Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/01/2011 - 9:39pm
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- If you're in school, you must have had all kinds of tests—spelling, math, science.
- If you got your driver's license, you had to take a driver's exam (written and on-the-road).
- You also had to look into a machine and read back some letters—a vision test.
- If you're in sports, your coach put you to the test everyday—evaluating how well you're doing.
- If you were sick or hurt yourself, you like had a medical exam.
The point is this: tests are for our own good. They help us do better. Exams reveal things about ourselves that we need to know if we're going to improve.
A year ago I had my annual physical—a routine check-up by my doctor. An annual physical alerts us to potential health problems before they become too severe. Each January my doctor examines my blood pressure, pulse rate, eyes, ears, throat—and other things I don't care to mention. He has the lab check various numbers about my blood and cholesterol levels. Every five years or so he tells me to have a colonoscopy.
The exam isn't particularly fun. It's not something you'd do for entertainment. Some of the procedures are awkward or uncomfortable or even painful. Blood tests involve needles.
But it's better to prevent problems than try to fix them after they come. It's important to keep on top of things before they get out of hand—to have an exam before you feel sick. Why? Because early detection and early diagnosis usually make for an easier cure.
Tests are for our own good—even in the spiritual realm, tests are necessary and helpful. A spiritual check-up can help us discover spiritual problems so we can deal with them before they do significant damage.
Spiritual trials and tests are not fun. They can stretch us. They may be awkward, uncomfortable, even painful. We would just as soon avoid them if we could. But if we will allow them, spiritual tests will help us grow stronger spiritually.
God allows tests to come into our lives so we can discover areas where we are spiritually weak, where we are lacking in godly character, where we are too self-reliant or independent.
There are numerous examples of this in the Bible. God uses tests and trials in life to help us become spiritually stronger, to develop godly characteristics, to grow in our faith, to trust him more.
So we read that we should "consider it pure joy...whenever [we] face trials of many kinds, because...the testing of [our] faith develops perseverance" (James 1:2-3). We read that we are blessed when we persevere under trial, because when we have stood the test, we will receive the crown of life (James 1:12).
We read that God tests our hearts (1 Thes 2:4)—that just as a hot crucible melts the impurities out of silver or a smelting furnace purifies gold, the Lord tests our hearts (Prov 17:3).
Paul, the apostle, used an athletic picture to describe the tests God uses to develop us: "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise [the actual word in the original is "godliness"] is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next" (1 Tim 4:8, NLT).
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor 9:24-27)
These four verses have a LOT you can chew on! Running to win...an everlasting crown...running with purpose, not aimlessly...fighting the right fight, not shadow-boxing...and being qualified, not disqualified.
So how do you examine your spiritual condition? How do you measure spiritual health?
Regular, ongoing self-evaluation is necessary to grow into God's plan for your future. On a personal level, we need to monitor our spiritual condition. We need to develop a plan for spiritual exercise and conditioning. We need to discipline ourselves to follow through on our plan.
But this is not just about our personal spiritual condition; it's also about examining the spiritual condition of our church.
More than a year ago, I ran across an article by Gordon MacDonald: How a Mighty Church Falls. Reading that article caused me to realize that while God has blessed us as a church and while we've seen good things happen in our ministries, we cannot assume that we have it all together.
He borrowed the phrase from a business book by Jim Collins, who quoted a CEO who said about his company, "We've had tremendous success in recent years, and I worry about that."
Reflecting on his comment, Collins observes: "I've come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages. An institution can look strong on the outside but already be sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall."
One of the temptations for a good organization, the article said, is "Hubris born of success."
Hubris is an ancient Greek word originally used in classical times to mean "presumption toward the gods." Hubris now means an arrogant conceit, an excessive pride, or an inflated self-confidence. Hubris causes careless disregard for simple basics and elementary principles.
Hubris is like an extremely talented football team that forgets about basic techniques like blocking and tackling. The Bible says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov 16:18).
In other words, if we become too proud, if we become over confident, if we become complacent or self-satisfied, then we are at spiritual risk. A haughty spirit leads to spiritual problems, spiritual decline. Pride leads to a fall.
Even a good church is in danger if its members pat themselves on the back for what's been done. There is so much left for us to do!
A good church is in danger if its members think its success came because of their own ideas or strength or effort. All the glory and the credit for what's been done belong to God.
Anyway, it was a stimulating article, and our church leaders got involved in the discussion. We took the warnings to heart. We felt that we needed to reevaluate ourselves as a church, to do a gut-check of our ministry. We needed to ask ourselves who we are as a church, why we're here, and what we're doing.
