Seven Characteristics of Vital Churches
By Bishop Jane Allen Middleton
At least seven characteristics are present in vital churches. When all
of these are present the church is growing and lively,
filled with the Spirit of God:
Prayer and Passion
Mission,
Membership and Media
Learning and Loving
I was recently asked, “What would happen to a church which refuses
to consider your seven signs of a vital congregation or to make any
changes to implement them in their life together.” I said, “The
congregation will die.”
Those are harsh words, but true. It may be possible for a congregation
to have life while omitting one or two of these characteristics, and
many churches achieve vitality through these and additional
characteristics. But unless there are clear signs of strength and new
life demonstrated in the fulfillment of these characteristics in the
life of that church, it will die. In Acts we read, “And day by day
the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts
2:47b).
Churches must take this seriously because the life of your
congregation depends on it!
Prayer
1. Constant prayer as the norm in the life of the church: open to
God’s activity; open to God’s healing; open to God’s leading.
Passion
2. Welcoming and open churches committed to spreading their message of
invitation.
Mission
3. Sacrificial commitment individually and corporately to mission,
locally and globally.
Membership
4. A high bar for membership and leadership which requires weekly
attendance, spiritual growth through Disciple and other Scripture
study, mission engagement, and tithing.
Media
5. Worship which excites, inspires, and speaks the saving message of
Jesus Christ using a variety of media and music.
Learning
6. A learning environment for all ages from the youngest to the
oldest, grounded in Scripture and the ongoing activity of the Holy
Spirit.
Loving
7. A spirit of love which is immediately palpable.
We have churches of all sizes throughout this conference in which all
of these characteristics are present. We have others in which some are
present. If we are going to grow every church in the Central
Pennsylvania Conference, we have changes to make! And all of us can
make improvements.
1. Prayer
Constant prayer as the norm in the life of the church: open to God’s
activity; open to God’s healing; open to God’s leading. The
beginning point for vitality in the church must be constant prayer.
Prayer must under gird all that we do in the life of the church.
Every decision we make, every issue we face, every
action we take must begin with the question, “What is God's yearning
for us?” Too often, as we come to the point of discussion and
subsequently of making decisions as a congregation, we start from a
very different perspective for decision making. We ask such questions
as, “What will it cost?” “How many people will this upset?”
“Will it help us get more people into the church so they can help us
out?” “Strategically, if we are going to survive, what is the best
decision?” “What will cause the least disruption in the life of
the church?” “How have we always done it before?” I sometimes
wonder where we would be now as a people of faith if our predecessors
in the faith had asked these questions first. They do not always lead
us to discovering God's yearning. These questions usually have rather
specific answers.
But to ask the question, “What is God's yearning
for us?” we are required to listen in new ways. We can only really
hear the answer from a place of deep prayer and from respectfully
listening to others as the Holy Spirit reveals God's desires through
them.
Asking that question, “What is God's yearning for
us?” requires that we be open to answers that we may have never even
thought of. God often causes us to reach far outside of our comfort
zone, to take huge risks, to venture into unknown territory. The Bible
is filled with stories of people who have asked that question and have
had to risk everything in order to respond to the answer. When the
answer comes, we must then return to our knees in order to find the
courage and strength to respond to God's yearning.
Just as prayer must be at the center of our
corporate life together in the church, it must also be at the center
of our caring life together. The church is called to be one in which
members are bathed in prayer, committed to healing prayer for one
another, and receptive of the Holy Spirit's powerful presence.
Congregations which focus on intercessory prayer for
their members and others through prayer requests, prayer chains, and
prayer services give witness over and over to the miracle of answered
prayer. Many of us can testify to the support and caring we have
experienced through the prayers of the brothers and sisters in our
church.
This call to prayer isn't separate from the total
congregational life together. Paul urged us to “pray without
ceasing.” Prayer must nourish and sustain everything we do in the
life of the church. Our spirits can be renewed in every part of our
life together, if we will but open ourselves to the power of the Holy
Spirit to do so. We must be attentive to the presence of God, even
during thrift-shop selling or Easter-egg-making days, even at trustees
meetings or teachers meetings, even at church council or witness
committee meetings, even on work days or worship planning sessions. We
must practice living in a spirit of prayer in all that we do.
It is this spiritual foundation upon which Christ
established the church and it is when we call on this foundation that
we can be the transformational people God has created us to be. We
must be a people of prayer!
