Discipleship in a Healthy Church

A Healthy Church defines a church that resembles and functions simply as a healthy body, namely the Body of Christ. It is the same desire that Jesus has for his body. The Body of Christ is in it, which doesn’t need to be defined, but it’s important to include, The Body of Christ is the church (Hoare 2017). In contrast, the authors describe an unhealthy church as a church that is gradually losing health due to many wrong decisions that occur over a long period. This article further shows that the goal of discipleship is precisely a healthy church. It is important because as a result of discipleship, the spiritual transformation of believers into healthy people takes place, which forms a healthy body of Christ, that is, a Healthy Church.

The gap between discipleship and the local church may be the biggest challenge facing the Body of Christ in the twenty-first century. What worries many is precisely how discipleship and the local church are related. The possibility of transforming life into the image of Christ wanes until the Body of Christ understands the importance of discipleship and its connection to the church. A transformed life that preaches the gospel engages in life in relationships, uses spiritual gifts in service, and gives generously of time and resources such as money – the ways disciples build a healthy body.

The Body of Christ is what many have identified with the church for many centuries. In Matthew (16:18), Jesus told Peter, “Upon this rock, I will build my church, and even the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” It is a powerful revelation given by God to Peter and every disciple. The conclusion from this story is this: God reveals himself to whom he wants and at any time he sees whom he suits. During this disposition, it was Peter who was the disciple of the Lord. However, it is now you and me: that is, God reveals the revelation of His word and desire to those who seek it. The gates of hell or hell did not overcome the old patriots, according to Jesus, and the gates of hell will not prevail against them today in the dispensation in which we now live.

A healthy church is founded on the biblical truth that is healthy in its work or ministry. It also has various programs and activities to help its new and old members mature and enable them to become disciples and educators of disciples. They can use their gifts and talents to benefit all members of the body. They are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; therefore, they do not hide their faith, which they profess (Hoare 2017). Believers also selflessly serve both in the church and outside it, in society and wherever they find themselves.

A good Christian leader is very important for a healthy church. In way to gather them and not scatter, correct, rebuke, advise, praise and hold them accountable for what they do and ensure growth in the Body of Christ. The desire of a healthy church is for its new converts to stay and grow, mature, and become mentors. However, it is not in their power to achieve these results, so interceding for them will also go a long way to help the practical actions and steps taken to bring them to salvation. The lifestyle as students, leaders, and educators will also favor either their stay or departure, so we must let our light shine before them to see our good works and glorify people (Commentary 16). Heavenly Father, and this will encourage them to stay and bear fruit, as our heavenly father desires.

As you know, in the Body of Christ, and at the same time, in the Healthy Church, there are no distinctive dominations. There is one God, one faith, one baptism, one Lord and Savior of all. (Holy Bible 5-6). A pastor has been anointed and gifted by God to deliver His Word to the body for the sanctification of their souls (Holy Bible 11). Saints make up the body of Jesus and are known in most denominations as the gathering of souls. Spiritual gifts only come from the anointing of the Holy Spirit to exhort the churches for the benefit of the saints and the glory of the Lord (Holy Bible 11-16). Finally, these terms work hand in hand:

• to have a pastor who has no one to listen to his teaching and shepherding is meaningless,
• to have a church, like no shepherd is lost people,
• to have saints not anointed with the gifts of the Spirits, a church of the spiritually dead,
• to have a spiritual anointing without being holy is insignificant without any calls of the body, and false teachings abound.

If any of this is lacking in the church, then the church is said to be unhealthy and insufficient to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ. Thus, a healthy church has all this and uses what the Lord gives them for their good and His glory. As a result, a pastor who shepherds the saints in Christ’s walk would be considered the Christian spiritual leader in the church. There are many leaders in the church (Sunday school teacher, youth minister, junior church director, and others), and a healthy church will use many leaders.

For discipleship to occur, the church must be recognized as healthy. Therefore, a healthy church is a competent and conscious place for discipleship. In this case, his servants (saints) have the opportunity to go out into the communities as a whole to bring new disciples into the body of Christ voluntarily. Divided into four main categories, key characteristic statements have been identified that describe a healthy church accurately. These four categories are (1) gospel message, (2) groups that are kindred, (3) ministry deployment, and (4) giving with general erosion.

