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The Eight Marks of a Healthy Church - Week 3

Week 3: Healthy Things Grow—A Biblical and Global Approach to Natural Church Development A church can be strong in one area and still be unhealthy as a whole. It may have powerful preaching but weak relationships. It may have warm fellowship but little evangelistic fruit. It may have passionate worship but no process for developing leaders. It may have effective programs but spiritually exhausted volunteers. It may possess a gifted pastor while leaving most of the congregation uninvolved in ministry. This is one of the most important lessons in Natural Church Development: church health cannot be measured by a congregation’s most visible strength. Most churches have something they do well. That strength may become part of their identity: “We are a Bible-teaching church.” “We are a praying church.” “We are a family church.” “We are a worshiping church.” “We are an evangelistic church.” “We are a missions church.” Those descriptions may be accurate and worth celebrating. Bu...
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Not Another American Church-Growth Program - Week 2

Week 2: Healthy Things Grow—A Biblical and Global Approach to Natural Church Development A pastor in Kenya does not need to become an American pastor. A congregation in Singapore does not need to worship like a church in Texas. A rural church in Guyana does not need the organizational structure of a suburban congregation in Australia. A house church in India does not need the facilities, technology, or ministry calendar of a large European church. And a small church anywhere in the world should not be made to feel unhealthy simply because it does not resemble the highly visible churches promoted through books, conferences, podcasts, and social media. This is one reason many pastors become cautious when they hear the phrase church growth . They have seen growth strategies arrive packaged with assumptions about money, staffing, technology, buildings, culture, and leadership that do not fit their reality. They have been told to reproduce methods designed in contexts far removed fro...
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