We have discussed two of the most basic elements of a healthy, thriving church life. One element is openness to both the old and the new, which would be both the historic church and the new breakout movements in our own time. For this to be demonstrated in local church life would mean having a ministry for children, youth, and the elderly, with a healthy interchange between them.
The second element is a healthy interchange and fellowship with the rest of the body of Christ. These two are essential for a healthy, thriving church life that will have continued momentum and spiritual growth. This week we will discuss another foundational characteristic for a church or movement that will continue to grow and mature and not become stagnant.
The Lord Jesus ministered on three basic levels. He taught the multitudes, He trained the seventy and sent them out, and then He had His most intimate group of twelve that He shared everything with. A healthy church life should also minister to people on all three of these levels.
Today, some (not all) of the largest churches in the West are the "seeker friendly" churches, which cater to either new believers or those who are not even believers yet, but who are seeking. Though these churches are obviously successful numerically, they have many critics because of their seeming shallowness and lack of a call to radical, biblical discipleship, with the corresponding weakness of their members.
They may indeed have this lack, but I personally think they have their place and are performing a great service in reaching their communities. However, for more in-depth teaching, equipping for ministry, and even deeper worship, many feel that they must leave these churches and go to those which are devoted to more depth. This may be true for some, but I have met many very solid, deep, and radical disciples of the Lord who are members of seeker friendly churches. I think we can all prosper and grow wherever the Lord has placed us. However, in general, for a true and deeper spiritual maturity, the seeker friendly churches often tend to fall short.
As a counter-balance to the seeker friendly churches, there are many local churches which are devoted to more in-depth teaching and a depth of spiritual life that would be considered threatening to new believers and maybe even weird. These are the ones who claim to draw those who are the most radical, serious disciples, and they usually do. Those who seek the Lord for more depth will find it, and these are the churches which can have spectacular experiences which can radically change believers far more than just knowledge or teaching ever could
This is viewing the church from the two most basic kinds of churches as far as how they reach people, and such generalizations are never completely true. However, the most healthy churches will be those who have both of these elements in the same congregation. This is not only possible, but essential for a truly healthy church. We will say more about this later, but first let's look at an even more important reason for the church.
The temple is supposed to be the Lord's dwelling place. What would the church look like if it was built with one purpose in mind—being a dwelling place for the Lord, not just attracting people? What would the church be like if we really let the Lord build it and not the desires of the people? I think we could conclude that the church the Lord builds will reflect His own ministry on the earth—it will reach people at all levels, and it will do far more to touch people in everyday life, and every day, than just one or two days a week in services.
True church life is supposed to be seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. It is not a building, but the church can meet in buildings of almost any type because the church is not the building. Any time we define the church by how and where it meets, we have grossly and tragically reduced the potential of that church. The church is far bigger and more dynamic than any building or mere human program can hold. Buildings and programs can be used to help build the church, but if the church's identity is reduced to just those buildings or programs, then it is sadly lacking the power and life which it is called to have. For the church to be what it is called to be, it must touch everyday life.
The Lord had a tabernacle built for Israel in the wilderness, a specific dwelling place, but it was mobile and accessible, always being found right in the middle of the camp of the people. This was the center of their lives; the camp revolved around God's presence, not the other way around. True Christianity is not an appendage to our lives the way that modern Christianity has evolved with many—it should be the nuclear center and source of power and light for our lives.
The dwelling places of God in Scripture, such as the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon, began with three places. There was an Outer Court for the multitudes, a Holy Place where only the priests could go to minister to the Lord Himself, and then the Holy of Holies where the presence of the Lord actually dwelt and only the High Priest could go. These were given as blueprints for His dwelling place, and the churches that are going to be the most healthy will have these three basic levels to them.
The churches that become exclusively "seeker friendly" can become shallow and therefore unhealthy if they do not have a way for those who become "finders" to have a path to help them mature. Likewise, churches that are devoted to just drawing the radical believers who want to go all the way with the Lord can become introspective and proud, and begin taking on a nature that repels the Lord instead of draws Him. Without question, Jesus was the deepest soul to ever walk the earth, but He attracted the unspiritual. The deeper we become in the Lord, the more souls we should be leading out of darkness, not less.
One of the greatest weaknesses of the modern church has been to build around a single preacher or leader. Even when Jesus walked the earth, the greatest preacher and leader who would ever be, He had His disciples doing a great deal of the ministry. In fact, the Lord called together His disciples and began training them before He started drawing and ministering to the multitudes. The leaders who are the greatest followers of the Lord will do likewise. They are not just doing the work of the ministry, but they are equipping the people sent to them to do the same.
We see this pattern continuing with the first twelve apostles in Jerusalem. Even though Peter may have been the initial and most visible leader, the people immediately saw twelve people as their leadership, all of whom were vitally involved in it. Soon there were more than twelve, as they were known as "the apostles and elders." Next came the appointed deacons, at least two of which arose to have powerful ministries themselves, with Stephen even seeming to eclipse the apostles in power for a time. Then, when the church in Jerusalem was scattered by the persecution, all of the believers went out preaching the gospel very effectively.
The true health of a church or movement will not be determined by the most visible ministries, but by the strength of the individual believers. When the Lord was asked about the signs of the end of the age, one of the things He said was, "Woe . . . to those who nurse babes in those days" (see Matthew 24:19). We might interpret this as "Woe to those who keep their people in immaturity." As the times unfold, these will be the churches and movements which will quickly collapse.
For this reason, it is imperative that the leadership of the church take up the Ephesians 4 mandate to equip the saints. As I was shown prophetically a few years ago, the Lord's patience with the shepherds and ministries who are not doing this is running out, and they will be removed from their places. However, New Testament ministry does not just do the work of the ministry, but equips others to do it as well, just as the Lord Himself gave us an example.
We are just beginning to dust off a few of the important issues facing the modern church. It is crucial that we do this. There can be no preaching of the gospel of the kingdom without a true representation of it on the earth, which the church is called to be, and you can be sure it will become this. The strongest generation of Christians is about to be released on the earth, and they will be the fruit of the strongest churches.
