Worship Confessional, May 30, 2010

This post is part of Sunday Set List over on The Worship Community Blog.

Today we began our series on BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH, complete with Robbie in scrubs as we looked at the 10 Characteristics of a healthy church. This week our church body is taking the CHAT (Church health assessment test).

Set List

Opening Prayer --Prayer For A Healthy Church

Love The Lord (Lincoln Brewster) We opened with this one since it was the "text" of the sermon today.

Bless The Lord (Laura Story)  2nd week on this one.  However, we did it in F-Gb (yikes) instead of our "G-Ab" from last week.  Reminder to self--do it in G

Welcome/ Announcements

Missions Moment--Belgium ( We featured my friend Kyle Goen who is going to plant a Sending Church in Belgium in 2011.  Kyle and I have known each other for 17+ years as we served as Ministers of Youth in the same association in the early 1990's.  It sure was good to see his face on the screen today)

Kyle Goen Belgium Testimony from Kyle Goen on Vimeo.

Offertory Prayer

Jesus Messiah (Tomlin)  Been a long one since we did this one.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Lincoln Brewster)  Great hymn

Morning Message--What Is A Healthy Church?  Robbie Boyd

Here and Now (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown)  Last time for this one for a while.  I think we really know it by now.

How was your Sunday?

Let's CHAT

Our church is beginning this week to take the Church Health Assessment Test (CHAT) over on Healthychurch.net.   We are looking forward to seeing the responses of leadership and the congregation and understanding where we are and where we discern the Lord leading us to go as a body of believers.

I like what Rick says here that CHAT will give us ACCURATE INFORMATION and we add the PRAYERFUL DISCERNMENT and the end result will be CLARITY which I think any church now days would welcome.

I'll keep you posted on the results and the process.

What A Healthy Church Looks Like!- CrossPoint Nashville

As we study healthy churches in the New Testament and in context of today's church culture, I thought I'd point to one real life example of a healthy church.  God is blessing them richly.


CrossPoint church is a 7 year old church plant in the heart of Nashville. They have 3 satellite campuses (Dickson, North and Bellevue) and have exploded in growth.  They meet most if not all of the 10 Characteristics of A Healthy Church.


1. God's Empowering Presence--I've been here in their worship services and it's true. The feeling of God's life changing power is in the music, in the elements and in the teaching of Pete Wilson.  They are constantly baptizing people and are having life change happen before their very eyes.
2. God-Exalting Worship--ditto...everything points to the Father.

3-Spiritual Disciplines --they are constantly urging their people to practice the disciplines of a spiritual life (prayer, fasting, scripture memory, bible study, journaling..etc)

4-Learning and Growing in Community --they are continually adding small groups and community groups to their body. They state that this is the heart of CrossPoint. It shows when 600 new people sign up for community groups in one Sunday

5-A Commitment to Loving and Caring Relationships--countless stories of people walking with other people through lifes situations (the Nashville flood recently highlighted the work of the Holy Spirit through Cross Point)
6-Servant‐Leadership Development --this is refreshing as I find that their staff is TEAM ORIENTED and leadership is shared across the organization---very different!
 7-An Outward Focus--again, when the Nashville flood hit, there was no question "if" but "when and where" CrossPoint would jump in.  It was immediate and was noticed.  They operate a shelter in downtown Nashville and continually have community service days for their congregation.
 8-Wise Administration and Accountability -led by capable Elders and staff their structure is sound
 9-Networking with the Body of Christ ---they are constantly networking across the country and around the globe to impact the world. They have works in Dominican Republic and India. Their networking capabilities brought in workers for flood relief from across the country.
 10-Stewardship and Generosity--- constantly teaching about the meaning of stewardship and generous giving, the people of Cross Point are amazing in this area.


I guess for me as we look at BECOMING A HEALTY CHURCH it's good to find examples to look out, not to compare ourselves to, but to say "IT CAN BE DONE!"  Thanks CrossPoint for showing the way.

Characteristics of A Healthy Church

This week our church begins a series and emphasis on BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH.  We are not alone in this arena.  I read over the weekend where 82% of the churches in America are plateaued or declining and are in need of some close inspection as to "why" the church isn't thriving.

I suspect that we'll find over the course of the 12-15 weeks we'll spend on this that most of it is a spiritual condition, but human events and fingerprints on our condition will be noticed and evidenced.  It can't be helped because the church is made up of people.

We're taking a survey of leadership and the congregation at healthychurch.net and it's grading us in the areas of 10 Characteristics.  These characteristics were noted in a group of healthy churches; regardless of size, style, preference or locale.  All of them were thriving healthy churches.  Just think of it like a baseline exam that you get from your Doctor.  It tells you where you are now (not necessarily what got you there--although you probably have a pretty good idea already) and it tells you where you need to go to become healthy.

Here are the characteristics listed:

Characteristic 1-God's Empowering Presence 

Characteristic 2-God‐Exalting Worship
Characteristic 3-Spiritual Disciplines
Characteristic 4-Learning and Growing in Community
Characteristic 5-A Commitment to Loving and Caring Relationships
Characteristic 6-Servant‐Leadership Development
Characteristic 7-An Outward Focus
Characteristic 8-Wise Administration and Accountability
Characteristic 9-Networking with the Body of Christ
Characteristic 10-Stewardship and Generosity

Over the next few months you'll see lots of posts about this effort.  I hope you'll share your experiences in becoming healthy and also in helping the church become "what she was created to be--the BRIDE OF CHRIST--given to show HIS GLORY!"

You can also read a portion of the book that formed the basis of this survey here.

Ronnie--Not Your Typical Church Member?

As we begin this journey on BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH it's good to sometimes laugh at things and think "oh, my goodness, we're not like that" (and we're not totally like RONNIE) But if we are honest with ourselves there is a little bit of Ronnie in each of us.

Our expectations of CHURCH LIFE have been set from our upbringing, our experiences, our education and our culture.  Could any one of these be a reason that "RONNIE" is the way he is?   Could that be true of us too?

So--laugh with (not at Ronnie) because truth be told RONNIE lives within all of us.

What Is A Healthy Church?

Macchia's book is an excellent starting point on church health. It's so practical and I love that each chapter ends with a prayer embodying the essence of that chapter in a couple of sentences.

Our focus this summer will be on "BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH" which begs the question "What is a healthy church?" It's a question that not only faces FBC Snyder, but the larger church in general.

This year I finish up my 23rd year in ministry and to be honest with you every church that I have served has had issues with church health. They varied in degrees, but all struggled with manifestations of poor health (lack of vitality, growth, discipline, vision, etc)but often they were masked by circumstances and events that somehow pointed in another direction.

I'm excited that we're going to tackle these issues. No, it won't be easy but it will be necessary to look under the hood and understand our church and THE CHURCH and do our part of being a healthy body. We've got many things planned to help us in these areas. I'll be blogging about a lot of this so get ready.

What do you think makes a healthy church?