Marks of a Healthy Church

In the mid-1990s, research was carried out in the Dioceses of Durham, Wakefield and Rochester showed that, although there was an overall decline in church attendance, in a small number of congregations, there was a significant increase.

The research team discovered great variety of types of church, in terms of social setting, church tradition and styles of leadership, but some factors were in common and this led to the development of the so-called Seven Marks of the Healthy Church. In January, four members of St John's attended a conference on the Marks of a Healthy Church, and found it stimulating, instructive, helpful and even inspirational! The Kirk Session agreed that this theme would be a useful study for us as a whole congregation.

A healthy church...

• ...is energised by faith
• ...has an outward-looking focus
• ...seeks to find out what God wants
• ...faces the cost of change and growth
• ...operates as a community
• ...makes room for all
• ...does a few things and does them well

Taken as a whole, the researchers realised these features describe the character of Jesus, and so what it means to be fully human. Are we not meant to reflect Jesus' life in our life?

On three successive Sundays (10 to 24 April 2005), a short series of sermons based on the 7 Marks of a Healthy Church were given. (Edited transcripts of these sermon can be read on the church website at www.carluke-stjohns.org.uk/sermons ) After each sermon, the congregation were invited to complete score cards for St John's. Once the results of the survey had been collated, a report was made to the congregation at a meeting on the evening of May 4.

The results were sent to the original researcher, Robert Warren, whose reply included the following points:

Lifting the challenge: Too high scoring can indicate such satisfaction with what is, that the energy for movement, development and change is limited. It may be that a sharper, more challenging vision, for the life of the church, but equally for the life of discipleship in the whole of life, is the right next step for the church.

Checking our perceptions: Makes room for all is perceived as the greatest strength of the church, though nearly a quarter of the church scored it as below average. It may be necessary to check what may lie behind this. Listening to why people are scoring things low can be very instructive.

Focus on spirituality: Energised by faith, and Seeks to find out what God wants were two of the lowest scoring Marks. This would suggest that this area should receive the primary focus of the church's leadership in the coming months (Robert mentions here things like helping each other to grow in our discipleship, elders meeting for prayer, developing the corporate spiritual life of the church)