Building Healthy Churches - Part 1 - Leadership - Kevin Brechbill

When we think about building healthy churches, where would you start? What's the best place to start? When we look at the Scriptures, we need to ask the question: How were churches established? How were churches formed? And how do we build healthy churches?

What and where is the foundational idea to start with? I think everyone that you ask how to build healthy churches, one of the first things they're going to tell you is, "Build it on Christ, the chief cornerstone."

Anyone disagree with that?

But what does the structure and the process look like from there up? What's that look like?

I don't necessarily profess to have the answers, but I'm going to give you some ideas this morning.

Don't assume. Don't assume that we know how to build healthy churches. Don't assume that churches grow organically. Don't assume that disciples are made organically. Don't assume that church governing is organic. Don't assume that character development is organic. Don't assume that church leadership is organic.

Don't assume that shepherding God's sheep is organic. Don't assume that evangelism is organic. I sometimes hear this idea that's floating around that church growth is organic.

Is church growth organic? Is church development organic?

Is church impact in the world organic?

When God says He will give gifts to the church, is that organic?

Or did God step in and do something?

I would like to suggest to you that building healthy churches, that maybe we should not assume at any level.

Let's think about Christ. He had a time frame in His ministry between three and three and a half years in length. Let's break this down a little bit, what happened in these three and a half years, and see what we can learn and observe about how He did things. What were some of the first things that Jesus did in His ministry?

My goal this morning is to formulate a picture in your mind that is not organic.

What did Christ do first? It says He made disciples in the first part of His ministry of three and a half years. He made disciples.

Luke 6:12, "One day soon afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and He prayed to God all night. At daybreak, He called together all of His disciples." In the beginning of His ministry of three and a half years, Luke 6 was in the early days of His ministry. He goes up to a mountain to pray all night. Wow.

Have any of you prayed all night? Why did He feel the need to pray all night? Why did He call His disciples together at daybreak? Does anyone know what happened next?

I'm just curious. Does anyone brave enough to answer the question? I'm going to take a guess. Is that what He appointed the apostles? Correct. He chose the 12 apostles.

Not one apostle, but 12. In the beginning of His ministry, out of the disciples, He made. And He has no church.

Does the number matter? Probably. I think there's probably many reasons the 12 were chosen. But I want you just to think about one thing, that it's not one, it's not two, but it's 12. He was preparing for something. He had a much bigger idea in mind. In Luke 6, it says in the next part of the verse, I'll just read it again, "One day soon afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and He prayed to God all night. At daybreak, He called together all of His disciples and chose 12 of them to be apostles." So in the beginning of His ministry, He's making disciples and choosing apostles. In the very beginning, He only had three and a half years left.

Does that look organic? Or does it look like someone who is really good at shepherding and has a plan? Let's just look at the disciples. First, He chose Peter, then Andrew, James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas, Judas, who was replaced with Matthias.

Have you ever asked the question, why did Jesus ordain and choose so many apostles? As far as I can tell, Jesus never established a church. Have you ever stopped and thought about how much time He spent teaching the 12 apostles?

Yes, He spent time teaching the multitudes and healing them. And it says the Scriptures tell us about how exhausting that was. But during that whole time, the apostles are with Him, and that's their training ground. And then He would go at night and on the sidelines, and He would teach the apostles more things. Talk about a crash course.

Talk about a discipleship development opportunity. Does that look organic? Or does it look like a good shepherd with a plan, with a heavenly plan? When we think of Christ and the apostles, Christ taught the apostles, and He gave authority to the apostles.

And out of that, the faith once delivered was developed. There's nothing came after that. It was Christ, the apostles, and the faith once delivered. Let's look at Matthew 28:16. It says the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." Now here we have the apostles being sent out to make more disciples.

Now you talk about a plan. You talk about a worldwide plan, a heaven-to-earth plan. Does this look organic? Or does it look like a shepherd with a plan?

This all happened within a three and a half year time span, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

Look at the pattern. Go and teach all nations, making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, continuing to teach all things I've commanded you.

What's the very next thing that we see the apostles do in the Scriptures? Following the same pattern as Christ, ordaining elders, making disciples, ordaining plural elders. Does that look organic? Or does it look like a good shepherd with a plan?

And here's some verses about this plan being fleshed out. And it says, "And when they had ordained them elders in every church," there's that pattern, ordaining elders in every church. "For this cause I left thee in Crete that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city." You see, Christ making disciples or choosing apostles. The elders going to every city, making disciples, ordaining elders, plural.

The heavenly pattern of building healthy churches.

Here's a couple more verses. And this is just to create in your mind, if you'd get a picture of what happens. "And they went up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders. And when they come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church of the apostles and elders. And the apostles and elders came together to consider the matter. Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men."

You see the structure? You see the pattern? "He was sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. They, following Paul, went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. If any are sick among you, let him call the elders of the church. The elders which were among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ." Now the observation here is all the references indicate elders were chosen or ordained.

And I want us to think about something. The focus is not ordaining apostles. The focus is not ordaining prophets. The focus is not ordaining evangelists. There's many more gifts than what the elders have. If we want healthy churches, does it matter how we do it? Luke 6:12, "One day soon afterward, Jesus went up to a mountain to pray, and He prayed to God all night. At daybreak, He called together all of His disciples and chose 12 of them to be apostles." I think there's a pattern that started there, and it continues.

