A Word about Healthy Churches

Today I am sharing a word about the characteristics of a healthy church as I comment on Matthew 16:13-19, which reads,

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Obviously, in that short passage of Scripture we can see many different theological issues that we need to unpack, but the one I would like to focus on today is the idea that Christ will build His church and that it will be a church triumphant. What would that kind of church be like?

We often hear it said that a church is a “body of baptized believers in Christ,” but I remember noted missiologist and missionary practitioner Dr. Jim Slack once describe how he resisted pressure from his mission agency leadership to call a large “body of baptized believers in Christ” in his area of responsibility a church. Dr. Slack said that while that group of believers was a relatively large congregation, it was not yet a church, because they were not doing the things a church should do.

This story from Dr. Slack reminds me of a pithy critique of the church in North America by Vance Havner, the noted revival preacher, who said, “We are many, but we’re not much.” How can a church “be much” for God?

The International Mission Board has discerned 12 Characteristics of a Healthy Church. IMB representatives teach these characteristics to the thousands of new churches which are planted each year on the international mission field. As churches here in the United States begin to rebuild their ministries after a year of COVID-19 restrictions, I think it would be good for our churches in North America to review these same characteristics and determine to incorporate them into their life and ministry in the months and years to come.

So, what are these 12 Characteristics of a Healthy Church? I am glad you asked! They include, in the order listed by the IMB, the following:

Biblical Evangelism: Jesus did not actually issue many direct commands to His followers, but He did direct that they would be witnesses for Him and that they must go into the world and make Disciples in His name. This is obviously a central task for a healthy church because any healthy creature in nature will reproduce. The church must evangelize, or it will weaken and die.

Biblical Discipleship: Jesus, in the Great Commission, did not command us to make converts, but to make disciples, and to teach them all that He has taught us. The central focus of most of Paul’s Epistles is that it is necessary to grow and become mature in Christ, and the church is the place where that growth should take place.

Biblical Membership: The doors of the church should be open to everyone, but not the membership roll. While, like the credit card advertisement says, “membership has its privileges,” it also has its requirements. Churches must ensure that their members give a clear testimony in word and action that they have been saved and regenerated through a relationship to God in Christ.

Biblical Leadership: A church can only be as strong as its leaders, and the Bible lays out rigorous and clear qualifications for church leadership. The Scriptures also provide us many negative examples of poor leaders and their destructive effects upon God’s people. Churches should heed both aspects as it calls, installs, and follows its leaders.

Biblical Preaching and Teaching: Baptists are known as “people of the Word” and rightfully so. The Scriptures are our guide for knowing God and for knowing His will and way. As you will have noticed, all of these characteristics of a healthy church are preceded by the word “Biblical” and that implies that we teach and preach God’s Word faithfully so we can know both His standards and His heart.

Biblical Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: Again, some of the few direct commands of Jesus include these church ordinances. These ordinances are key elements of a church’s worship, and the right and privilege of celebrating them has been given to the church. Churches must be good stewards and practitioners of these so that they retain their meaning and their power of proclamation.

Biblical Worship: Although creation itself is a praise unto God, our Creator wants to hear the praises of His people. Worship is an act, and attitude, and a way of life for the church and all churches should strive to worship God well in accordance with the Word.

Biblical Fellowship: The Bible tells us that, even from the time of the Creation, it is not good for people to be alone. Humankind was made for fellowship, both with God and with each other. Churches should be a place of mutual care and encouragement for its members and those whom they love.

Biblical Prayer: In the same way that God wants to hear the praise of His people, God our Father wants to hear the prayers of His Children. He wants to hear our concerns and cares, our joys and sorrows. He wants us to share our hearts with Him and He with us. Healthy churches promote and practice intercessory prayer as well as prayer that praises and glorifies God.

Biblical Accountability and Discipline: Our God corrects and disciplines His children, and He expects the church to do the same. Accountability and discipline must be done with a mixture of grace and truth, justice and mercy. It is always done with the goals of repentance and restoration, not judgment and condemnation.

Biblical Giving: Because God is the Creator of this world, He owns it all. He does not just own “the cattle on a thousand hills,” but also the hills, the gold under the hills, and the oil under the gold under the hills. Everything that we have comes from God, and He has given us charge over it. We must be good stewards of what He has provided to us!

