Doctrine & Church Health

Today, many people in a wide range of denominations and others are talking about, writing about and holding workshops about healthy churches and effective clergy. For the most part many of them come across like some church leadership books with just a sprinkling of Christian doctrine. Therefore, what does the Church catholic (universal) say to this hot topic?

Very often, a NT epistle will address the whole congregation about certain matters, subsections about other issues, and individuals about important intrapersonal or interpersonal concerns. Each of these practical exhortations spring from some part of Christian doctrine focused on in the epistle. For example, the doctrinal teaching about Christ emptying himself in the first part of Philippians is applied to daily living in the latter section.

Church and clergy health issues are treated similarly as the epistles of the New Testament address one or more of the sub-systems where a church needs biblical formation to be a healthier church. Sometimes, the poor health of clergy is but a reflection of an unsound balance of truth and love in a congregation.

Consequently, this doctrinal approach leads us to an organic instead of a mechanistic approach to church health. For that reason, church and clergy health are treated and developed within an interactive spiritual anatomy of the congregational body. This is very similar to the development and best treatment of our own physical anatomy.

We read examples the doctrinal approach to healthy churches and clergy in the writings of those who came after the apostles. These early church fathers, often quoted the writings of the apostles in addressing the ecclesiological health issues in their day. Forty years after Paul's epistles, division raised its ugly head in again at the church in Corinth as some younger church leaders replaced the older ones. Upon hearing infamous reports about the Corinthians around A.D. 95, one church father, Clement, describes this wonderful church as being torn asunder by various matters of dispute. . . which a few headstrong and self-willed persons have kindled to such a pitch of madness that your name, once revered and renowned and lovely in the sight of all men, hath been greatly reviled. (Lightfoot 13)

Their division brought much sorrow to the church at Rome and turned off the unchurched there from the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Lightfoot 33). To heal their sickness, Clement quotes Paul's epistle to help them regain their health.

Some years after John sent Revelation to Ephesus, Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians between 105-116 AD. Ignatius complimented them for closing their ears to false doctrine. Also, he commended them for being a loving church again. Ignatius wrote of them saying, "Being the followers of the love of God towards man, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of Christ, you have perfectly accomplished the work which was beseeming to you"; (Lightfoot 99).

Furthermore, almost three or four hundred years after Paul's Epistles to Corinth, Chrysotom admonishes the Corinthians for developing into an uhealthy church again. In one of his homilies to them, he wrote that each clause of I Cor. 13:4-7 described exactly what they were not and this was the root of their problem.

The letters of Clement, Ignatius and Chrysotrom demonstrate various truths. First, churches can become unhealthy after regaining their health if they stray from living by sound doctrinal principles. Second, church health involves an ongoing battle to mature inwardly. Third, the unity of the Spirit is broken when truth and love are separated. Fourth, previously healthy churches, which have become unhealthy, can become healthy again by means of God's Spirit working through the Word of God. Most importantly, they remind us that improving church and clergy health is not a destination. It is in fact, quite a journey.

The Apostles'; Creed and the Nicene Creed are the oldest and most widely used confessions of the church catholic. The term catholic not only means the universal church instead of one denomination. Together, these summary statements of catholic (universal) Christian teaching clearly say that what we believe about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are foundational to the doctrine of Christ's church throughout the world for all times.

The Apostles' Creed dates from very early times in the Church, a half century or so from the last writings of the New Testament. When new believers in Jesus Christ joined the church, this creed was part of the ritual for membership. This affirmation of faith begins with what the church catholic believes about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit which includes the phrase "holy catholic church."

The Nicene Creed follows the same outline as the Apostle's Creed but goes into greater detail. For example, the statement, "And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church." This defines the church as one in the basic Christian doctrines of the New Testament Apostles. These statements imply that the church around the world and for all ages stands accountable to the doctrines of the NT apostles. Having said that, we can infer an additional meaning also. The church catholic (universal) lives under the authority of the Bible.

Building upon the Bible and the two historic Creeds, various denominations state their affirmations of Christian doctrine. In The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, you will find its doctrinal statements concerning the church.

The church is a community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. It is the redeemed and the redeeming fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by persons divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ's own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the church seeks to provide for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers and the redemption of the world.

