Three crucial Ingredients of a healthy church
The base of almost every South Louisiana dish includes what is called the trinity; onion, green pepper, and celery. It is the taste of Louisiana. Trinity makes gumbo, gumbo; jambalaya, jambalaya; and etouffee, etouffee. Taken individually, each of these can be either quite bland, or, in the case of the onion, quite overpowering. Sautéed together though . . . C’est is bon! The scent itself brings all guests, noses in the air and stomachs growling, into the kitchen and surrounding the cooktop.
Likewise, there are three ingredients that make up a healthy church. These ingredients are the Gospel, Church (local gathering), and Culture.* Together, these create a balanced robust inward discipleship and worship, and a compassionate outward-focus that seeks kingdom advancement. If any one ingredient is left out, the result is imbalanced, distasteful, and detrimental to the Church’s mission. Consider the following:
Gospel + Church - Culture = Fundamentalism
Gospel + Culture - Church = Churchless Christianity
Church + Culture - Gospel = Liberalism
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus. It is the rescue of the world from the tyranny of sin and the restoration of all things. It includes the totality of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Church is the local expression of the gathering of His people who have been given the faith to believe and live for this good news. It is where they worship Him and are equipped by Him through His means of grace toward a right view of themselves, their God, and the world. The culture is the surrounding village, town, city, or region to which the church is responsible for Christ’s kingdom advancement.
Let’s take each equation and describe what is meant.
Gospel + Church - Culture = Fundamentalism
If you have a gathered people who profess the gospel and worship Jesus but neglect their surrounding culture, ultimately they will be led in the direction of Fundamentalism. That is, they will isolate into a Christian fortress and disdain their unbelieving neighbor. Eventually, the light on the hill they are called to be will be removed from the lamp stand and the light extinguished. Everyone “out there” becomes a suspected enemy rather than a people “harassed and helpless without a shepherd.” They will become the righteous to the unrighteousness of the world. Any form of outreach will tend to be “come to us and be like us” rather than heed the call to go to the ends of the earth and make disciples.
Gospel + Culture - Church = Churchless Christianity
Let’s say you are a professing Christian and have a growing appreciation for your community. You take an interest in the town, investing in the business owners, frequenting the restaurants, joining the Chamber of Commerce, and you even get nominated for a leadership role. Yet you are not really plugged into a local church. In fact, you find it refreshing, freeing, and even helpful, to visit different churches on occasion to rub elbows with friends in the community while easing your church conscience. This is Churchless Christianity which tempts toward no Christianity at all. You cannot be a healthy growing Christian outside of the God-instituted local gathering of believers.
Church + Culture - Gospel = Liberalism
The next scenario dismisses the authority of the Scriptures altogether. It says, “Be a good person . . . someone who contributes to the welfare of the community and world” but has little to no biblical foundation. It might say “Follow Jesus as an example, but does not trust Jesus as the powerful Sovereign to whom we are accountable. The good news of Jesus becomes something like social reform, philanthropy, or merely community improvement. The power of the gospel is absent. This is classic liberalism.
What’s the remedy?
Gospel+Church+Culture = Healthy Church
Simply put, it’s the way of Jesus.
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38).
Culture Jesus
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
Unlike isolationist Fundamentalism, Jesus went into all sorts of cities and villages. He wasn’t afraid of illness, sinfulness, or death. He didn’t remain in the comfort of His own space and people but went to those very different from His own earthly upbringing.
Gospel Jesus
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
It was His love for a harassed and helpless people that compelled His heart toward, not away from, culture. Pastor Steve McVey explains that we ought to think of the week prior to the cross that we call Passion Week when we hear that it was compassion that compelled Him. Passion means suffering. The co- of compassion means with. Put together, Jesus suffered with those harassed and helpless just as He was harassed and voluntarily helpless on the cross. His empathy for fellow sufferers runs deep. He had compassion for them. The gospel is pierced through with compassion. John 3:17 says it clearly: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Church Jesus
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”
Jesus program for kingdom extension is us . . . the gathered body of believers. Yet He is so intwined with us as the Head of the church that He is the One to whom we ask for laborers. Maybe I should say beg for laborers in order to highlight the pray earnestly He employs.
It’s interesting that Jesus chose agricultural terminology. I had the opportunity to fill a pulpit quite often in a very agricultural area. The leaders of the church, who were also farmers, prayed earnestly for either rain or sun depending on the need of their crops. That produce was their livelihood. God’s provision could make or break their year of finances. What if we thought about kingdom advancement with such fervor and dependence on the Lord of the harvest?
In the past I also believe I read “pray for laborers” as “pray for more pastors and missionaries.” But that’s not what the text says. We are all laborers who are to be equipped (Ephesians 4) for the work of ministry however that may look in our unique gifting.
What this means is that Jesus never meant for His followers to be divorced from the weekly gathering of His people where they get a healthy diet and mutual encouragement. Gathered weekly worship is vital to equipping the saints for the works of ministry with His own promised presence to be spiritually with them as His word is opened, explained, prayed, sung, and the sacraments shared. Yes, we as individuals can read the Bible and pray on our own, but it’s in this weekly gathering that a waterfall of all of His graces are poured upon His gathered people. It is hrere that God primarily uses His means to challenge the believers heart, equips them in their giftings, and commissions them into their respective call all the while blessing them as they go.
Culture, gospel, church. These three held together are the ingredients for a healthy church that seeks His kingdom advancement for His glory and the good of others. Like the aroma of Louisiana trinity, the light of Christ expressed through these ingredients should be an attractive in-gathering of harassed and helpless guests to His table.
*The framework for this article is based on Steve Childer’s Pathways Learning church planter training.