What is required for a church to be healthy?

As the collapse of cultural Christianity has taken its toll on weekly attendance, churches have had to reevaluate what it means to be a healthy church. The blessing of this reevaluation is renewed attention to biblical models and metrics of church health. The disappointment of this reevaluation is an awareness that many have abandoned the biblical fundamentals of what it means to be a church in our zeal for greater numbers.

Titus 3:8-11 gives three instructions that are required for a church to be healthy.

Having instructed the church to honor, with financial support, widows who were worthy of such honor and had no other source of support, Paul now instructs the church on its proper relationship with Elders. Like with the instructions concerning widows, the church is commanded to honor elders with financial support. However, more than just instructions on elder remuneration, this text teaches the church what it should honor, its responsibility to protect its elders, and a warning to be wise in choosing future elders.

No church is perfectly rightly ordered. However, every church must have a heart to be as rightly ordered and faithful to scripture as possible. The church must regularly examine how it is organized and functions and determine if it is most faithful to scripture. Paul's letters to Timothy deal with many of these issues, which is why it is helpful for Christians and churches to return often to these instructive letters.

These letters to the young pastor are Paul's counsel on leading the church in proper worship and establishing proper church leadership. He instructs Timothy on the required qualifications for elders/pastors/overseers and deacons and gives counsel on confronting false teachers and other congregation members.

In these opening words of Paul's first letter to Timothy, he first warns of what threatens the church and recognizes the gift of elders to the church.

As children leave the house, parents often give short final instructions. These departing words are not new information but reminders of important things. A mom might remind her children of something they need to do while away. A father might remind his children of his expectations of how they should behave while away. And often, parents tell their children one more time that they love them.

These closing words of Paul’s letter are similar words of instructions. These are not new teachings but reminders of important truths.

In these closing words of his letter, Paul gives his final words to the church, hoping that the next time they will hear from him will be in person. In the first four verses, Paul encouraged the wayward brothers and sisters to repent of their sin and promised to deal sternly with those who would not. Secondly, in verses 5-10, he pleads with the brothers and sisters to give serious attention to the nature of their relationship with Jesus and the genuineness of their salvation so that they might be sure of their salvation.

Church discipline is a subject that makes many uncomfortable. This may be because the church has not been faithful or consistent, some have used the cover of church discipline to abuse, or so little is understood about it, that there is much misunderstanding. Regardless of how uncomfortable it may cause us to be, we must reckon with the fact that this is the teaching of Jesus. May our heart's desire be to faithfully obey the word of God - even the parts that make us uncomfortable.