Your doctor says you’re healthy, no signs of disease; blood pressure and weight are within normal limits. The fitness instructor says you’re in terrible shape, resting pulse and body-fat percentage are way above normal; flexibility is poor, and you just flunked the treadmill test.
If both can be right, what does it mean to be healthy? And following the same analogy, what does it mean for a church to be healthy? What signs indicate a congregation is both free of disease and spiritually fit?
Leadership set out to answer those questions. We did not find just one answer, but we did find the many responses revealing. So here, with contradictions and redundancies intact, are various ways to identify and maintain a healthy church.
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Eight Qualities of Healthy Churches
Christian A. Schwarz, head of the Institute for Church Development in Germany, conducted reportedly the most comprehensive church-growth study ever, drawn from more than 1,000 churches in 32 countries. His study revealed eight qualities in healthy churches.
link to Christianity today article
