We often ask readers, “What topic could Leadership devote an issue to that would help you in your ministry?” Recently, the overwhelming response has been: “Church health.” We liked the idea and searched for answers to two foundational questions:
WHAT IS CHURCH HEALTH?
(Understanding It)Comprehensive Health Plan (p. 22) Rick Warren writes in The Purpose-Driven Church that “the key issue for churches in the twenty-first century is church health, not church growth.” We asked Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Southern California, probing questions about the signs of a healthy church and healthy pastor.
What Does a Healthy Church Look Like? (p. 34) We put this question to a variety of pastors and also scoured published works on the subject. The result: not one answer, but ten.
Is Your Church Fiscally Fit? (p. 57) We’d never read a practical, simple answer to this question—until this one from Leadership contributing editor Jim Berkley.
HOW CAN MY CHURCH BECOME MORE HEALTHY?
(Developing It)Outbreak! (p. 46) How can you stop a virus from spreading in your church? Peter Steinke, a Lutheran minister and counselor, uses systems thinking to explain how a church can become sick—and well again.
Traditional vs. Contemporary (p. 50) A Leadership case study of how a church had to rediscover its identity when styles of worship began to compete.
Shading the Truth? (p. 30) Subtle ways dishonesty may linger in a church, and how to overcome them.
Evangelism for the Ordinary Church (p. 43) Just because your people don’t like to evangelize doesn’t mean they can’t share their faith.
1997 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us
