What Does A Spiritually Healthy Church Look Like? [Part 1]

Since becoming a Christian at age 17, I have been something of an observer of Protestant Christianity, particularly the Evangelical wing of the church. I have had behind-the-scenes glimpses of numerous churches and parachurch ministries. I have attended many different church services, and I interact with many different pastors. I read extensively in the internet “blogosphere”. And because I am searching for a new ministry role, I have been visiting church websites and reading ministry “want ads” from churches across the country.

As a result my observations, I find myself concluding…sadly…that we have far too many unhealthy evangelical churches. Even worse, in many cases the unhealthy churches are celebrated as the most “successful” examples of how to do church.

Here is an overview of the all-too-common approach I observe in church after church:

• Pastors and volunteer leaders (such as Elders and Deacons) seldom pray together or study the Scriptures together. Very little time is spent seeking God in any meaningful way, or striving to discern His will for the church. Staff meetings and elder meetings are, simply, business meetings with little-to-no spiritual components. [One business executive stated, “There is one…and only one…difference between the board meeting at my church and the board meeting at my corporation: at the church, the meeting starts and ends with a brief and perfunctory prayer.”]

• Numerical growth, as measured by increased attendance and offerings, is assumed to be the result of God’s blessing. As a result, pragmatism…not biblical truth…becomes the guiding principle of the church, because the over-riding goal is to increase the size of the crowd. Ministry leaders most often ask, “What will work?” (i.e., draw a crowd). Such leaders seldom ask, “What is true?”

• Because pragmatism is the reigning value, for many pastors the wisdom of “the culture” now trumps the wisdom of God. [“…no one who reads the New Testament could come away with the idea that we are to turn to the culture for our methods of doing church and evangelizing. The seeker movement, however, is entranced with the wisdom of the culture. Especially the wisdom that comes from marketing, management, business, public relations and psychology. The warning sirens of Scripture about this kind of wisdom have gone unheeded among the seeker pastors.” – Michael Spencer, The Internet Monk.]

• In this environment, staff are evaluated by how well they numerically grow their programs. Little effort is made to discern and promote spiritual transformation and the growth of godly character – either within the staff, or within the congregation.

• To make the church more palatable to the larger community, topical sermons are offered that sound like Dr. Phil or Oprah…with a little Bible thrown in to make things spiritual. Difficult and uncomfortable subjects - like sin and the need for repentance – often are avoided. [As theologian and professor Dr. R.C. Sproul has stated, “By presenting a God who wants us to look at ourselves, who doesn't judge and command, who has a wonderful set of insights on how to have a happy, healthy marriage…we put God's imprimatur on narcissism. There's nothing evangelicals like more than to be told that God loves them just the way they are.”]

• To move people toward a response, pastors increasingly appeal to emotions…and can become emotionally manipulative. [Like the pastor who cried, right on cue, at the exact same point during each of his multiple weekend sermons. Like the guest preacher who asked, “When I speak, do you want the congregation to laugh? To cry? Tell me what kind of response you are looking for and I’ll give it to you.”]

• The worship service has become a weekly scripted stage production, with producers and creative staff who manage this “event” down to the minute. [As I watch these services unfold, I find myself asking: “If God’s Spirit wanted to break in and do something unplanned…would anyone on the platform even be listening for His voice?”]

• The church presents a menu of programs that appeal mostly…and in some cases solely…to surface-level “felt needs”, such as how to improve your marriage, how to manage your money, and so forth. The deepest needs of the soul often are not addressed at all.

• Small groups increasingly engage in “sermon discussion”, which often focuses more on what the Pastor said than on what the Bible says.

• Newcomers are encouraged to move through a series of canned courses that ostensibly teach them how to connect with God and discover their “spiritual gifts”, but in reality teach them how to function as the volunteer labor force for the church. [As one pastor told me, “We need to get people plugged into small groups so they have a place to belong…and then we need to put them to work.”]

• When people join the church, get in a small group, and find a place to volunteer, then leaders assume that such people are experiencing “spiritual growth”.

• At ministry conferences across the country, the celebrated heroes are the pastors who have large, growing churches. For pastors who attend such conferences, the message is clear: pursue growth and you will achieve success in the eyes of your peers.

• This numerically-driven, success-oriented model encourages pastors to be “church-growth entrepreneurs”, rather than “shepherds of the flock.” The result is an increasing number of pastors who are largely inaccessible to their church members. Isn’t that an oxymoron? [A church member once stopped by the office to meet with her pastor. She was told, “Pastor does not have time for meetings with lay people.”]

• As a result of these trends, we now live in the age of the “Rock Star Pastor” and the “CEO Pastor”. These church leaders show up at the office during the week to run meetings where they plan events and programs…they show up on the weekends to wow the congregation from the platform…then they return to their offices during the week to plan more events and programs. Is this what Jesus really expects from His shepherds?

• Anyone who disagrees with numerical growth as the justification for change is viewed as an unspiritual naysayer; a detractor who does not care about “reaching people.” (As if drawing a crowd is proof that the church is actually reaching people with the gospel.)

• Many faithful believers are leaving these kinds of churches, because the pastors seem to care more about their image and their success than about the proper care of their congregations. [A pastor who was making changes fast and furious in his church told me, “Hundreds will leave…but thousands will come.” He was oblivious to the fact that every one of those hundreds he drove off would be wounded because their community of faith was being dismembered in his pursuit of rapid numerical growth at all costs.]

The business world has a saying that goes something like this: “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results that it currently produces.”

Other than producing numbers, the church “system” described here has little to commend it. Survey after survey shows that our evangelical churches are filled with people whose attitudes, values, and lifestyles differ little from people who are not part of the church. Even worse, some recent studies show that Christians who become serious about their spiritual growth find that the church is unhelpful – and even a barrier – to their growth. While these kinds of churches may be drawing crowds…they are not producing faithful followers of Jesus in any significant way.

Clearly, then, this system is not designed to produce a faith community of Christ-followers who are on a life-long journey of spiritual transformation for themselves and their communities. This system produces crowds to generate volunteer workers who fund the church, serve in the ministry programs, and fuel the engine for more numerical growth.

In other words, many of these organizations are “churches” in name only. They really have become religious businesses, perpetually seeking growth in customers and income.

It grieves me as I see more and more evangelical churches falling into this trap that is so spiritually unhealthy. And – as a pastor who desires nothing more to than shepherd a flock where spiritual transformation can take place – I increasingly feel like a square peg in a round hole in the evangelical world.

In Part 2 of this post (next week) I’ll talk about how this trend in the evangelical world is affecting my search for a new ministry role.


- Bruce