How Healthy is Your Church?

Eight Qualities which help point out the healthy of your church.

Paul Hirschy
Bishop

November 2002

I have been holding out this vision for the UB church: 100 healthy churches by the year 2010. I estimate that we have 25-30 churches that show the characteristics common among healthy, growing churches. Reaching a goal of 100 such churches seems reasonable.

You are probably wondering how I define a "healthy church."

For a number of years, we have encouraged churches to take the Healthy Church training developed by Sonlife Ministries. Several of our own pastors have been trained to lead these seminars. The Healthy Church training focuses on concepts and strategies which apply to all churches, regardless of size; it is not a "program."

Along with that, we use the Natural Church Development (NCD) survey to measure the health of local churches. Nearly 80 UB churches have taken the survey, a few of them more than once. If your church hasn't taken it, I encourage you to do so. It will provide a good snapshot of where your church stands in relation to being a "healthy church."

The NCD survey gives churches a numerical score on eight different characteristics of healthy churches. I want to touch on each of them.

Empowering Leadership

The survey doesn't measure whether your church's leaders are "superstars." There are not many superstars around. However, most of our pastors and lay leaders can be "empowering" leaders. Instead of doing everything themselves, they invest their time in discipling and training other people. In that way, they multiply themselves.

You need to continually develop new leaders. It takes time to train other people, but if you want to grow and be healthy, you must make that a priority. Otherwise, you won't grow beyond what a few people can handle.

Gift-Oriented Ministry

Spiritual gifts are given by God; we don't choose them. Our responsibility is to develop those gifts and use them in Christ's service.

Too often, we place people in roles which don't take advantage of their spiritual gifting. That leads to frustration. If your role matches your spiritual gift, you will find much more enjoyment in your church work and you'll see greater spiritual results.

It is the responsibility of church leaders to help church members identify their spiritual gifts, and then to integrate those individuals into appropriate ministries. Many churches use spiritual gifts inventories, which are very helpful in making people aware of their spiritual gifts. But that's the easy part.

I met with a church that had a very low score in gift-oriented ministry. They had done spiritual gifts testing, and the pastor had preached a series of sermons on that subject. The people knew what their spiritual gifts were. The problem? They weren't doing anything about it. People were serving in the same roles as before, with the same amount of frustration.

Passionate Spirituality

Many churches are passionate about their beliefs, yet they are still plateaued or declining. Commitment to a certain set of biblical beliefs is not the same as passionate spirituality. In fact, that kind of commitment can come across as dogmatic and legalistic--which are unhealthy characteristics.

You can have good biblical doctrine without being spiritually passionate. And you can be enthusiastic, but biblically shallow.

When church leaders model passionate spirituality, other people catch it. It can change the atmosphere of your church, and visitors will be drawn to you, because they sense something special.

Functional Structures

Organizational structures do affect church health. Some structures are inefficient, forcing people to waste many hours (like in endless meetings). Other structures may be efficient, yet ineffective in accomplishing the church's goals.

There are no off-the-rack structures for me to recommend. Your church's structure will depend on a variety of things, including your history, the church's personality, and your situation.

Another important element is your church's mission statement. You need to organize yourselves in a way which helps accomplish your mission. The real challenge comes in changing a long-time structure to match a new vision.

A healthy, growing church is regularly making changes to accommodate new believers and new ministries. I think it is safe to say that the healthier a church is, the easier it is for the church to handle change.

Inspiring Worship

When a church isn't growing, people often blame the style of worship. But that's not necessarily the case. Research indicates that inspiring worship can take place in all styles and forms of worship. Some people are inspired by lively music, others by quiet, reverent music. The style doesn't indicate whether or not the service is inspiring.

What the research shows is that in healthy churches, people are inspired through the service. They sense God, they want to return, and they want to invite their friends. But what works in one congregation won't necessarily work elsewhere, because every congregation and church situation is different.

No matter what kind of service you offer, some people will complain that it doesn't match their preferences. Just try to provide a worship experience in which the majority of the congregation can be inspired in their walk with God. Seek an attitude which says, "I may not prefer what others prefer, but I am willing to participate so that as many people as possible can experience God."

Holistic Small Groups

Small groups take many forms--home Bible studies, Sunday school classes, choirs, women's groups, etc. A "holistic" small group has three ingredients:

1. Intimate community entails developing close friendships with other members of the group.
2. Practical helps involves giving aid and comfort to people--like helping someone move, or providing meals when a family member is hospitalized.
3. Intensive spiritual interaction requires holding each other accountable for spiritual development--like asking another member how she is doing in her devotional life.

Most churches do well with community and helps, but are missing spiritual interaction. Consider your Sunday school classes. You have great relationships, and you help each other out when needed. But do you ask each other how you're doing in your spiritual walk? To be healthy, you must start doing that.

Need-Based Evangelism

In today's culture, very few nonChristians will attend church just because we erect a welcome sign. Most nonChristians have a negative view of Christians in general and won't visit a church on their own.

It is commonly agreed that up to 85 percent of the people in church originally came because someone invited them. To penetrate the culture, we must find ways to build relationships with nonbelievers.

Look for people who have interests similar to yours. Pray for a bridge you can use to build the relationship--a common interest or hobby, a mutual friend, a shared past experience. As friendships develop, you will become more aware of the needs of nonChristians in your community. Your church can then provide ministries to address those needs.

Loving Relationships

Churches tend to over-estimate themselves in this area. Persons in leadership enjoy established relationships in the congregation that make them feel loved. We view ourselves as warm-hearted and open to newcomers. But outsiders, and people on the fringe, may receive subtle messages that make them feel they don't belong.

Loving relationships is tied more closely to the personal lives of church members than any other characteristic. One or two persons, acting in ways which show a lack of love, can short-circuit your efforts to be perceived as a loving church.

Talking about love is easier than actually expressing love. The reality is, some people are difficult to love. But it's not enough to be kind and loving to people who are like us; even unbelievers do that. Our challenge is to express love to people who are unlovely, who may insult us or take advantage of us, or who may require a lot of attention.

As leaders, we don't have a choice when it comes to expressing Christ's love to people in our community. Let it be said of your church, "My, how they love one another!"

Is Your Church Healthy?

Reading about these eight characteristics, you can make a reasonable guess about the health of your church. But you might be surprised by the results of an NCD survey taken by a number of people, all looking at things from different viewpoints. What you see as strengths, others may see as weaknesses.

Even if you do many things well, the NCD survey will identify your weaknesses--which you can begin turning into strengths.

The regular cost for the NCD survey is $150, but it costs just $100 if ordered through the Bishop's secretary. During the past four years, 75 UB churches have taken the NCD survey. Some have taken it several times. This represents one-third of our churches--a very good sampling. These include 12 churches with attendances above 300, 25 churches with attendances below 100, and 43 churches in between.

A numerical score is given to each of the eight characteristics. A score of 65+ indicates health. Anything below 35 is cause for concern. The lowest score is called the "minimum factor." Among UB churches, 24 churches had a minium factor in small groups, and 20 in gift-oriented ministry.

On average, UB churches have the highest scores in inspiring worship and need-oriented evangelism.