This theological teaching and doctrinal standard is repeated in both the preamble of the United Methodist Constitution and in the Discipline's definition of a local church. What follows after the doctrine of the church is focused on function, organization, and implementation for the sake of putting our belief into action.

The doctrine of the church coming first in the UMC's Constitution and in the Thus, to the degree that a group of churches or a single congregation lacks the sound doctrine summarized in those two creeds, they will not have sound health. The same is true for clergy also. Their degree of health impact the effectiveness of their ministries from the perspective of NT teaching which often clashes with society as well as the unhealthiness within churches.

Both the doctrinal teaching of the NT, and the Creeds of the Church catholic calls for a redefinition of church health and clergy effectiveness in terms of the role of sound Christian doctrine brining soundness to the various subsystems of the church body. People hunger for churches to no longer define healthiness in terms of externals like buildings, budgets and attendance figures. Many de-churched and unchurched people hunger for churches to connect being and doing church out of an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ shaped by sound Christian teaching.

As John Albert Bengel, wrote,

Scripture is the foundation of the Church: the Church is the guardian of Scripture. When the Church is in strong health, the light of the Scripture shines bright; when the Church is sick, Scripture is corroded by neglect; and thus it happens, that the outward form of Scripture and that of the Church, usually seem to exhibit simultaneously either health or else sickness; and as a rule the way in which Scripture is being treated is in exact correspondence with the condition of the Church. (1:7)

The place of doctrine for church health and effective clergy defines, shapes and empowers the church or organization of churches in their organization, functions and their implementation for the sake of putting faith into action. As the late Frank Bateman Stanger proclaims in his book, God's Healing Community,

Theology is needed to impel one to continuing dedicated spiritual being and doing. Even though we may not always be quick to identify such a causal relationship, it takes a theology of prayer for us to pray, a theology of love for us to love and serve, a theology of spiritual experience for us to worship and witness, a theology of stewardship for us to give in the New Testament sense, a theology of the church for us to be good church members, a theology of truth and holiness for us to be ethical. (40)

Accordingly, healthy churches and effective clergy live and do church flowing forth from a "living faith without which (Mr. Wesley said), there can be no church at all." As a community under the Lordship of Christ, we are nourished and shaped by the Word of God proclaimed lest our faith die and increased in our faith through the sacraments. Unhealthy churches and clergy appear to have a bad case of doctrinal amnesia while trying to be and do church effectively.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, often made reference to matters of church health in his sermons. For example, his sermon "Of Evil Angels," based on Ephesians 6:12, outlines the devil's attacks upon our healthy love of God and each other as Christians ("Works Vol. 5" 418). In his sermon on "The Mystery of Iniquity", he notes several plagues which infected the Christian Church; namely, the love of money, the sin or partiality and other diseases ("Works Vol. 5" 288, 289).

A healthy church is a congregation of holy loving relationships by God's amazing grace in Christ, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, and shaped by sound basic Christian doctrine. One of the NT descriptions of the church is the body of Christ. While none of the apostles knew systems theory, this tool helps us unpack this doctrine of the Church as the body of Christ.

In particular, a healthy congregation is a living spiritual body in Christ with unique, but interdependent sub-systems like our body. Just as our skin connects our body with our head, a healthy congregation stays connected to the head of the Church-Jesus Christ. This relationship is both doctrinally justification based and sanctification directed by God's free grace. Such a spiritual dynamic leads a healthy church's spiritual life to shape relationships of truth and love whose holiness reaches beyond skin deep.

Also, when our body's musculoskeletal and internal organs systems are healthy, there is harmony among our skeleton, muscles and internal organs. Likewise, sound truth and love develops a holy harmony within the congregation in a healthy church.

In addition, our nervous system is in sound health everything works better both within the system and within our whole body. Similarly, sound teaching and love shapes the relationships between pastor(s), leaders and the rest of the congregation in a healthy holiness.

Likewise, a church is only as healthy as each person's maturity in biblical truth and love within themselves and in their most intimate interpersonal relationships.

When our body's subsystems are healthy, we can be much more focused upon and active in the world around us. In the same way, healthy churches develop wholesome and holy ministries for a hurting world.