Biblical Mission: One of our human frailties is that we can’t see the forest for the trees. That is, we become so consumed by everyday life that we forget the big picture, but the church cannot. As the Body of Christ present on the earth today, the church must continue with His mission of seeking and saving that which was lost. Billions of souls around the world still need a relationship to God through Christ and the church must take the Gospel to them if we are to honor and obey our Lord.

Wow, what an intimidating list! Yet, think about all of the things that healthy bodies do each day, almost without us thinking about them: breathing air, pumping blood, turning food into energy, cleansing itself of impurities and poisons, resting, and healing itself. Healthy bodies do what comes naturally, and the same can become true of churches and their members if they are nurtured in the admonition of the Lord.

Over the next weeks we will look more closely at each of these elements of a healthy church. While we are unpacking them, please pray for your church, your pastor, and your leaders as they all work to Biblically rebuild your church’s ministry so it can fulfill Christ’s vision as we saw in Matthew 16.

 I will be back soon with more discussion of the Characteristics of a Healthy Church we can share together. Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Lifecycle of a Church

Today I want to share a word about the lifecycle of a church as I comment on I Corinthians 12:12-14, and verse 27. This passage reads:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many . . .  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 

The World's Perspective:

In our corporate world of today, we have grown accustomed to thinking of the local church as a corporation, and indeed many local churches are non-profit corporations. 

It is actually best practice in the USA to incorporate churches and to run their business affairs in a business-like manner. The local church, however, is not a business, nor really is it an organization.

It would be easy to criticize this generation for following the mindset of the world as we think about the church, but previous generations have fallen into this trap as well. 

I think it is no coincidence that the rise of Baptists and other groups of autonomous local churches who govern themselves by democratic processes coincided with the rise of political democracy. 

Likewise, churches who are structured with Bishops and dioceses closely mimic secular kingdoms and empires.

The Biblical Perspective:

What we often forget is that the best Biblical description of the church is that it resembles an organism. The church is the Body of Christ and it is the Bride of Christ. The church is to be the Hands and Feet of Christ, and also workers who are not ashamed as they rightly divide the Word of Truth.

In short, the church, particularly the local church, is not an organization but an organism. And, as scholars like Robert Dale and George Bullard have noted, churches, like organisms, have a life cycle.

In essence, churches are born, they grow, they mature, they should produce offspring, they plateau, they decline, and eventually, unless the Lord returns first, they will die.

As Dale and Bullard illustrate the life cycle of a church, it resembles a bell curve starting with its birth, growing up to the point of its greatest ministry, then sliding down in an arc through growing ineffectiveness and decay, until the church breathes its last.

Click here to go to a link to a diagram of this concept.

Our Lord's Perspective:

Although this perspective seems to be fatalistic and deterministic, Robert Dale asserted that this did not necessarily need to be the case. If a church which had become plateaued would dream their dream again, they could launch upwards again in a fresh arc of growth and ministry. And Jesus, himself seems to agree with that belief. In Revelation 2:1-5 we read:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstand “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

The last time that I posted, I lamented the fact that it is hard to start over, but that we must. We must rebuild after the ravages of COVID-19 on our lives and on our ministries. We must dream again, and we must rekindle our first love for Christ, for our communities, and our church congregations.

Conclusion:

Over the next few weeks, I will be using some material created by the International Mission Board to help new churches get started well on the mission field. I believe that the same material would be helpful to us as we rebuild after a year of COVID-19. Until then, pray that God will help us all to find our first love!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Starting Over from Genesis 9:20-23

Today I want to share a word about starting over as I comment on Genesis 9:20-23. This passage tells us:

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.  He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness. 

From both personal and professional experience, I think one of the most difficult emotional and spiritual challenges is the task of starting over. Let me explain. 

SPILT MILK:

When I was in elementary school, I was assigned a long and difficult homework project. I labored over the task all afternoon, being very careful to write clearly and legibly, because my handwriting has never been very good, and this was many years before computers. I had just finished the last sentence on a multi-page paper when I bumped over a glass of milk on the kitchen table where I was working. I literally cried over spilt milk!

I wanted to throw up my hands in defeat and crawl into bed, but my mother made me sit back down and copy the spoiled pages onto new sheets of paper. It did not take as long as I thought it would, and the next day I received a good score from my teacher. I was so glad that my mom made me buckle down and start over, but at that moment that I was staring in disbelief and dismay at the spilled milk and spoiled document, I wasn’t happy at all. I just wanted to quit! Interestingly, I was in good company when I didn’t want to start all over again. In Genesis 9, Noah got stressed out about starting over also. 

