Tag Archives: Healthy Church

An Invite to a Healthy Church?

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Would you invite me to your church?

Over the last few weeks, I have been writing about the differences between the healthy and unhealthy churches. So, I’m asking you, do you attend a healthy church?

Does your pastor and church managers (staff, ministers, elders, apostles) know God and hear His voice? Do they actively stay connected to God and ask Him about their doctrinal stances?

Does your church walk with the Spirit of God and receive anointing in the manifestation of the Spirit gifts that require God’s active presence? Does your church honor those gifts?

Are you confident that God is pleased with your church? Did you ask Him? Does your church have real discipleship opportunities for men, women, youth, and children? Are the gifts that God delivers through you harnessed in the church or are they forsaken?

Are there women ministers who have a heart for God in your church? If so, are they given the same platform as men to share their giftings from God? Are women honored as daughters of the King, and mighty warriors against spiritual forces of evil?

If your church isn’t healthy, please don’t invite me. I’ve seen enough unhealthy churches to fill the quota. But I certainly would love to be part of a church where God’s will is actively pursued and celebrated to the full. Maybe while you’re at church this morning, you could assess their walk with the Spirit of God and get back to me.

The Healthy Church Vs. The Unhealthy Church: Doctrine

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The healthy church constantly walks with God and learns from Him. However, the unhealthy church is so sure that their faulty interpretation of Scriptures is all that there is. They don’t need to learn from God through hearing His voice in prayer because they have already learned from another (faulty) human everything they need to know. (That was sarcasm.)

King David said “I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.” (Psalm 119:102-104 NIV)

The Apostle Paul wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae. He wanted them to know truth and stand firm in it. The same God who spoke to the Apostle Paul still speaks today. He speaks to His prophets. He speaks to His apostles. He speaks to His children to be heard and obeyed. If church managers and ministers are unwilling to seek God, they are always going to be teaching contrary to God’s heart even if what they’re saying sounds like what we want to hear.

Each of us needs to individually seek God and learn from Him. When His Spirit cautions us about something we have heard from a message, we need to lean in to Him and gain clarity through asking questions and listening to His answers until we have peace.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3 NIV)

Many denominations of the church develop their own church stance on doctrines while not caring if and when other churches teach contrary to their doctrines. They stand shoulder to shoulder in a fake unity, as if God would want a unity of false doctrines. God wants us to oppose false teaching, not sit complicit with it.

If a church is so sure that their doctrine is correct, shouldn’t they oppose the message of the false teachers? The problem seems to be that the unhealthy churches, that don’t seek God, don’t realize that they’re teaching falsely. The healthy church seeks God for every doctrinal stance.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:1-5 NIV)

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Church CHECKUP!

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God asked me to put together this visual of the differences between a healthy church and an unhealthy church. Please listen, these are based on conversations that God and I have had over the years. My hope is to express God’s heart. But I ALWAYS want each Christian to seek God and hear from Him themselves.

Some of these are written in generalized wording that could be expressed much more detailed. But let’s use it as a way to discuss these matters with God.

One area that I see a great need in is having dedicated women’s ministry especially when there is a male pastor. Women have uniquely different ministry needs that cannot or should not be discussed with a man just as men have ministry needs that should not be discussed with a woman. We need women’s ministers in this town. If your church can afford to send $70K worth of shoeboxes full of dollar store “junk” to other nations, you can afford to pay a women’s minister (at least part time).

(PS This is still in draft form. God asked me to put it out publicly before finalizing it.)