SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

WAKE FOREST, NORTH CAROLINA

WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH?

A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH HEALTH

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

BY
JEFF S. PATE
6/20/2019
 1

WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH?

A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH HEALTH

Church health is a vitally important concept that the Scriptures address in both the Old

and New Testaments. The construction of the Tabernacle and consequent laws and

practices that were to be maintained coupled with the New Testament’s teachings on the

body of Christ leave little question of the importance of Church Health. Through an

examination of the Scriptures, commentaries, and consideration of systematic theologies,

a clear understanding of what constitutes a healthy church will be presented.

Defining a “healthy” church requires first defining and understanding what the

“church” is. According to Wayne Grudem, “The church is the community of all true

believers for all time.”1 The term “church” was not used in the Old Testament, though the

understanding of a gathered body of believers was certainly present. The Greek term

ekklesia, borrowed from the Graeco-Roman calling of public assemblies, gained wide

usage among followers of Christ as the “called out” ones.2 Jesus used the term in

Matthew 16:18 as he declared, “and on this rock I will build my church.”3

The systems of worship we associate with church today were utilized as early as

the construction of the Tabernacle but were more formalized as the Christian Church

after Pentecost. The church was understood through the New Testament teachings to be

the Body of Christ. It is this metaphor that will allow a deeper and richer understanding

of church health.

1
Wayne Grudem, “Systematic Theology,” Grand Rapids: Intervarsity, 1994, 853.
2
Andrew D. Clarke, “Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and Ministers,”
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000, Kindle Version Chapter 2 Loc 234.
3
Matthew 16:18 NIV
 2

Understanding the health of a church in the way one understands a healthy

physical body allows a few easily transferred concepts. The three focused on now will be

proper nourishment, functionality or unity, and healthy reproduction. Though many more

concepts and similarities could be drawn, these three will act as the basic understanding

of church/body health.

Nutrition and basic nourishment affect how a body performs. Sickness or disease

can often be deterred or foregone through changing or restricting a diet. One could argue

the dietary restrictions under the Levitical law were both to separate the Jewish nation

from all others by their culinary limitations as well as to keep them physically healthy by

not eating animals that were less safe in that day and time.4

Regardless of the food deemed clean or unclean, the Lord specifically forbade

certain foods in order to display his holiness to the nations. As a body, or church, they

were “set apart,” or holy. The church today is only healthy when it maintains a holy diet,

just as a person is healthy when he or she eats a balanced diet. Nourishment, then, is a

basic requirement of health.

The writer of Hebrews makes a necessary distinction between mature and

immature believers who need “milk” versus “solid food.” Solid food is the meat of

God’s word and the teachings of righteousness and is not for babies.5 A healthy church

feeds on God’s word through expository preaching and bible study. A church denied this

basic nourishment will not, and arguably cannot, be healthy. Mark Dever insists that the

4
Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, “Encountering the Old Testament, 2 nd Ed,” Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2008, 121.
5
Hebrews 5:11- 6:3 NIV
 3

Word of God should be the center of all life in the church, especially in expository

preaching.6

When considering church revitalization, the lack of biblical preaching often acts

as a major root of the poor health. Andy Davis asserts, “This low view of Scripture

shows itself in the biblical ignorance of most of its members and the fact that they can

scarcely handle the milk of Scripture, while inevitably choking on the meat.”7 A church

that does not enjoy a steady diet of God’s Word, rightly divided, will be anemic and

unhealthy.

As the Apostle Paul addressed his disciple and son in the faith, Timothy, he made

the point to repeatedly remind him to preach and teach the Word. There was nothing

more important in the life of a young pastor that would “save both yourself and your

hearers.”8 Jesus reinstated Peter with the triplicate command to “feed my sheep.”9 These

two functions are synonymous as the healthy feeding of the body is like the healthy

receiving of God’s word as the church. Healthy churches have solid, biblical teaching so

the body of Christ can grow and mature.

The second sign of a healthy church is the functionality or unity of the body. A

person with cancer is not given a clean bill of healthy until the disease is cured or

removed. A person in a wheelchair can lead a healthy, normal life but the lack of use of

his legs is a limitation nonetheless. A whole body functioning normally is the healthiest

possibility.

6
Mark Dever, “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church,” 3 rd Ed., Wheaton: Crossway, 2013, 45.
7
Andy Davis, “Revitalize: Biblical Keys to Helping Your Church Come Alive Again,” Grand
Rapids: Baker, 2017, 42.
8
1Timothy 4:16 NIV
9
John 21:15-17 NIV
 4

Some churches do not function as a united whole but fail to see this as an issue.

Much like a person in denial who refuses to go to the doctor learns to “live with the

pain,” a church learns to function in a perceived normality, when the reality complete

sickness. Jesus emphasized this seriousness of this point when he said, “Your eyes are

the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body is also full of light.

But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.”10 Thus, the part greatly

applies to the whole.

Paul specifically addresses this issue to the Corinthian church in regard to the

Body of Christ. He insists, “The body is a unit made up of many parts; and though all its

parts are many, they form one body.”11 His argument continues that one part cannot say

to another that it is less important and therefore unnecessary. A human body understands

this unified function so the body of Christ must live in such unity.

Pain and sickness are a part of human life. They are inevitably part of church life

as well. Much like a person deals with pain or sickness through seeking professional

help, so a healthy church deals with dysfunction and disunity according to Scripture. The

key ingredient to nourish a sick, dysfunctional body back to health, according to

Scripture, is love.

Jesus spent much of his public teaching times conveying the love of the Father in

practical ways. He spoke of loving enemies, loving the nations, and most importantly,

loving “the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your

mind and with all your strength.”12 Humans need love to function and to maintain unity.

10
Luke 11:34 NIV
11
1 Corinthians 12:12 NIV
12
Mark 12:30 NIV
 5

Broken relationships are unhealthy and can have very negative effects on families and

even societies. He noted that loving like this is greatest commandment.

Alternatively, failing to love like this is not keeping the greatest commandment.

A healthy church functions at its best when it loves well. Unity is both inspired by love

and maintained by love. Just as broken or sick bodies can learn to function in a “new

normal,” broken or sick churches often learn how to continue on for years in their

sickness before seeking help. A healthy church is one that recognizes the different

functions of the body and allows them to create unity in service.

A third sign that a body, or church, is healthy is reproduction. Admittedly, not

every human will reproduce and it is not being suggested that couples who choose to

adopt or cannot conceive a child are inherently unhealthy. Instead, consider that the

intention of humans is to “be fruitful and multiply and increase in number.”13 Therefore,

reproduction is presented as normative and healthy.

Just as humans were given the command to fill the earth with more image-bearers

of God, believers are commanded to reproduce through discipleship. The Great

Commission clearly mandates that Christians are to “Go therefore and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you,

even to the end of the age.”14 To fail in this objective is to miss the mark of the intention

of God.

A church may spend thousands of dollars on programs, countless hours

performing social justice, even go to the ends of the earth doing “good,” but to fail to

13
Genesis 9:7 NIV
14
Matthew 28:19, 20 NKJ
 6

make disciples indicates a very unhealthy focus. Jesus minced no words about the good

works believers are called to do. He also was abundantly clear that these good works are

to be done explicitly in his name.

An imbalance of “good works” but no reproduction through discipleship can

create a rather unhealthy church. Jim Putnam warns that, “A missional church will grow,

but since its focus is primarily on doing things for hurting people (who will continually

take), eventually the people burn out, particularly if service and action aren’t balanced

with the rest of life.”15 Therefore, social justice and good works alone are not healthy

apart from reproduction.

Discipleship is the core value of the church and it, by nature, requires

reproduction. Evangelism must be an integrated part of any healthy discipleship pathway

or true discipleship is not occurring. “Making” disciples requires the sharing of the

Gospel and the receiving of the Gospel. In the same way, making a baby requires the

natural transference of life.

There are certainly unhealthy ways this human conception can occur, ways God

never intended to be sure. Much like rape, incest, or loveless sex can create life it is

never held up as healthy or good. Churches grow and reproduce through splits, but that is

not a healthy growth. New church plants can receive many attendees who are

disenfranchised with their current church, but that is not necessarily healthy growth.

Only through making disciples who make disciples do churches fulfill their intended

purpose in a healthy way.

15
Jim Putnam and Bobby Harrington, “Discipleshift,” Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013, 29.
 7

The apostle Paul was a prolific church planter. His model of discipleship shaped

the New Testament and churches for the last 2,000 years. He shared the Gospel with

countless men and women. When he was successful in leading them to the Lord he

would often bring them with him to continue the work of the Gospel. These men learned

from him and then taught others. In his final letter to his son in the faith, Timothy, Paul

instructs him, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses

entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”16 This is three

generations of discipleship: Paul to Timothy, Timothy to reliable men, reliable men to

others.

A healthy church must see reproduction in discipleship as a chief goal. A human

couple that either cannot or will not reproduce in the natural way must either adopt, or

there is not heir to their lives. Paul reminded the Roman believers that they, and all

believers, are “adopted” into the family of God through Christ.17 Not every discipler

leads each of his disciples to the Lord. He inherits some who are already on a spiritual

journey but need a mentor. Paul needed Barnabas in his early days. Scripture indicates

that this is still a function of healthy reproduction.

Every healthy church shares three distinct traits with the human body. Both must

be nourished, both must function in unity, and both must reproduce. The body of Christ

cannot forsake any of these three functions and remain healthy and vibrant. Just as the

human body can survive for years in bad healthy, many churches in America today are

surviving. Jesus did not call the church to survive, but to thrive.

16
2 Timothy 2:2 NIV
17
Romans 8:15 NIV
 8

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnold, Bill T. and Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Old Testament, 2nd Ed, Grand
Rapids: Baker, 2008.

Clarke, Andrew D., Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and
Ministers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000, Kindle Version.

Davis, Andy, Revitalize: Biblical Keys to Helping Your Church Come Alive Again,
Grand Rapids: Baker, 2017.

Dever, Mark, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 3rd Ed., Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.

Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Intervarsity, 1994.

New International Version, 1 Corinthians 2:12, 1 Timothy 4:16, 2 Timothy 2:2, Genesis
9:7, Hebrews 5:11-6:3, John 21:15-17, Luke 11:34, Mark 12:30, Matthew 16:18,
Romans 8:15.

New King James Version, Matthew 28:19, 20.

Putnam, Jim and Bobby Harrington, Discipleshift, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.