How to Spot a Healthy Church—Quickly (2009 update)

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Philadelphia Baptist Church, Etta, Mississippi, where my grandparents are buried.

Two years ago, more or less on the spur of the moment, I wrote a blog entry called How to Spot a Healthy Church–Quickly. That entry turned out to be popular or at least noteworthy because it eventually drew 98 comments, which I think is the record so far for any of my blog entries.

I hadn’t thought about that entry until Crosswalk decided to feature it this week on the front page of their very popular website. At the moment that two-year-old article is listed as the Most Popular on their website. And suddenly I’ve been getting comments again.

I hadn’t thought about that entry until Crosswalk decided to feature it this week on the front page of their very popular website. At the moment that two-year-old article is listed as the Most Popular on their website. And suddenly I’ve been getting comments again.

After reviewing what I wrote, I think it still makes good sense . . . if you understand what I was trying to do. As someone who visits a lot of churches, I’ve had a chance to ask myself this question. “If you had only one or two visits to assess a church, what should you look for to give you a very quick feel for the church’s overall health?” Millions of people will be in that position this Sunday because millions of people will be visiting a new church somewhere. Maybe they will check your church out. Maybe a friend told them about your church. Most visitors won’t have the time or energy to read your constitution or study your Statement of Faith. And they won’t read your history or fully grasp all your programs. In that situation, one that I am personally familiar with, what should they be looking for?

You can answer that many different ways. I concluded that two factors stand out in trying to do a quick assessment of a church’s overall health:

1) Hearty congregational singing.
2) Obvious affection between the pastor and the congregation.

If you read through the comments, some people agreed, others found those two suggestions woefully inadequate. Some of the complaints came, I think, from people who actually read the church constitution of every church they visit. Well, God bless ’em, I say. They don’t need any help from me.

So my “2009 Update” is a) I’m happily surprised that anyone still reads what I wrote two years ago, and b) I think it stands up pretty well. 

If you’d like to join the 98 others who have commented so far, have at it.  You can read the entry and add your two cents. We’d love to hear from you.