We decided it would be good to hold a leadership retreat where everyone involved in the various ministries of the church could be challenged to return to the basics of why we are here as a church.
We felt we needed some self-evaluation, some church testing. We decided to bring in an outside consultant—someone new with fresh perspective who could see things we were overlooking. We decided to find some ways to assess where we are as a church and measure our spiritual health.
So if you're here for the first time, I apologize for inviting you into the middle of this process as we look at some of the results. However, I hope you'll learn something about how an open attitude can help believers grow and improve. How a church can improve and grow and see positive results if it can honestly face its weaknesses.
At any rate, we selected a testing tool (one of many available) called Natural Church Development. It's the result of years of research by Christian Schwarz done with thousands of churches around the world. There are many legitimate models for evaluating the spiritual health of a church, but this particular model measures eight different characteristics:
1. Empowering leadership. Leaders of growing churches concentrate on empowering other Christians for ministry...[not as] "helpers" in attaining their own goals and fulfilling their own visions...[but to enable] them to become all that God wants them to be. [22]
2. Gift-oriented ministry. ...God sovereignly determines which Christians should best assume which ministries... When Christians serve in their area of giftedness, they generally function less in their own strength and more in the power of the Holy Spirit. [24]
3. Passionate spirituality. Are the Christians in this church ‘on fire?' Do they live committed lives and practice their faith with joy and enthusiasm? [26]
4. Functional structures. ...the development of structures which promote an ongoing multiplication of the ministry... [and] improve the self-organization of the church. [28] [That is, how a church is organized—its government, its decision-making processes, its physical set-up.]
5. Inspiring worship services. Whenever the Holy Spirit is truly at work (and His presence is not merely presumed), He will have a concrete effect upon the way a worship service is conducted including the entire atmosphere of a gathering. People attending truly "inspired" services typically indicate that "going to church is fun." [31]
6. Holistic small groups. ...continuous multiplication of small groups is a universal church growth principle... They must be holistic groups which go beyond just discussing Bible passages to applying its message to daily life. [32]
7. Need-oriented evangelism. The key to church growth is for the local congregation to focus its evangelistic efforts on the questions and needs of non-Christians...[using] already existing relationships as contacts for evangelism. [35]
8. Loving relationships. To determine this "love quotient," we asked...how much time members spend with one another outside of official church-sponsored events...for meals or a cup of coffee...how generous is the church in doling out compliments...how much laughter... People do not want to hear us talk about love, they want to experience how Christian love really works. [36]
Schwarz says that all these areas are at work to one degree or another in a healthy body of believers. He goes on to say that the weakest area in any church will determine how effective that church will be—kind of like "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link." Even a healthy church has areas that can and should be strengthened.
He uses a picture to show how a church is limited by what he calls its "minimum factor." A barrel can hold water only to the extent of its shortest stave.
In the fall, just before we held our ministry and leaders retreat, we went through the process of this evaluation. In early December we met with our consultant, Mike Harder, who also happened to be one of the speakers at our retreat. He discussed the results of our evaluation with us (which I will hope to do in the time we have left).
Here are the overall results of the NCD analysis of our congregation...
Best response [rephrased]: The leaders of our church prefer to collaborate with others rather than do the work themselves (77). Here is a snapshot of the "Empowering Leadership" characteristic, which was our church's top category...
Two lowest responses:
1. I can rely upon my friends at church (20)
2. New Christians find friends in our church quickly (28).
Here is a snapshot of the "Loving Relationship" characteristic, which we need to develop as a church...
Mike presented these results to a team of people who were assigned the task of strategizing practical ways we can improve our church in "loving relationships."
We're not talking about major paradigm shifts. We're primarily looking at simple steps we can take to improve what we already have. We're looking for ways to emphasize something we've always known, but could improve.
This test has helped us learn something about ourselves—and helped define a fresh vision for us over this new year. Our NCD team wanted you to see some of the results they saw, so I hope this helps. Click here for more detailed graphs and information.
Over the next few weeks, we're going to explore some of the more immediate responses and specific ideas the team has suggested (and the elders have approved) about how we can encourage better relationships—more loving relationships—within the church body.
(Hint: We're going to encourage you for starters to become involved visiting in each others' homes.)
So I hope you'll come next week with a sense of anticipation. Next week's message: The Look of Love. After that: The Work of Love and finally, The Heart of Love.