Being a Healthy Church

We’ve been talking a lot lately about  how our church is doing.  Many of us feel anxiety, and perhaps even despair, when we look at some of the troubling trends in our congregation.  But there is only one way to have a healthy church.

Quit worrying about it.

None of us can create or sustain a healthy church.  Only the Holy Spirit can do that.  He is the one who calls a church into existence, gathers people into it, and shapes them into a community that builds the kingdom of God.  Let God do his work.  If Old Union truly is his church, he’ll be at work in it.  He will build it and fill it with life.  But if the Spirit doesn’t do it, there’s nothing any of us could ever do to make up for it.  All we could do on our own is make a cheap human imitation of what church is supposed to be.  I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to be part of a pretend church.  Either God fills it and empowers it, or it’s not worth having.

So what should we do?  After all, we can’t just sit on our hands and wait for God to act, can we?  To be honest, sometimes that’s the best thing we can do.  There have been too many times in my life when I was convinced I knew what the best path was.  All I ended up doing was getting in the way of God’s plans.  However, there are a few things that each of us can do to be part of the Lord’s work in our church.

1. Quit worrying about how well or poorly the church is doing.  Trust God to take care of it.  He’s been at work in Old Union for more than 200 years, at times that were much more dire than this.  To paraphrase Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, who of us by worrying can add a single spark to our church?

2. Pray.  First, pray for yourself.  A healthy church is a community of disciples.  The spirit of a church is only as strong as the spirit of its members.  Are you a disciple: a student and follower of Jesus Christ?  If so, what are you doing to develop your relationship with him?  How are you deepening your commitment, growing in your knowledge, taking the risks that God has put in front of you.?  Second, pray for our church.  I don’t mean “Pray that God will be at work in the church.”  He already is.  And I don’t mean “Pray for our church to grow.”  That’s up to God.  I mean “Pray that Old Union will pay attention to God and will get with his program.”

3. Find and follow our purpose.  God created Old Union for a reason.  It  is not to gather for an hour of worship once a week and make sure we can pay the bills to have our Sunday morning gathering.  Sunday worship is essential and critical.  But our church’s purpose grows out from that worship.  What does God want us to do?  Why did he create our church?  The reason for being a church isn’t about the building, the pastor, the budget, the next church program or function.  These are things to help the church pursue its purpose, but they are not the goal God has placed before us.  Then, once you figure out what God wants from us as a church, do it.   Get on board with what the Lord is already doing.  When we do that, there’s no stopping us.