How do we measure our churches?
I started a discussion at a recent church board meeting about what yardstick should be used to measure if a church is doing what they should be - not to utilize to measure other churches, but to measure our own church. To often, it's easy for us to look at other churches, and "evaluate" them, but not take a good look at our own church.We all have our own criteria to judge what a church should be doing. Things like "Do they have a program for the youth"? "Do they have a missions committee"? "What type of music do they have"? All of these are common criteria that we use. Based on that criteria, people often decide where they are going to attend.
I want to ask about different criteria, however. And I would like your help. Instead of our own personal preferences, the question is this:
Quote:
| What does scripture give as a criteria for what a church should look like? |
I have some ideas, but rather than giving them out right now, and perhaps biasing people's thinking, I'd like for you to respond in a comment, giving a reference and brief description of how the verse applies to the church today.
Who knows - this may well become part of an upcoming sermon, so you can help me write it!
Posted On Apr 30, 2006 at 7:22 AM
On Apr 30, 2006 Trent wrote: Paul had a threefold measuring stick.
He mentions at least 2 of the three in the opening chapters of most of his epistles. In the opening chapter of course Paul is commenting personally on how he sees the church. And how he sees it performing in these three areas.
He mentions all three together in I Corinthians 13:13
On May 1, 2006 Doug wrote: Well, I don't know if this is the kind of thing you're looking for, but both I Peter and Ephesians talk about the church as a "building" (in which we are the building blocks). And Ephesians says that God is fitting us all together.
So a test of the health of a church might be to look at the extent to which each part "fits" together. For example, do we each have a role to play in the ministry? Or do we have a lot of sideliners who have no involvement? Have we (deliberately or unintentionally) excluded, and made some of our fellowship feel like outsiders who don't have a role?
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Brian's BlogMost articles on this blog describe what is known as "Kingdom Theology" - they deal with the doctrine of the Millennial Kingdom.If you are just finding this Blog, I would suggest that you start with the first article, rather than picking up in the middle. Enjoy your reading! ABOUT ME Current PostsA scriptural scavenger huntWhat do we want to be remembered for? How do we measure our churches? The Parable of the Sower What is Worship 
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