2. Passion
Welcoming and open churches passionate about Jesus Christ and about
spreading their message of invitation.
Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We must be
passionate about spreading the good news, about how Jesus can change
lives!
The days are long gone when we can expect that
simply because we are located at the corner of Main and Susquehanna,
or because we are such good and faithful Christians, the people will
come to us in droves!
There is a word which we resist because it doesn’t sound very
religious, but the word is “marketing.” We need to spread our
message beyond the walls of the church. A zip code mailing is often
available for very little. The local newspaper will often print
stories and articles if they are provided by the church already for
publication. Local radio and television stations will sometimes make
time available and will include announcements. The outside of your
church can become a great “billboard.” WE need to market the good
news we have to share. Of course, the best advertising comes from
members. “Each one bring one” Sundays are very successful. The
enthusiasm you share about your faith and your church among
co-workers, friends, neighbors, and family becomes the best possible
“marketing.”
It is also important to periodically invite a stranger to accompany
you into your church so that you can see the church through their
eyes. Too often there is a clutter of old church fair signs in the
hall, mismatched, unsightly hangers on broken coat racks, boxes of
strange objects sitting around, ancient curriculum stacked in corners.
Someone not familiar with the church can help us see it through a
visitor’s eyes. Our building gives a message, and the message of an
unkempt church building is, “These people don’t care about God’s
house.”
I once arrived at the church to which I was appointed on a weekday in
order to move some books into my office. I saw a member standing
inside the door I entered and introduced myself as the new pastor. She
said, “I knew you were new. You came in the wrong way!” Our church
must not be a secret club with locked doors and mysterious ways of
seeking entrance. The message of a church with poor signage is,
“These people don’t care about whether I come or not!”
I have never been in a church which self-describes itself as anything
other than “friendly,” but I have often observed that when I am a
stranger in that church I stand alone while everyone else is very
“friendly” to each other. The Igniting Ministry Campaign has
developed a wonderful training program which is now available on line
at www.ignitingministry.org One of the principles of the training is
the 3/10 rule. For the first three minutes after the worship services
is over you must speak only to those persons whom you don’t know or
don’t know well. And you must speak to everyone within ten feet of
you any time you are in church..
Our message is the saving presence of Jesus Christ in the lives of
people. We indeed have the good news to preach and every person in the
church is an evangelist. Is your congregation inviting and welcoming?
3. Mission
Sacrificial commitment individually and corporately to
mission, locally and globally.
“You have to lose your life for my sake to find it.” That
statement from Jesus is among the many seemingly paradoxical sayings
made by our Lord. How can it be that in losing one's life for Jesus
one actually finds one's life?
Churches and individuals who have “lost their lives” in order to
serve Christ through mission know exactly what Jesus is talking about!
Churches which have a passion for mission, which make a sacrificial
commitment individually and corporately to mission, locally and
globally, are churches which are alive and vital.
When people today are considering joining a church, they are drawn to
communities of faith which have a vision beyond their own survival and
self-interest. People want to know that their time and treasure will
make a difference in the world. They are moved by the evidence in a
church's life of sacrificial commitment and they want to join in those
experiences.
Churches which are turned in on them selves, anxious about survival,
hoarding resources for institutional maintenance WILL NOT GROW!
Churches which are willing to give themselves away in mission, in
reaching out to the last, the lost, and the least will find blessings
being returned to them many times over. Ask anyone who has volunteered
at a soup kitchen, spent time tutoring a youngster, participated in a
Volunteers in Mission trip and you will hear the same phrase
repeatedly, “I received far more than I gave.”
Our purpose as a church, “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the
transformation of the world,” finds its fulfillment when we reach
out BEYOND the walls of the church. A part of our mission requires us
not only to serve the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked,
the sick, and the imprisoned, but also to address the root causes
which create these injustices.
As I make visits to local churches the crucial importance of
enthusiastic support of missions has become increasingly obvious to
me. When I ask congregations to talk about what energizes them and
creates excitement in their life together, those who respond with
story after story of mission engagement are churches which are full of
life and, yes, are growing.
This principle is true not only for individuals and for churches, but
it is also true for annual conferences. For 10 years the Central
Pennsylvania Conference has paid all General United Methodist Church
shares of ministry at 100 percent. Our conference is consistently one
of the highest ranked in terms of giving to Advance Specials, mission
giving above and beyond the financial commitment to the General UMC.
We are able to expand our witness and our mission impact throughout
the world by our faithfulness to these askings.