STRESS REACTION:

Noah, of course, had just saved humanity and the animal kingdom from destruction by the flood, and so he had a lot more reason to be stressed out than I was, but we can still see what was happening in his life. Before the flood and before God used him in a work of salvation, we see no indication that Noah drank or used any intoxicating substance. After the flood, with the world he knew destroyed, and with the task of rebuilding ever present in his life, “He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.” (Genesis 9:21).  

Noah tried to drink his fears, cares, and troubles away. Of course, when he sobered up the next day, his troubles were still there, and they had actually multiplied because he resorted to alcohol to self-medicate and dull his anxiety.

STARTING OVER:

Now that the COVID-19 restrictions we have been under for over a year have been reduced, our churches need to rebuild their ministries. This is much harder than starting from the beginning. It is less exciting and more stressful. And yet rebuild we must.

Although we have had to cancel many meetings and restructure many ministries in the past year, the Great Commission has not been cancelled and God has not restructured the way the Gospel works. 

People need a relationship with God through Jesus more than ever, and we need to rebuild and renew our ministries so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in a post-COVID-19 world. Now is not the time to give into our fears or to cater to our fatigue and inertia. When Jesus calmed the storm in the Sea of Galilee that was not the end of the work. When they arrived on the opposite shore, Jesus healed the demoniac.

CONCLUSION:

Our work awaits us. We must rebuild! Pray for our churches and pastors as we restore and reinvigorate our ministries in the weeks to come!

Every blessing, 

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Easter Blessings

Today I want to share a word about Easter blessings as I comment on passages from John Chapters 20 and 21.

I was truly blessed to be asked to preach on Easter Sunday this year. It is a rare thing for me as a denominational leader to preach on Easter or Christmas because few pastors are going to miss those special days.

When I was a young seminary student, I was called on to preach a Christmas sermon at the last minute. I was called at midnight to preach for a sick pastor, and I didn’t have a Christmas sermon! Believe it or not, an even greater challenge was presented to me when my wife and I were missionaries in Africa. The church we were attending had scheduled a local minister to preach for their Easter service one year. Our pastor and another were going to swap pulpits that Easter. 

My family was sitting at the back of the sanctuary and we were enjoying the worship experience, when I felt a tapping on my shoulder. Two single ladies who were from a Bible translation ministry were sitting behind me and one of them leaned forward and said, “I hope you have a sermon in your Bible, because the preacher isn’t here and it’s just about time for the sermon!”

 I actually didn’t have a sermon in my Bible that day so, while the choir was singing the anthem I desperately prayed for guidance!  God brought to my mind the Centurion at the foot of the Cross, and that’s what I preached about.

In the USA, there is no such thing as a bad, short, sermon, but standards in Africa were a little different. I didn’t preach for very long, but I gave it my best shot! I was blessed if no one else was! Just for the record, the scheduled preacher showed up right after everyone had left for home. There was a mix-up in times.

The thing is, the Easter story is one with many dimensions, and one dimension is the way God blessed the Disciples that first Easter Sunday. Let’s look at a few of those blessings today.

First, We See The Blessing of Recovery; What Was Once Lost Has Now Been Found:

John 20:11-18 tells us:

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Losing an item is frustrating and disturbing. After all, you needed that item, or you would not have gotten it. If it is lost, not only have you wasted the money used to purchase it, but whatever task that you needed the item for will not get done. So, what you do is you make an extraordinary effort to find it. Luke 15:8-10 describes what we might do in those circumstances:

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I recently had a situation just like this one. I had purchased two extra chargers for my computer so I could have one in my bag, one at home, and one at work. Then, I put them in a very safe place. A place that was so safe I could not find them! Like the woman, I turned my house upside down and found them.

Losing a loved one is even more distressing. We have all experienced this type of loss, and certainly many people have during the past year. A lost loved one leaves a hole in our lives and an aching for the relationship that takes much time to heal. Jesus understood this pain as He illustrated in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This parable is better called the Parable of the Loving or Grieving Father.

All of the followers of Jesus were hurting that first Easter. They had walked with Jesus for months and even years. He was central to their lives, and yet He was ripped away from them violently and almost without warning. Now, however, He was found again by Mary, and she was blessed beyond measure!

Next, We See The Blessing of Revelation; What Was Once Hidden Now Has Been Made Clear:

John 20:19-21 tells us:

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 

The world is full of dynamic personalities that look to gain a following.  Some want notoriety and fame. Some want money. Some want power. All of them want you to follow them.

