Your church isn’t perfect. You probably know this. Just as our physical bodies have aches and pains, often the body of Christ is weary and wounded. Every congregation has failings and frustrations.
While the odd ache is no cause for concern, what if it that persistent throbbing is something serious? What if it’s life-threatening? Jesus gives step-by-step instructions for calling a straying believer back to health (Matt. 18:15–20), but how do we call back an entire congregation?
My family has been in ministry for four generations, and we’ve seen our share of unhealthy churches. We’ve seen pastors fired without biblical grounds. Congregations split by musical preferences. Doors slammed in the face of racial minorities. Reputations ruined. Marriages broken. And that’s just in my comparatively short lifetime.
I’m no stranger to unhealthy churches. But thankfully, neither is Christ.
From Laodicea to Corinth, the Bible is littered with unhealthy churches, sick with everything from materialism to heresy. But the very presence of these churches in Scripture proves we follow a God who doesn’t give up on unhealthy churches, but patiently works to heal them. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you and in every believer alongside you (Rom. 8:11), and that power is sufficient to bring dead churches back to life.
Here are five ways to be a healthy member in an unhealthy church. Read More
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