Updated Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Bible: Spiritual food for church health

By Milton A. Hollifield Jr.

BSC Executive Director-Treasurer

Commenting on Christ's messages to the churches in Revelation 2-3, John Stott stated, "these then are the marks of the ideal church - love, suffering, holiness, sound doctrine, genuineness, evangelism, and humility. They are what Christ desires to find in His churches as He walks among them."

Yet, is this what we desire when we visit a church?

Perhaps the decline in so many churches has more to do with a refusal to honestly evaluate the church's existing ministry by biblical standards. We can no longer simply ignore the problems faced by established churches - many of whom have an historic past where godly men and women served for centuries and faithfully testified to the power of the gospel.

The urgency of this problem was recently highlighted when Thom Rainer shared that some seminary graduates "do not see themselves in rural, white, color, or traditional churches."

Rainer went on to say that some states are seeing a crisis among traditional churches who are experiencing difficult times finding pastors.

At the recent Baptist State Convention (BSC) Evangelism Conference Alvin Reid echoed Rainer's research by sharing one of his experiences from his seminary classes.

When he asked how many of his students came from Southern Baptist churches, most raised their hands.

When he followed-up by asking how many wanted to go back and serve in Southern Baptist churches like they came from, not one wanted to return "to the SBC of their youth."

Statements such as these, however, should not cause us to fear or lose heart. This is a time for hope and confidence in the power of the gospel.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is building His church, and He is accomplishing this great task by His word (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 1:16; 10:17). The Bible is the power source for the church, and as we return to its teachings by the Holy Spirit, only then can we clearly see the path forward in restoring the health of any church.

Throughout church history, God has given mighty times of revival when the people of God corporately came together in repentance and diligently searched the scriptures to once again structure the priorities of churches in ways that far exceed our modern day methods and programs.

By God's grace, we are not left without help for revitalizing the church's ministry. Paul taught Timothy to publicly read the word in worship (1 Tim. 4:13); to preach the word (2 Tim. 4:2); to pray the word (1 Tim. 2:1); and to sing the word (Eph. 5:19).

If we prioritize and obey the word of God no matter the cost, only then can we be confident that the health of our congregations will improve to the glory and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

(Matt. 4:4)