But even more than this faithfulness has been the extraordinary
visionary achievement of establishing Mission Central. What a miracle
of blessings this mission is providing to people everywhere.
A passion for mission is fundamental to the growth and vitality of
every church. Commitment to mission brings its own profound reward
and, indeed, the church receives far more than it can ever give.
Growing churches are churches with a heart for mission!
4. Membership
A high bar for membership and leadership which requires
weekly attendance, spiritual growth through Disciple and other
Scripture study, mission engagement, and tithing.
We must make it clear to those who choose to join the church, to all
members of the church and certainly to those who accept leadership
responsibilities that much will be required of them and that we want
them to receive the blessings which committed discipleship has to
offer. We want folks to participate in the life of the church fully
and with a generous spirit of welcome. When they are ready to make a
decision to join the church this is what is required:
* To attend worship weekly in order to be fed and to join
their brothers and sisters in Christ in praising God,
seeking spiritual sustenance, and nurturing one another in faith.
* To take part each year in an experience which will help you
grow your faith as a disciple of Jesus Christ:
Disciple or other Scripture study; prayer or covenant group; Sunday
school, etc.
* To be involved in hands-on mission once a year:
Volunteer in Mission trip; collecting food for a food bank;
thrift shop, shoe bank or other provision of clothing; volunteer at
Mission Central, etc.
* To make a commitment to tithe. Calculate what
percentage of your income you are giving to God and make
a commitment to increase that annually to achieve at least a tithe.
Some of our churches require new members to sign a covenant which
includes a pledge not to gossip. When new members join, every member
is asked to renew their own covenant.
To be a disciple is costly. It is a high privilege to be a part of the
church of Jesus Christ. We become especially aware during Lent that we
follow One who was willing to give His very life in obedience to God.
Can we do less?
I invite each of you to search your own heart and your own measure of
church membership. It is easy to look around and see others whose
measure of discipleship may be falling short. But if the church of
Jesus Christ is to truly be renewed, each of us must start with the
one person for whom we can make decisions: ourselves.
If our churches are to live, this must be our commitment!
5. Media/Worship
Worship which excites, inspires, and speaks the saving message
of Jesus Christ using a variety of media and music.
Worship forms the center of the life of the congregation and serves to
inspire, energize, and challenge. Because worship is the first
introduction to a church for most people, participation must be
visitor friendly, easily accessible, and clear. Effective worship is
seamless, that is, each part of the service moves smoothly into the
next part. All leaders, the pastor(s) and others, must be trained and
prepared.
Worship must contain the compelling and irresistible message of the
saving power of Jesus Christ and the implications for living
faithfully in the world today. God’s presence must be sensed in
every part of the worship service.
Some of us remember the first time we saw a television set, but the
majority of the population do not. Television has been a part of their
entire lives. Communication which was once face to face or in print
has rapidly moved through audio, video, internet, DVD, iPods and a
future which will surely bring possibilities which we can not even
imagine. God is surely using these means to spread the gospel message.
Are we as a church willing to be partners with God by using a variety
of media?
Many hymns of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries are filled with
wonderful, poetic expressions of faith. They speak deeply to me. But
the miracle of God’s creation is that we are, each of us, uniquely
created. And our spirituality is as unique as our DNA. Not everyone is
able to hear the profound message of salvation through these hymns. A
variety of music increases the possibility that God’s message will
be heard by everyone.
God is calling us into exciting expressions of worship, which are
solidly rooted in Scripture, which honor our wonderful traditions as
United Methodists, and which speak to current and future generations.
This requires creativity, openness, flexibility, and change. I believe
we not only can do it, we are doing it! Thanks be to God.
6. Learning
A learning environment for all ages from the youngest to the
oldest, grounded in
Scripture and the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit.
The seventh and last of my characteristics of vital congregations is:
A learning environment for all ages, from the youngest to the oldest,
grounded in Scripture and the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit.
Learning about faith and growing in faith becomes a life-long process
which must begin at the earliest years and must continue throughout
our lifetime.
Together, church families celebrate the joyous news of pregnancy,
begin to embrace the family with prayer, rejoice in the birth, and
receive the little one into the church through baptism. In this way we
participate in what can become a life-long experience of faith
development through the church.
A study done in 2002 of hundreds of worshipping congregations from all
faith communities in the United States indicated that far less than
ten percent of all current members of congregations had no faith
experience as a child. In the United Methodist Church, fewer than
eight percent of current members did not grow up in the church. This
means that when someone does not have a church experience as a child,
there is very little possibility that he or she will be part of a
church as an adult.
