In this series of posts we explore four paradigm shits that can awaken churches to a new experience of spiritual health and power. Each transformational shift can be summarized by a single word – Own, Assess, Discern and Confess.
Assess (your church’s health in light our broken and divisive culture)
In the previous article I tried to make the point that our culture spirals down in concert with weak churches. It’s a symbiotic relationship, unhealthy churches – unhealthy nation. In this post, I want to explore below the water line issues that often go unexamined in churches which inhibit ministry impact on culture.
Like the proverbial iceberg, there’s a lot going on below the surface in churches. The kinds of submerged issues that need to be assessed involve spiritual and relational functioning that has gone on historically within the church body.
The Apostle Paul uses the human body as an analogy of how the body of Christ functions (1 Cor. 12). From this “body” model we understand that believers are connected to each other, and the way we understand, value, and treat each other has serious ramifications for healthy church functioning. In short, the health of the body impacts the health of the parts and the parts impact the body.
One implication of this body approach to church health means that ministry frustration may not be due to a lack of effort, but rather to a historical wound amidst the body. These types of unhealed wounds are “systemic” in nature. ” Systemic problems tend to be interrelated. So, if a church body has an untreated wound in one area it won’t be long before that wound’s infection spreads through the system.
Make no mistake, unresolved systemic problems hinder the Holy Spirit’s work in and through churches. We have discovered that the enemy’s main tactic to spoil ministries involves encouraging church leaders to allow these issues to go untreated. This has resulted in an epidemic of systemically unhealthy churches with limited impact on North American culture. Below are the five areas where systemic problems tend to show up in a ministry:
The Corporate Pulse: Corporate pulse refers to the collective spirit of a congregation. A church’s poor corporate pulse often reflects unhealed wounds in the ministry’s history. A positive, joyful atmosphere speaks to a healthy history. A ministry’s corporate pulse can vary from church to church, even between two churches on opposite street corners.
Trust in Leadership: By comparing the church at Corinth with the church at Jerusalem you get a picture of two very different attitudes toward leadership. The church at Jerusalem enjoyed a high measure of trust as reflected in Acts 2:42, “they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching.” Whereas Paul had to beg the Corinthian church, “Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one” (2 Cor. 7:2). The lack of trust for a church’s leaders indicate that unhealed wounds have impacted the system.
Mission/Vision Fulfillment: When speaking of mission/vision fulfillment, we want to assess spiritual inhibitors to missional traction. Mission/vision fulfillment can be one of the greatest signs of blessing on a ministry. However, spiritual blocks, spiritually drained leaders, spiritually tone-deaf leaders and Jesus’ discipline of your church can limit ministry fruitfulness in ways that won’t be overcome by changing pastors, programs or church policies.
Communication: Assessing communication in a church body means examining what is or is not being talked about and why. In less healthy churches, people dance around issues, conflict rarely gets resolved, bad feelings go underground fueling gossip or bursting forth in reactive public meetings. Healthy communication means creating an environment where it’s safe to speak the truth in love and deal with difficult issues that arise.
Historical Wounds: Unhealed corporate trauma carries the most potential to undermine the systemic health of your church. I’m talking about the kind of pain that impacts an entire congregation: church splits, abuse of a pastor, abuse by a pastor, moral failure by a leader, financial improprieties, bouts of public reactivity and shameful events. Left untreated these limit God’s blessing on a congregation.
It takes courage to assess the true health of your church. However, the kinds of issues I explore in this article, are the very issues that can lead to churches having their lampstands removed. Along the way, the community in which Christ placed your church gropes around for answers which your church no longer provides.
We invite you to use our free online ChurchScan Ministry Assessment at churchscaninventory.com. It could start an important conversation about the systemic health of your church.
Rev. Mark Barnard serves as President of Blessing Point Ministries which helps churches experience breakthrough moments in ministry that can transforms their impact for the Kingdom of God. Mark authored, Diagnosing the Heart of Your Church – How Church Leaders Can Assess Systemic Corporate Dysfunction (Amazon.com).