Since the result of discipleship is spiritual transformation, and believers constitute the church, it follows that the goal of transformed believers is the healthy body of Christ. Transformed lives that communicate the gospel participate in relationships, use spiritual gifts in ministry, and give time and money generously to form a healthy congregation or church environment. Disciples must deeply understand y gospel message from the perspective of the full guidance of God. Thus, the Good News of Jesus Christ must be championed by current disciples, believed by those who wish to become disciples, and accepted as new creations in Christ to experience their true transformative potential.

Healthy Church Assessment

The Strongest Area

Love for God is the strongest side of my local church. The pastors of this church consider this the strength of the number one church. In the church, the main thing is to search the Scriptures for yourself, teach what God is speaking through this message, and then share what God has shown to those who seek. The body students are constantly reminded that if the pastor says something unpleasant in the message, they need to check the Scriptures and bring everything into line with the Word of God.

The Weakest Area

Love of neighbor seems to be the area of least strength. Despite the fact that at present, the church and its disciples are not as active in society as we would like, the Lord leads to love for one’s neighbor. Since this is a small church, the worshipers were still blessed enough by God to donate over $7,000. The church is still growing and has few members, so this is a significant step.

Plans for Improvement

If the pastors and the congregation agree, below is a shortlist of suggestions that I would like to implement in the ministry. That will help the church and its students to become better:

1. Start missionary work in the community
2. Start weekly community needs planning sessions

TAHO Chart

Below is a TAHO chart with scoring to describe the characteristics associated with the scoring above. For each selected area, I gave the corresponding estimate from above. In doing so, I scored 80 points for the overall score and then divided it by 25 (the number of points in the score) and got an average score of 3.2. After doing these two assessments and seeing where our strengths and weaknesses lie, I am excited to see how the Lord will manifest His will for our church.

References

“Commentary, Matthew Henery Concise.” Bible Hub, 2007. Web.

“Holy Bible, New International Version.” Ephesians 4 NIV. Biblica, Inc., 2011. Web.

“Matthew.” Bible Hub. Web.

Hoare, Edward. The Believer Not Ashamed of the Gospel. The Project Gutenberg, 2017.

Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments: King James Version. New York: American Bible Society, 2010.

Appendix A

Healthy Church Assessment: (Up/ In/ Out)

Love for God: (Up)

1. Obedience to Christ is valued above all else 10
2. Going, baptizing and teaching people to obey Christ is prioritized 8
3. New believers are growing in their ability to surrender and sacrifice for the kingdom 9
4. The “whole counsel of God” (meta-narrative) is being taught 9
5. A majority of the saints have daily quiet times— % ___9____?
6. A majority of the saints are praying and listening daily for the voice of Christ—% ___9____?
7. Believers are seeking to consistently be controlled by the Holy Spirit 10
8. The saints are memorizing the Word of God 7
9. Believers are eager and willingly investing their financial resources in the Kingdom of God 10
10. Worship occurs at the individual level and it is powerfully manifested when the body gathers together 9

Love for One Another: (In)

1. New believers are intentionally and individually nurtured and developed 8
2. The saints are growing in maturity in community (connecting them to Jesus through the disciplines) 9
3. The saints are growing in unity and love for one another 10
4. The saints are encouraged to discover their Spiritual gifts in community 7
5. A majority of the saints are in relational groups they are ministering to each other— % ___9____?
6. A majority of the saints are using their gifts “properly” (according to God’s design) — % ___9____?
7. Leaders see their role as equipping and empowering the saints 9
8. Leaders are being consistently developed to make disciples 8
9. “Speaking the truth in love” is being consistently practiced 9
10. Restoring of other believers is done with grace and truth (Church discipline is practiced) 10

Love for Our Neighbors: (Out)

1. Passionate prayer is continually being offered up for the lost and for laborer’s 10
2. A majority of the body is engaged in mission (personal and groups) — %___5____?
3. A majority of missional groups are lovingly sharing their lives and the gospel with unbelievers (living on mission in community) — % ____5___?
4. The gospel is being proclaimed by word and action by the members of the body 8
5. The poor and “least of these” is intentionally being served and helped through the members of the body of Christ 10
6. Areas/ domains of the city are being intentionally occupied by ambassadors of Christ 9
7. The body of Christ (hands and feet of Jesus) is visible to the community… “We don’t know what we would do without this church in our community” 5
8. Churches are working together to create a gospel net within a community (connecting the loops) 7
9. New churches are emerging in the community in response to the mission 3
10. The mission of Christ is being accomplished locally, regionally, nationally and globally by members from within the local body 8

OVERALL SCORE: Add up the three sections and divide by 3 = ____82.7____

Appendix B

TAHO Chart