HEALTHY CHURCH: Essential Church (Part 2)

         In Church Revitalization by Russell N. Small, he declared, “Revitalization is the supernatural work of God that restores health and vitality in a plateaued or declining church evidenced by submission to God’s Word, right relations among members and a renewed commitment to Great Commission ministry.” In the last article, we covered the most important ingredient in an Essential Church, the supernatural work of God. Now, we will look at the second characteristic, submission to the Word of God. The greater goal is not feeding your flock but teaching them to feed themselves.

      The focus here is on the church’s diet, which requires a steady intake of the Word of God individually and corporately. Jesus, when tempted to turn the stones into loaves of bread in Matthew 4, stated, “…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” An Essential Church has an insatiable appetite and love for God’s truth. Every biblical church must be committed to standing upon His Word, teaching it and living by its precepts. Here is the unfortunate reality: church attendance, even after years and years of faithfulness, does not guarantee spiritual maturity.

      Do we love and cherish the Word of God the same way the psalmist did in Psalm 119:47-48: “And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.” In effect, the psalmist stated that he cherishes everything about the Word of God, not just to cherish it but also to live by its commandments and statutes. Jesus clearly stated in John 15:14 (NKJV), “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” God’s Word is supreme and is to be supremely valued by everyone. Is your church obeying what Christ has commanded?

      In 2011, LifeWayResearch tackled the huge project of examining discipleship in the church. The Transformational Discipleship Assessment (TDA) is a study you should look at because of the three phases utilized. It would be wise to study it deeper to better understand the eight discipleship attributes that consistently showed up in the life of maturing disciples: Bible engagement, obeying God and denying self, serving God and others, sharing Christ, exercising faith, seeking God, building relationships and being unashamed (transparency). What does Bible engagement look like in your church, individually and corporately?

      In Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time,Greg Ogden stated, “As we face the new millennium, we acknowledge that the state of the church is marked by growth without depth. Our zeal to go wider has not been matched by a commitment to go deeper.” While the quote is dated, the truth it states is even more haunting, severe and bleak some 20-25 years later. Can you clearly and concisely describe the steps, opportunities and experiences your church offers to help unbelievers find Christ and grow into Christian maturity? How does your church make disciples?

      There is no doubt the process of Bible engagement and submission to God’s Word begins with expository preaching of being true to the text and the truth contained in the Scriptures. The question begs to be asked: Is that enough? If a believer is only being fed once, twice or even three times a week, they are starving spiritually. First, you need to describe the goal — character qualities, skills, abilities, disciplines, etc. — you desire in your disciples. Do you want them to be loving, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, sharing their faith, giving generously, serving, attending, having a quiet time and becoming more like Christ?

      After you describe and define the goal, can you clearly explain the next steps for the disciple? What do you, as a church, offer to help them in their spiritual journey toward complete submission to God’s Word? Output goals of what you hope to see and hope to happen are not enough. Someone has well said that hope is not a strategy. You also need input goals defined by Daniel Im in No Silver Bullets as, “the things that you can do today that will produce the results that you want tomorrow.” They are the levers that can be pulled to accomplish your output goals. You need both output goals and input goals.

      Daniel Im continued, “Unfortunately, output goals, in and of themselves, don’t actually move people toward Christ. Output goals are the results of input goals.” Output goals are the desired results, but input goals are steps you must take to see the output goals become a reality. The output goal given in the TDA is Bible engagement, but the input goals that brought that about were reading the Bible, studying the Bible, confessing your sins, reading a book about increasing your own spiritual growth and making a decision to obey and follow God, knowing that decision might be costly to you in some way.

      To be an Essential Church, you to have a clear path to demonstrate, teach and disciple your people in how to have a quiet time, faithfulness to the worship services, the importance of connecting to a small group, being involved in a leadership triad and how to be involved in one-on-one discipleship. It is very interesting to note that in the TDA, the more an individual did the input goal of reading their Bible, the higher they scored in all the eight output goals. Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” How can you, as a church, work together in reading the Bible through together?

      An Essential Church has submitted to the authority of the Word of God and is directed by its principles. While the national figures say 85% of all churches have either plateaued or are in decline, there is some good news. One church consulting group, Unstuck, reports that the over 600 churches they are working with have seen the average growth of those churches increase by 17%. Praise the Lord!