This is a statistic which must cause us to sit up and take notice! It
mandates that we do everything possible to reach the children and
youth of our communities now. If we don't do so, it is very probable
that they will never find their way into the church.
From an important secular source comes yet another mandate to us. The
Commission on Children at Risk, a coalition of physicians, educators,
psychiatrists, and social workers, studied the rising number of
teenage and young adult suicides and the increase in diagnoses of
mental illness in these age groups and concluded that what is most
needed by youth is to be in relationship with “values driven
communities.” That is who we are, centered in Jesus Christ and
committed to biblical truths. Our commitment to the spiritual
formation of youth and young adults is literally a matter of life and
death. They desperately need the spiritual and moral foundation which
a loving congregation can provide for them.
Some of you are in churches which are clearly on the frontier of
ministry to young people — through traditional youth programs,
Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, Christian nursery school and
child care, encouragement of participation in summer camp, sponsoring
mission trips and involvement in worship and other church life. Other
churches are on another frontier: operating youth centers, ministering
to at-risk youth, providing worship which includes the music and media
of today's youth.
Still other churches may currently have no children. My advice is to
pray for children, prepare for children, and reach out in invitation.
They will come.
But our need for Christian education does not end with childhood.
Growing in relationship with God is a life-long mandate. Learning and
growing in faith is a journey which continues as one's life experience
changes. Each phase of life, each challenge in life provides yet
another opportunity to grow closer to God.
Disciple Bible studies, short-term Bible studies, prayer groups,
covenant groups, Sunday school classes, UMW study circles, retreats,
short-term focus groups, and many more options provide possible
opportunities within the life of the church. We like to quote John
Wesley who asked us, “Are you going on to perfection?” Mr. Wesley
wasn't suggesting that we should be perfectionists; rather, he was
challenging us to continue to grow closer to God in our understanding
and in our practice of living a life of love. We cannot do that alone,
but we can do that with our brothers and sisters in the faith.
The church which offers opportunities for Christian growth from the
cradle to the grave is the vital congregation.
7. Loving
A spirit of love which is immediately palpable.
When we consider the signs of vital congregations it is impossible to
rank them. Yet, love is an irreplaceable
characteristic in the life of a congregation. Without love we as the
church are indeed nothing; a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal!
Love must be felt by all who enter into the life of the church. People
sense very quickly whether love is spoken and lived in a particular
fellowship. When love is present among God’s people it is palpable.
It is seen in the smiles, the conversation, the respect, yes, even in
the joy. It is experienced in the compassion expressed in times of
sorrow as well as in the genuine celebration of good news and
accomplishments of others. It is expressed in the spirit of generosity
of the people of the congregation through acts of caring — both
verbal and non verbal — as well as practical.
We would hope that love is always present in all of our churches. But
it isn’t always so. When there are folks in a church who are still
squabbling about the color of the carpet or the paint for the kitchen
or the design of the altar or the music or the merger, those who enter
that congregation seeking a relationship with Jesus Christ and a word
of hope for their lives will not find it there. They will be captured
by the tension rather than wrapped in the arms of love.
Curiously, we think of love as a feeling, a warm fuzzy attitude toward
one another. And certainly that is sometimes true of love. But love is
also a commandment.
Jesus had another way of talking about love. He told us that the first
and second commandments directed us to “love God
with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength” and to “love your
neighbor as yourself.” He further said, “I command
you to love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus understood that
we are required to do more than to respond simply to our feelings. We
are required to decide to love. We are required to
love those with whom we disagree, to love those who in our view might
appear to be unlovable, to love those who are unlike us, to love
everyone. The unconditional love which God lavishes upon us can be the
source of our love for others.
Because faith and the expression of our faith in the life of the
church is something we all care about deeply, when there are
differences of opinion it is especially painful. The need to forgive
one another is an ongoing requirement. We cannot do this by depending
only on ourselves. We can do this only if we are open to God’s
forgiving and saving grace. So love is most of all a gift of
grace.
Is love spoken and felt in your church? If not, it must begin with
you! It is my prayer that it will be said of all of the churches in
the Central Pennsylvania Conference: “See how they love each
other.”
© 2006, Central Pennsylvania Conference, The United
Methodist Church. Full usage is extended to all churches in the
Central Pennsylvania Conference. All other rights are reserved.