The Disciples knew that Jesus was special, but they didn’t really understand His goals. Some people had followed Him because of His miracles. People like to be fed, and they like to be healed. Some people thought He was going establish an earthly kingdom and drive out the Roman oppressors. The Apostles asked Jesus about this as late as Acts 1: 6-8 which says,

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Peter even got so confused on the Mount of Transfiguration that he wanted to build houses and stay there!

Jesus revealed several key truths to the Disciples on that first Easter: 

• Jesus had come to bring peace, but not political peace or social peace. He came to bring us peace with God.
• To bridge the gap between fallen and sinful humanity and the perfect Creator of all things there had to be a perfect sacrifice. Jesus had to die for human sins, and He had to rise to defeat death and hell.
• He also came to allow us to have a part in this work. We have the blessing of bringing His peace to all who will receive it.

My mother-in-law made it her practice to send gifts to her children on every imaginable occasion. She truly believed it was better to give than receive and she sent us Easter baskets for literally decades. She only quit when she moved into a retirement home. 

Her giving was a blessing to both her and to her children, but an even greater blessing is to share the peace of Jesus with our family and friends.

Next, We See The Blessing of Rejoicing; Those Who were In Sorrow Have Been Made Joyous:

John 20:24-28 says,

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

 One thing I have learned in ministry is that people grieve in many different ways. Some lash out in anger and rage. Some withdraw in fear and depression. Some refuse to accept their loss at all.

A member of a church that I pastored in seminary had lost her husband years before I arrived on the scene. She was so distraught that her family physician gave her sedatives to calm her emotions. Sadly, she could not remember the funeral because of the effects of those sedatives. This caused her to grieve for years and years.

Knowing these things is it hard for me to criticize Thomas. The events of Good Friday were shocking to all of Jesus’s followers. Thomas’s reaction is a natural, human one. He had seen Jesus brutalized, and he had seen Jesus die. He just could not believe what he was hearing. He was hopeless, helpless, and hapless!

Let’s look at the difference meeting Jesus made to Thomas His faith and belief were restored and he praised Jesus and worshipped Him! He was no longer hopeless, helpless, and hapless; but instead he had faith, hope, and love

The foundations of our lives have been shaken over the past year, with COVID-19, social unrest, political unrest, and spiritual unrest. It would be hard for me to criticize anyone who is feeling today like Thomas was after Good Friday. 

The answer to our needs is the same as for Thomas. We need to meet Jesus face-to-face!

Finally, We See The Blessing of Restoration; Those Who Failed Have Been Made Reappointed:

John 21:15-17 tells us,

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

There are two types of people in the world: those who have failed, and those who will. No one is without fault. All have sinned. There is none righteous, no not one! 

All that being said, when Peter failed, he did so spectacularly!

He was probably the closest friend of Jesus. He had boldly, even brashly, proclaimed his loyalty to Jesus. When the time came to perform, however, Peter could talk the talk, but not walk the walk.

There is a saying, “Go big or go home.” Peter always would “Go big,” even, or especially in his failures. Jesus even called him Satan to his face once!

Now that Jesus had risen, Peter didn’t know what to do.

• Could their relationship ever be the same?
• Could Peter ever be a leader of Jesus’s followers again?
• Could Jesus overcome his betrayal?

Often, when you don’t know what to do, you go with what you know. If all you have is a hammer, all the world is a nail. And Peter knew how to fish, so he went fishing!

Peter was right to be chastened. It is a crisis when leaders fail; they are expected to be more mature than other church members. They are expected to be able to guard their hearts, and their passions, and their behavior.

When leaders fail, they need to step back for a time to work out their spiritual issues before they can lead again. Some never can lead again.

Peter was blessed after the first Easter, because Jesus restored him to fellowship, to ministry, and to leadership. Jesus gave Peter charge over the ones most precious to Him, the sheep of his flock!

The definition of “justification” as “Just as if I’d never sinned,” has never been truer than in the case of Jesus restoring Peter on the lakeshore.

Conclusion:

We know that Easter has brought us more than just these few blessings. In fact, John, himself, said, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

The question is not was Easter a blessing. The question is are you letting what happened through the first Easter be a blessing to you?

The people we have seen in John Chapters 20 and 21 are people just like you and me. They had the same wants, the same needs, the same faults, and the same hopes. They found their answers in the blessings of Jesus and we can find our answers there too!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt