Characteristics of a Healthy Church

[Zach]

Healthy churches are important because church really is a reflection of Christ, as His body. Jesus is not sick nor dysfunctional and neither should His body be. If it is, something is wrong and it is not Cleary connected to Him nor others the way it should be. Healthy things grow, and so all the intention of God for the church and to be released through the church hinge on its health. An unhealthy church is disconnected from the Head in a functional way, doing its own things, its relationships within are broken, governance is controlling, vision is myopic, and confusion of purpose reigns. None of these factors reflect the life of Christ and must be addressed before meaning mission and discipleship efforts can be engaged.

[Jaylen]

It is important for a church to be healthy because if your church isn’t healthy than you aren’t being effective in your purpose. I believe the answer is pretty obvious there.

[Kimberly]

It is important for churches to be healthy because it goes hand in hand with the previous topic of ethos. If a church isn’t healthy the “air” will become polluted and the church will not be effective. A healthy church is needed so that it can grow and be effective in the mission of being disciples to every nation. An unhealthy church is one that members do not feel safe or heard, and one that is not making effective disciples to release. A church should not be keeping everyone under one leadership but should be training up and encouraging new leaders.

[Deleted User]

• Churches need to be healthy because if they are unhealthy, they cannot fully fulfill the mission they have set out to achieve. Unhealthy churches also can lead to a lot of people feeling pushed away from Christianity as they are hurt by unhealthy people in the church.
• Some marks of an unhealthy church would be an overbearing leadership that is not open to change, a church that is not multiplying or discipling people, or a church that does not emphasize prayer. Each of these things are marks of an unhealthy church, and church leadership need to make sure that these marks are not present within their churches.