For years, physicians relied only upon X-rays to examine inside the human body. Today, we have CT scans, MRIs, Mammograms, Ultrasounds, Fluoroscopies, Endoscopies, Colonoscopies, and PET scans, all designed to see internal abnormalities. If only we had a scan that enabled us to identify abnormal churches![1] While we may not have a scanning machine to help us see what’s going on within a church’s “body,” we can apply a radiologist’s walk-through procedure to give us a clearer picture of a church’s health.
It is important to note that when a radiologist examines images showing the internal workings of the human body, they are primarily looking for two things. The first thing they check for is abnormalities. Are organs the right size and located where they should be? Is everything functioning properly? The second thing they are particularly mindful of is patterns. Do we see disease spreading? How far has it spread? What other organs are impacted?
Since a radiologist is looking for abnormalities and unhealthy patterns, we should not be surprised that our church “walk through” procedure asks questions that address potentially negative issues. So, the questions we must ask are frank ones. We may not like asking them, but we need to ask them to rule out potential internal health problems. Here are six questions that help us discern whether a church suffers relational or spiritual abnormalities:
- Was the church’s birth healthy or not? Churches with traumatic births can and do survive. Many churches survive “breech births,” occurring backwards to how you would think a church should start! But such churches usually enter adulthood with baggage. In most cases, these ministries experience repeated episodes of dysfunction that echo their traumatic birth, just as some people carry congenital defects into adulthood.
- Has the church experienced a fall? Consider the church at Ephesus. It experienced a “fall” at some point in its history. Jesus told the Ephesians, “Remember from where you have fallen . . .” (Rev. 2:5). What was this fall? Whatever it was, it triggered a change in the character of the church, something that mitigated their love for the Lord. We see this regularly in churches when a leader falls or a church has a falling out. A congregational injury gets inflicted. Left unhealed, the body’s systems continue to function, but not to their full capacity.
- Has the church historically addressed church discipline issues in a godly and biblical way? One of the issues we often see in unhealthy ministries is the neglect of church discipline. When this becomes a pattern, no one in the church knows where the boundaries are anymore. Godly people get confused and discouraged. Those who go uncorrected grow emboldened.
- Has the church allowed individuals or families to exercise undue influence in the church to the point where others are not being heard? Imagine if your church resembled a cyclops with one giant eyeball deciding the direction for the rest of the body to follow. Or if your church’s “body” had an elephant-sized ear that was larger than its head! Yet, the word of God says, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? (1 Cor. 12:17) If your ministry is unduly controlled by one body part, you may suffer Jesus’ rebuke for not correcting the imbalance.
- Has the church experienced a loss of resources? Have people left for one reason or another? Does the ministry have a difficult time retaining pastors, staff, or lay leaders? These kinds of issues appear to us as a normal part of a church’s lifecycle, yet Jesus sees things differently. He called the church at Sardis to repent for having a reputation for being alive when they were dead! Unless they repented, He threatened to come as a thief and steal away what they had left! (Rev. 3:1-6)
- Is the church psychologically, relationally, and emotionally healthy? This question covers a multitude of issues such as narcissistic, controlling leaders, and willful, overly opinionated personalities. Churches that tolerate these kinds of traits tend to attract people who will either accommodate the dysfunction or share similar qualities. It is a case of like attracts like. One of the disillusioning things about such churches is that they don’t think they are dysfunctional. They just don’t see it, but everyone else does! It was the core problem at the church of Laodicea. Jesus told them, “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17 – Emphasis mine).
These kinds of issues are common in the Body of Christ. We should not be overly disheartened if our church suffers internal abnormalities or unhealthy patterns of behavior. Instead, we should humbly acknowledge them before the Lord and seek His face about becoming a healthier expression of His Bride. Jesus has no illusions about the negative impact of human nature on his churches. Nevertheless, He calls His congregations to self-examination, repentance and a return to healthy rather than abnormal relational and spiritual functioning.
Mark Barnard serves with Blessing Point Ministries which works to heal ministries with painful histories. The above article is excerpted from Mark’s upcoming book, Diagnosing the Heart of Your Church – Revised Edition. For more information visit blessingpoint.org.
[1] Visit churchscaninventory.com for a free internal examination of your church.