Signs of a Healthy Church: Part 2 - Life Change

Continuing with my short list of signs of a healthy church - today I tackle the subject of:

Life Change

Of all the possible characteristics of a healthy church, this, by far, is probably the single most important piece of evidence of the church's health.

I understand that it can seem as though churches experience salvations in spurts between dry spells. In some places, a barage of salvations might be followed by an extended period of few to no salvations. The dynamics associated with the community in which the church resides may play a part in this, so when I talk of Life Change, I'm only partially referring to salvations.

Because we are all in differing stages in our relationship with God, our churches will also be in differing stages. Similarly, what we look for in terms of life change fluxuates with those stages. Yes, we all love to see the salvations, and our churches should be expecting people to be giving their lives to Christ each week. But, the reality is that many churches do not see them regularly. That doesn't necessarily mean those churches are unhealthy. Inside them are likely people who are believers, but are in the process of maturing. For them, each week brings new changes to their lives as they grow in their faith and obedience to Christ. And, that is definately a healthy thing.

On the flip side, the unhealthy church has lost it's focus on life change. Members are indifferent if no one accepts Christ in their church, even if years pass without a salvation. When the rare salvation does occur, the unhealthy church doesn't get excited, or desire to see more people begin a relationship with Jesus. And, during those dry times, there is no effort to even grow their own spiritual maturity. Maybe the saddest statement of all regarding the unhealthy church is that the lack of life change is typically cast off as just being the way things are and have always been.

As Christians, it should be our desire to see lives changed for Christ each week. I suggested earlier that we should expect them, and I meant it. We should prepare for them. We should design church services that will help people discover Jesus, and want to become a follower. Then, we need to take the new believers and mentor them to a close relationship with God.

So, what are you to do if you are in an unhealthy church? Well, don't lose hope. I have personally seen churches rise out of the ashes to become fruitful once again. It isn't an easy or quick process, but it can be done. There are so many things that must happen in order to cast off the unhealthy habits and attitudes in your church. But, it this type of change requires one thing - life change in at least one individual who will develop a passion to see God move in mighty ways in his or her church. That person's life changing passion will eventually catch fire among other people until it gradually envelopes the entire church. Sadly, it is not a quick thing. But, once that unhealthy church leaves mediocrity behind and becomes healthy, no one will ever want it to return to the way things used to be.