Marks of a Healthy Church Essay

IntroductionIn the New Testament, the church service can be referred to as the local church or the universal church. The local church is a place where assemblies of studyrs come to descendher at a particular location and time. The universal church refers to the body of Christ. umpteen churches believe that they be wholesome because they have a certain number of people on their membership roll. strong churches measure their spectrality according to divinity fudges Word.This paper seeks to convey that well churches are measured in spiritual terms versus numerical terms follow biblical alternatively of pagan patterns of ministry are based on theological instead of sociological foundations focus on ministry non a marketing model and adopt scriptural not secular models of leadinghip. This will be done by examining Kenneth Gangels discussion on the different marks that can be used to gauge a healthy church in his article The Marks of a Healthy Church.Brief SummaryAccording to Kenneth Gangel, in his article The Marks of a Healthy Church, he seeks to explain the characteristics of a healthy church using the measurements of the spiritual, biblical, theological, ministry model, and scriptural model of leadership. To accomplish this Gangel cautions spiritual leaders not to get caught up in measuring church growth in numerical terms. They should accentuate the holiness and sovereignty of paragon through Bible study, worship, prayer, praise, and fellowship. In following biblical instead of cultural patterns, churches do not feel compelled to stay up with the times or get hooked on religious fads and slogans. Churches should not push alot of programs and believe that they are right just because they are successful.They would do well to check them and their success against the Word of God. Gangel also wanted spiritual leaders to ensure that they are paying attention to the true vigor or teachings of biblical theology and not get caught up in sociological percep tions of what the church should be. They should seek Gods plans for the church and tune out outside influences.A healthy church seeks to remain spiritually effective by following the ministry model of the huge Commission according to Gods grace, authority, and resources. Churches essential never use the marketing or worldly model of seeking resources to accomplish their goals. Spiritual leaders will have trials and be scrutinized but they should never take on a secular form of leadership in order to deal with these trials. They must pay attention to the essential functions of guiding and leading a healthy church.Critical InteractionGangel has taken an in depth approach to explaining what constitutes a healthy church. He seeks to make clear that spiritual leaders have to use a biblical approach to assessing church growth or a healthy church. Some of the theological put outs that I have found to be at stake in the article are the beliefs that church growth is an indication that the church is growing according to what God has mandated for the church.Church growth should always be evaluated to ensure that the growth is occurring for the right or biblical reasons. The other theological issue is making sure that the spiritual leader and the church are not conforming to the world and its way of doing things. The Bible is the road map that has been given to the spiritual leaders and the church to ensure that they do not go wrong or spiritually off course.Gangels opinion that the church should not get caught up on spiritual fads and slogans is backed by tin can F. MacArthurs warning that the abandonment of the scriptures as a regulatory principle has opened the church to some of the most detestable of abuses. These abuses include bringing in secular artist into worship services, a sideshow with a carnival theme, and wrestling shows. Gangel is prompted to write slightly this subject because he was noticed and read about churches hinging their spiritual health on nu merical terms of growth instead of biblical terms.His goal is to top and warn the church to make sure they are using biblical measurements in determining the spiritual health of the church. The author has done an exceptional bloodline in proving his thesis, that there are biblical marks or measurements of a healthy church. Gangels key strengths in this article are the five biblical marks that he has used to compare to the secular tenants that society likes to use. As he was explaining the five biblical marks of a healthy church, I tender he would have addressed what happens to a church that follows the tenets of society.ConclusionThis paper has critiqued the article Marks of a Healthy Church. The authors discussion in this article clearly lets us know that church should use caution when it comes to evaluating its growth. The marks that should be used to assess the health of the church are spiritual, biblical, theological, ministry model, and scriptural model of leadership. Everyt hing that the church does should be checked by the Word of God.After reading this article, someone may make the claim that the church should do what it has to in order to top the unbeliever. In my opinion, we as believers are not to let down our beliefs in what God has commanded us to do in order to reach an unbeliever. By all means, we can use Godly tools to witness to them where they are.Selected BibliographyEnns, Paul.The Moody Handbook of Theology.Revised and Expanded. Chicago, IL Moody Publishers, 2008.Gangel, Kenneth O. 2001. Marks of a Healthy Church.Bibliotheca Sacra,no.158 vol.632(October December). http//galaxie.com/article/5724 (accessed October 15, 2012).MacArthur, John F., How Shall We Then righteousness? in The Coming Evangelical Crisis,ed.David Wells (Chicago Moody, 1996), 181 2 . Paul Enns, The Moody handbook of Theology, Revised and Expanded (Chicago, IL Moody Publishers, 2008), 257 3 . Gangel, Kenneth O. 2001. Marks of a Healthy Church. Bibliotheca Sacra 9, no. 28 vol. 632 (October December). http//www.galaxie.com/article/5724 (accessed October 15, 2012). 4 . Ibid., 468. 5 . Ibid., 469. 6 . Gangel, 470. 7 . Ibid., 474 8 . Ibid. 9 . Enns, 359-360. 10 . MacArthur, John F., How Shall We Then Worship? in The Coming Evangelical Crisis, ed. David Wells (Chicago Moody, 1996), 181 11 . Gangel, 467-468. 12 . Ibid.