HEALTHY CHURCH SOLUTIONS: Relationship Versus Performance

      Are you healthy? Are you practicing regular intimacy with Christ that produces a peace that surpasses human understanding? Do you possess a joy unspeakable, full of glory? MD5 (a men’s discipleship program), led by Dr Steve Crawley, enables men to evaluate their health in five areas — faith, family, friends, finances and fitness. Maybe it is time to take a closer look at your spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational and emotional health. The greater problem is that spiritual health is often evaluated by only using performance-based actions that enable you to check items off your to-do list and feel good about accomplishing them.

      In a recent article, “Three Traits in a Healthy Leader,”Eric Geiger stated, “Healthy ministries (and healthy organizations) are led by healthy leaders. For this reason, the Apostle Paul challenged pastor Timothy to ‘pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save yourself and your hearers’ (I Tim. 4:15-16).” This statement reinforces the truth that if you want a healthy church, it begins with you. The adage is still true that “the speed of the leader determines the speed of the team.” Speed does not always mean fast, but long-term pacing on this journey is needed to remain in the race.

      Paul admonishes Timothy in verse 15 by saying, “so that your progress may be evident to all.” Paul made it clear that others are watching, and the stakes are too high not to finish the race God has called you to run. Your strength and stamina are determined not by your performance but by your personal relationship with Christ. Paul also tells Timothy in verse 12, “Be thou an example to the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” Paul instructed the believers in Corinth to follow him as He followed Christ. An example is “a person or thing regarded in terms of their fitness to be imitated.”

      Geiger gave us these three traits for healthy leaders:

      • They don’t confuse competence development with character development,

      • They don’t confuse growth in one’s ministry with growth in one’s maturity and

      • They don’t confuse a critical spirit with a critical mind.

      Geiger emphasized the importance of character over competency and charisma. This has been articulated many ways, but one of the best is by Bill Wellons in What Really Matters:“Who you are is more important than what you do.” He goes further, “I am alarmed, however, about the performance-based culture in which we find ourselves.”

      This culture has instilled in us the principle that it is all about the results because “the end justifies the means.” You learn early that you must “put up or shut up,” “survival of the fittest” and “the meek may inherit the earth, but only the strongest win the prize.” Bill Wellons continued, “Self-reliance and working harder, longer and faster had distracted me from God’s presence and power.” Who you are in Christ is far more important than what you do. The most important thing for people to see in you is Jesus, where they can easily observe how He works in and through your life.

      In What Really Matters! (The Seven Values of an Inside-Out Leader), Bill gave us two important lessons he became aware of:

         • A self-reliant, fast-paced, multi-tasking lifestyle is very seductive. “Being in demand can make you feel important, needed, and valuable, but it delivers a false sense of fulfillment.” You begin to even brag about how busy you are and how many things you can juggle simultaneously. Being busy does not guarantee spirituality, maturity or that you are healthy. Maybe it’s a good time to consider Martha who believed she was the more “spiritual” one because of all the things she was doing for Jesus.

         • Self-sufficiency keeps you from self-awareness. It distracts you from the One who knows you best and wants to empower you to become your true self.” Are you abiding in Christ? Are you focused more on deepening your relationship with Him or all the things you do for Him? Now is the time to revisit the joy unspeakable dynamic. John 15 talks about abiding in Christ, and in verses 11-12, Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

      Are you there? Are you regularly experiencing the fullness of His joy, or are you burned-out, irritable, at the end of your rope and struggling? In "Unburdened," Vance Pitman wrote, “Maybe you don’t have to imagine a spiritual life that feels more like a burden than a blessing.” Maybe you’ve experienced that burden in your past, or you’re carrying that burden now. If you’ve been there, you know keeping up a spiritual façade is hard work.” Ouch, that one might hit just a little too close to home. If you are ready for some honest evaluation, then reach out to me and allow me to send you a spiritual health assessment.

      Do not start with a spiritual gifts test, which is great, or a spiritual strengths assessment, which is very useful. Begin with where you are in your relationship with Christ and whether you are headed in the right direction by abiding in Him. Use the Scripture to speak to where you really are in this pursuit of being spiritually healthy. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

      Does that describe you? This is Jesus’ promise to us, but are we experiencing any of His rest, ease or lightness? Or are you better described as frantically busy, with hardship and difficulty, and your burden is heavy, heavy, heavy? Here is leadership — make sure you are experiencing the kind of relationship with Jesus that you are challenging others to pursue and live.