilizing visual cues, the pilot must
have the ability to see for some reasonable distance. Fog, smoke, low
clouds or other impediments to visibility can create real danger. In
the same way, a healthy church must have the capacity to visualize
God's purpose and intent for its future. The leadership of the
church, in order for the church to achieve and retain health, must
have a clear sense of vision for what God wants to accomplish through
the life of that congregation. Churches that are "flying
blind," even if all the programs seem to be working well at the
moment, can not be considered healthy. These churches maintain much
activity, to the point of burning out workers, but they may be flying
in circles and spiraling toward a crash.
The "weather" is also
important. This moves us into areas of church life that are very
subjective and spiritual in nature. The climate of a church is
defined by such things as: morale, fellowship, caring, sense of
humor, self-esteem and enthusiasm. These intangible qualities also
help a church stay healthy. These elements make it possible for a
church to see its way through some of the potential misunderstandings
and conflicts that come along. A church with a positive climate can
handle as a gentle rain shower what might be a violent thunderstorm
in another church. Major decisions and significant transitions in
church life can be worked through with minimal stress if the
prevailing climate is healthy.
The typical progression of
dysfunction in a congregation would be for problems to first show up
in the climate. If the church loses morale, loses energy for its
mission, or loses its sense of humor, the beginnings of an unhealthy
trend are appearing. Problems in the atmosphere in the church then
begin to impact the vision the church has for the future. People
become pessimistic, faith wanes and the church begins to live for the
moment. The concern for the future is not primarily accomplishment
for the Kingdom, it is survival for the institution.
At this point in the church's
downward spiral, the functions may still be looking good. Churches
headed in this direction can move along for some time based on
mechanical memory. "We can keep doing what we are accustomed to
doing. It may not work as well as it did in the past, but its what we
know to do." The church may show numerical growth and
programmatic success for a time, but this is not a healthy church. It
is moving in a direction that will eventually lead to disaster. It is
along this path where church conflict, minister terminations,
membership erosion and other forms of functional problems will soon
begin to appear. Long before the sprout of the weed appears above the
ground, the seed is germinating and growing roots below the surface.
Healthy church life is only
possible by the Grace of God. It is a gift and a blessing. And it is
rare. Those of us who work with M.T.M. strive to enable movement
toward healthier ministers and healthier churches because this is a
cause that is dear to the heart of God.
Bob Perry,
Member of the Board of Directors of Ministering to Ministers, Inc.
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