The View Of Church Health

With the ability to assimilate to various aspects of the universal Roman society, the apostle is able to relate to and address many different types of people. This aspect of his life makes Paul able to apply the collective ‘we’ when instructing believers of opposing backgrounds. Likewise, after his conversion

The beginning of church is said to have risen from the resurrection of Jesus. In fact after the Pentecost, the disciples were celebrating the blessing given to Moses at Mount Sinai in which he experienced the presence of God. After this experience, the disciples were believed to be bold, understanding and Courageous. These characteristics till this day are still celebrated on Pentecost Sunday and are used for the sacrament of Confirmation, which is receiving the responsibility of a Christian and accepting the Holy Spirit. Church has been the backbone of people's faith. It has given them a comforting home to pray and be one with God. Today, however, more people are practicing faith outside the church. The majority of followers believe in God and life after death, however, many have lack of interest in the church. Church must be looked as a community of disciples. The book uses a suggestion from a Roman Catholic theologian Avery Dulles. He suggests, "that most appropriate image of the church for our times is the church as a community of disciples"(pp. 157). I totally agree with his suggestion. In order for Christians to find fulfillment in ones faith, one must help others understand their faith. We need to be grounded in grace; by being a Christian community your focus on believing is responding freely to a personal call and

Paul’s letter to the Romans can be broken down into four major sections. Within each of these sections there is a single compelling issue. Within the context of these respective issues, several interpretive questions can be answered through the interpretative process. These answers help us to understand how to apply the spiritual principals to our lives, as well as, help us compel other individuals to apply these spiritual principles within their lives.

These surveys show that church leaders have a great challenge ahead of them in order to prevent people from leaving church. They have to be more effective and have to think of creative ways to retain people in the churches.

To be a successful church the author states that the church should function and relate to the people’s culture that the church is located within.

Gangel, Kenneth O. “Marks of a Healthy Church.” Bibliotheca Sacra vol.158 no.632 (October - December 2001): 467-477.

In trying to get a solution to this trend in the churches, the high profile authors, Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson did a survey of 300 churches from different denominations (10) that had been witnessed to have a significant growth after a tremendous decline. This review looks at their book - “Come Back churches”- the strengths and weaknesses as well as its applicability.

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

Paul, also in romans 12 sets before the church not only their relation to Christ who is Head but also the relations between brothers and sisters in Christ. It was vital for Paul to begin by entreating them to present their bodies a living

Author Dan Yarnell suggested seven characteristics of a Christ-honoring church in the 21st century: worship, fellowship, interaction with Scripture, discipleship, community, living sacrificially, and living missionally. However, Yarnell contradicted himself when he stated that the church originated at Pentecost (Acts 2) and proceeded to provide examples of the effects of cultural development and new missional opportunities on the church prior to Pentecost. While the term “church” or “” is unique to Acts and the following New Testament writings, its concept and precepts existed from the time of Genesis. In fact, Yarnell did not reference any Old Testament passages or practices. Therefore, Yarnell contradicted himself and ignored Old

Within the context of American society, we have strayed from the true purpose and identity of what the church was originally created to be. When we hear the word, “church,” we think of a building, a mere location where believers gather together every Sunday. The church of America might believe the essential elements of the church are an air-conditioned sanctuary, ten different ministry opportunities, and a full band to lead worship. While none of these things are necessarily bad, they do not comprise the biblical model of what the church was created to be. The church can be divided into two components: the Universal Church and the local church. Once a person becomes a believer, they are part of the Universal Church, the body of believers

The author discovered four major factors that church growth in the North American Division tremendously. First factor is empowering servant leadership. In this section, the leaders work hard and they are willing to make sacrifice in the purpose to see a growing church. The second one is passionate and authentic spirituality they believe that it is spirituality that is the source of passion of passion and power behind their effectiveness. The third point is about how their members are committed to get involved in different activity. Some churches they not growing because they expect their pastors to do all the duties of the church. The fourth factor about a growing church is God exalting worship. Worship is one of key factor for church growth.

A healthy atmosphere in a church should be one of safety, freedom, non-judgment, peace, joy and trust. Church should feel like walking into your home and feeling free to be yourself and freely able to come and worship God.

Paul wrote letters to churches and went on long, dangerous journeys in order to share the Word. Humbly serving the Lord, no matter what the cost, he became a disciple who made disciples. His personal, deep relationship with Timothy reveals the kind of atmosphere and level of commitment required in discipleship. The discipleship model Paul follows allows for a personally invested relationship between any amount of gathered people whether it be an entire church congregation, a small group, or

Gilbert Bilezikian gives four areas that need to be addressed when administering the church here on earth, 1. A shared faith, 2. A share purpose, 3. A shared lifestyle and 4. A shared authority (Bilezikian, 1993, p. 195-197). A shared faith is noted in Ephesians 4:5 where God’s people are told to have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (NIV). Gilbert tells his readers, “every church needs to formuloate clearly its understanding of the Christian faith” ( (Bilezikian, 1993, p. 195). With this written statement everyone within the church will have a common ground from which to govern, with all people knowing what the belief of that church is.