Giles Arnold, Chief Executive of Church Growth Trust, reflects on what truly defines a healthy, growing church. In this thought-provoking article, he shares his response to a question posed by a church leader: What are the two essential elements of a New Testament church?
I was asked recently by one of the leaders of the church that my wife and I are part of what I thought were the two essential elements of a New Testament church. This was in the context of a local church being healthy and growing.
I could have answered by including worship, stressing how important it is for worship to be engaging and vibrant. I could have talked about the prayer life of a church or the importance of handling the Word of God well. And of course, all of these are vitally important ingredients of an evangelical church.
Whether you agree with me or not or whether I am right or not, I found myself saying that the two most important aspects of church are discipleship and being radically different. We are called to make disciples, rather than converts, and I believe that it is vital that we are all discipling others and being discipled ourselves. Discipleship includes all of the above, as we learn to worship God wholeheartedly (because worship is about Him rather than about our preferences), as we grow in our knowledge and love of Him through His word and as we spend time with Him and rely on Him through prayer. But there is far more to being a disciple of Jesus, as we learn to use our gifts within the body, as we enjoy fellowship with our brothers and sisters, as we grow in our faith in an Almighty God and as we delight in the thrill of sharing of our faith with others. We learn that we do not have to do all these things, but that we get to do them. Why would we not want to grow in our relationship with a God who has poured out His life for us?
The reason I think that being radically different is so important, is that this is the fruit and result of our relationship with God and proof of a life that has been transformed by His grace. If we are the same or only slightly different from our neighbours, work colleagues or family who do not yet believe, how are they going to see that Jesus is worth following, be challenged to consider that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, or even ask us to explain the reason “for the hope that we have”.
Being radically different will look different for each of us, but could include demonstrating love even after we have been hurt, being available even when it is inconvenient, opening up and sharing your home with others, being prepared to look weird by sharing a word that you sense the Holy Spirit has given you for someone else (even a stranger).
Jesus said they would know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for each other. Is our love for our brothers and sisters so radically different from the world’s idea of love that people notice the difference? Do we mix with people that the world would not want to associate with? Do we forgive when we are hurt? Do we share our time, our food, our lawnmower, our car, our finances and our lives with each other? How radical are you prepared to be for the Gospel to be real?
