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Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer offer a clear proposal for what makes a “good” church in their recent book A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing.1 McKnight is a well-known biblical scholar and author who teaches New Testament at Northern Seminary, and Barringer (McKnight’s daughter) is an elementary school teacher and co ...
May 14, 2024 · Here are a few tips to think about as you take steps to work on your church culture. 1. A healthy culture must have ownership, buy-in and intentionality from the top. Period. Culture often flows downward. I will not work with a company or organization if I do not have buy-in and participation from the top leadership.
- The elders functioned as nurturing pastors. Elders focused their attention on people. Rather than dwelling on budgets, buildings and programs, they spent the majority of their time with people.
- The ministers functioned as missional catalysts. The elders’ focus on pastoring creates space for the minister to gently push the congregation to live God’s missional vision.
- The ministers and elders functioned as a team. They developed a high level of trust and respect for one another. They understood one another’s roles and giftedness.
- Leaders walked through the wilderness. Maybe the most surprising result was that all four churches that I visited had moments of wilderness, or spiritual difficulty.
- Greg Stier
- It is led by a team of godly leaders not a Lone Ranger pastor who gathers Tonto-type leaders around him to say “Yes, Kemo Sabe” to his each and every idea (Titus 1:5-9).
- The Gospel is central to every sermon, program and meeting (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).
- People are using their spiritual gifts not just watching the “stage team” exercise theirs (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
- It, like the early church, is integrated, fully representing the demographic of the community in which it resides (Ephesians 2:11-21). By the way, my buddy Derwin Gray has got a lot of great material (blogs, sermons, etc.)
- A Biblical Purpose. Many modern-day churches have a consumer mentality in which attenders think the church exists to meet my needs. But the church isn’t about me or you.
- A Spiritual Passion. Only the Holy Spirit can develop a passion in people’s hearts for the things of God. Leaders may be able to encourage (or coerce) people in spiritual activity, but without the Holy Spirit’s work, there is no abiding change in people’s lives—no overcoming habitual sin, no ongoing walk with God, no being transformed into the image of Christ.
- An Uncompromised Position. A healthy church takes an uncompromising stand for the faith. It is a church willing to “earnestly contend for the faith.” Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.—
- An Endowment of Power. A healthy church is not one where every Christian is frantically trying to do the work of God, but one in which God’s power is working through Christians diligent in their witness and service.
Mar 2, 2017 · The world is relentlessly and successfully evangelizing to the way of destruction. May the church raise the standard to the way of the Lord. 6. They equip the sheep. Minister to the ministers, but make sure you are equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, doing the work of an evangelist.
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The effective church is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Many years ago, A.W. Tozer said, “If the Holy Spirit were taken away from the New Testament church, 90% of what they did would have come to a halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from today’s church, only 10% of what it does would cease.”. We’re not seeing the same results as ...
