Evaluating Church




Each week I have the privilege of teaching a Bible study to a group of amazing young adults and college students. During a recent teaching time, I asked my students: "What makes a church successful in 21st-century America?" Their responses were typical: A large crowd, enough money, plenty of programs, excitement, and energy. I then posed a second question: "What makes a business successful in 21st-century America?" They paused momentarily and then replied, "The same things."

I know churches need a sound organizational structure to operate well. I also know many sound business principles can be applied to the church setting. I know God cares about people, and numbers represent people. I know that churches need money to do ministry. I also know that we should hold these measurements loosely.

We can have plenty of money and people and still miss out on God's plan for His Church. We can also have no money and few people and be in the center of God's will for our lives and churches. As I think through these issues, I can't help but ask the question, is there a better way to measure our success?

In thinking through this question, I was reminded of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, particularly 1 Corinthians 13. I know this chapter is often quoted at weddings, but the love that Paul is talking about here isn't the romantic type. The context of 1 Corinthians 13 is the Church. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is concerned with using Spiritual gifts within the body of Christ. He's teaching them how to use their unique gifts for the benefit and building up of the Church. In 1 Corinthians 14, he also speaks of Spiritual gifts and their use within a Church service. When we zoom out just a bit and see this context, we realize that 1 Corinthians 13 is about love within the context of the Church and the church service. He closes chapter 13 by saying, "So no faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)."

Paul says after everything else is gone, faith, hope, and love remain. What matters is faith, hope, and love. With this in mind, I am proposing a new paradigm for evaluating our Churches and services based on 1 Corinthians 13. Below are some questions we could ask ourselves to see if our Churches and our services are producing faith, hope, and love.

Faith

1. Do we trust God despite the circumstances and problems in the world outside?
2. Is God big enough to heal sickness, set the captive free, and work in the lives of His saints? Do we pray for and make room for these things to happen in our services?
3. Do we believe the narrative of the world, or do we trust the narrative of the Spirit and Word over the narrative of the world?
4. Are we built up in our faith by listening to the stories of the saints around us and those who have gone before us?
5. Do we trust God enough to let the Spirit move freely, or do we need to control the service tightly?

Hope

1. Do our services produce hope in the lives of believers?
2. Do our sacraments point to the age to come?
3. Does our worship fill us with hope and remind us of a day when Jesus will return to correct all injustice, right every wrong, and make all things new?
4. Does the message remind us of our hope in a risen savior who is coming again?

Love

1. Do we genuinely Love God?
2. Do we genuinely Love one another?
3. Do we genuinely Love the lost?
4. Do we genuinely Love our enemies?

All of these point to the idea that the Church is to be a separate people, a separate Kingdom that serves the risen King who is transforming our lives and will one day come again to right all wrongs and make all things new.

If nothing else, I hope these questions stir you to evaluate your life - How is your faith, hope, and love?

 




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