A functional congregation may look and feel like a healthy church. The bills are getting paid, programs run efficiently, and the members are satisfied. That may make for a functional institution, but it doesn't guarantee a healthy church.
In my consulting work, when I assess congregational vitality I look for three marks of health.
- Relationships among people than embody the "kindom" of God; relationships that are honoring, forgiving, loving, caring, mutual, and generative
- Spiritual Formation as an essential for everyone, rather than an activity pursued by a few
- A deep, pervasive concern for the temporal and spiritual well-being of people beyond the doors of the church - a concern that manifests in action.
I've been in any number of churches across the country whose numbers looked good, but having lost their understanding of and commitment to their fundamental purpose, ( making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, for those UM churches)
were actually in decline - the numbers just didn't show it...yet.
This morning's article from the Alban Institute does a great job of summing up what happens in congregational renewal and the shift from being a functional congregation to being what the authors call a visionary congregation, where people have "an integrated sense of sacred community." The authors (Aron, Cohen, Hoffman & Kelman) write from having researched synagogues - but it's all very applicable to a Christian church, and it's well worth your time.
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