The ChurchHealth and Growth Task Force believes that church health goes hand in hand with church growth—as Jesus said, “Every good tree bears good fruit” (Matt7:17). A healthy church includes well-trained and godly leadership (both men and women), the development of effective ministries to meet the diverse needs of the church, well-articulated shared expectations for the membership, and an underlying devotion to God and discipleship to Jesus. This Task Force wants to establish simple measurement tools for accessing church health and highlight the best practices of healthy, growing congregations from around the world. We also believes that details and statistics are not negatives, but when used together with each congregation’s narrative history are both helpful and necessary for analysis, setting proper expectations, and taking action in faith. Currently, this Task Force includes Andy Fleming (chairman), Todd & Patty Asaad, DannyBrisebois, Koko Enrile, Floyd Grosset, Imagbe Igbinoba, Angel Martinez, Daren Overstreet, Harliem Salim, Sebastian Serra, and Jeff Wong. Within the task force, there are currently two sub-committees: (1) Congregational Health (chairman –Todd Asaad); and (2) Ministers’ Health and Well-being (chairman – Daren Overstreet).
The Congregational Health subcommittee holds that healthy churches need healthy theology—i.e., the proper image of God and solid scriptural knowledge. This committee has been discussing the role of vision within the congregation, as well as godly relationships, need-meeting programs and effective management of those programs. Churches are known to have identifiable life cycles and sometimes it is necessary to start a new phase beginning with renewed vision. Rob Skinner and Joel Peed have also joined this group and are focusing their energy on the health and growth of smaller churches (i.e., less than 100 members). These two brothers recently hosted a very encouraging small church leaders conference entitled “Look Up” which was attended by 120 leaders, and Rob recently published a book focused on small church leadership called From Zero to 100.
The Ministers’ Health and Well-being subcommittee is discussing the need for a holistic approach to supporting the emotional, spiritual, and mental health of ministers. There has already been a lot of great material developed and made available in existing Christian education program and publications. This subcommittee is currently looking for women and next-generation ministers interested in joining their group and is also planning on sending out a survey to help identify additional concerns and needs. They are also looking for individuals with expertise and would greatly welcome the input of non-staff disciples as well. Please pray for the work of this task force so that all of our ministers (full-time and non-full-time) in various roles and capacities can be healthy, vibrant, and resilient in their ongoing service to God and the church.
