Broken Bodies: Part Two
Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
A dozen different systems go into place the minute you are injured to begin the process of healing. The word that jumps out to me is effective. Unless the church, like our human body, is unified we are not able to work together effectively. Also like the human body when the church is unified and healthy it’s capable of incredible things.
Healing
When all the parts of the church work together they presents a supernatural ability to heal. People who are disgruntled with broken churches, hurt from past relationships, and jaded in their perspective of God find healing in a healthy church.
Regeneration
Like the body a healthy church has the ability to recreate itself. The older generations pour into the younger to raise them up in leadership. The “mothership” church plants other healthy churches. The church lasts throughout generations.
Conflict Resolution
The scriptural outline for handling conflict is a process of reconciliation not amputation. Healthy human bodies do to reject it’s members. As a healthy church there should be a forum of healthy conflict and honesty among believers about their sin.
Bearing Fruit
A healthy church stands as a witness to the world of how people should do life together. It’s marked by it’s charity and love for people.
I am sure you could add to this list, please do. As you think through what a healthy church looks like ask yourself one question… whose responsibility is it to make a church healthy? It’s easy to pile onto the senior leadership and say those people. Certainly the senior leadership and Elders of any church are responsible for their actions and casting a vision but a healthy church is one where ALL members strive for unity. How are you doing? When is the last time you walked across the hall to another department and asked how you could use your resources to build their ministry? If my left arm were broken I am certain my right arm would pick up the slack until it was healed, do we work the same?