Let's look at some more verses. And this is the gifts. It says He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

So Ephesians, it says, "Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children." The thing I want us to recognize or notice here is the goal for gifts given for the church is that we can become mature. That's the purpose of gifts.

Let me ask you a question. Can you or I give gifts to the church? Can you or I make sure the church has these gifts? Can you or I bring these gifts to the church? Can you or I create these gifts in the church? I think the obvious answer is no.

Jesus says He prayed all night. Why do you think Jesus prayed all night when He chose the apostles? Do you think He was trying to find the right gifts? Maybe. But I think He was trying to choose the right men due to their character, qualifications, and their resilience. This is why I think the Scriptures have given us elder qualifications. When you look at the elder qualifications and you look at the apostles, they had those very same qualifications plus.

I think they're a step above most elders.

So let's look at how to know if you're a qualified elder.

And this is going to surprise you. The first thing to look at that I would suggest if you want to be a qualified elder is you've got to want to be an elder.

Now you may be thinking, "What's he where is he going at?" Let's look at a couple of verses. Paul says this saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of an overseer, he desires a noble task. Everyone scared of this verse?

Let me bring you another one. What's this mean? Peter says, "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly or of a ready mind."

Are you aware that Paul starts with the longest New Testament teaching about elders by saying, "This saying is trustworthy," that if he wants it, it's a noble task? I'm going to suggest to you, and I speak from experience here in my next point, you've got to want it. And this is why.

Faithful shepherding demands much of you.

It demands huge amounts of time, massive amounts of energy, and enormous amounts of resources. If you don't have the inner hunger for the role, you'll burn out. You'll break apart. You'll become frustrated, and you'll become easily threatened, making really bad choices and decisions. Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone that wants to be an elder is qualified. Not all motivations are godly. But it does mean you must have an inner hunger for the role. You need to be resilient, have fortitude, endurance for the job.

Don't assume.

This next thing I want to look at as qualifications is, are you an example of godly character?

In Timothy, it says, "Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money."

Given the importance of having Christ-like character, let's consider a few of these qualifications in more detail.

Let's look at above reproach.

Paul begins his virtue with above reproach and this idea of blameless. It's actually a pretty scary word, pretty scary idea.

I don't think the description means that an elder has transcended sin or leads some whatever, impeccable life. If that were the case, we'd probably have to fire every elder in every church. Rather, a man who is above reproach, I think, displays an exemplary degree of Christ-likeness. I think he should be free from conspicuous sin. I think being above reproach is akin to being respectable. 1 Timothy 3:2, righteous, holy, Titus 1:8.

In his book on elder qualifications, and I can't say this before gentleman's name, Thabea Halawebe, no idea. Being above reproach means that an elder is to be the kind of man whom no one suspects wrongdoing or immorality. People would be shocked to hear this kind of man charged with such acts.

Nominating men who are above reproach to be elders, I think, stokes the congregation's trust in its leaders. Father, church leaders who are above reproach, I think, safeguards the church's witness to the community.

For as Paul said, he must have a good reputation among outsiders so that he does not fall in disgrace and the devil's trap, 1 Timothy 3:7.

Let's look at self-controlled.

According to Paul's profiles, elders must be self-controlled, sober-minded, temperate, and disciplined.

Self-control is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:23, a mark of a Christian life. In short, I believe a spirit-filled man is a self-controlled man. Interesting, in both lists, Paul warns against a particular manifestation of a lack of self-control.

And one area he actually focuses in on is addiction to wine.

Drunkenness destroys lives and sucks people further into sin. Interesting, while Scripture does not require elders to abstain from alcohol, they must possess the capacity for self-denial. I don't recommend drinking alcohol. Do you conceal a secret addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography, or anything excessive? Do you lose control of your anger, spending, swearing, gossiping? Have you devoted yourself to crucifying some of the habitual sins and cultivating self-control?

Let's look at gentleness. I think elders should be known, and this is something that I've really thought about in the recent years, and it's something that I really want to hopefully be an example of and what's the word? Be an impact in other communities in helping elders to be this kind of people. I think elders should be known for their kindness and their gentleness. There's a famous Swahili proverb that says this, "When the elephants fight, the grass is trampled."

Likewise, when church shepherds and elders are combative and aggressive, the sheep get hurt. We see this in a thousand churches. That's why Paul described the quality elder not as a bully, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not egotistical, not domineering, not argumentative, not pushy, not gruff, not hot-headed.

I believe explosive elders, shepherds, and pastors and overseers crush church members. Instead, elders must be an example of gentle giants.

Gentle doesn't mean cowardness and weakness. The strongest men are gentle giants.

I think elders need to exercise their authority with the tenderness of a shepherd and the sensitivity of a loving father. I remember when I was seeing a child's book where there was a turtle that crawled up next to an elephant. It was drinking water at a watering hole.

And the elephant looked down and gingerly moved the turtle to the side with its toe so that it wouldn't crush the reptile accidentally.

It's amazing to see a massive creature take such care. People are similarly amazed when they experience gentleness from church leaders, and that's unfortunate. They often experience the opposite. Are you gentle or heavy-handed? Are you a peacemaker or a fire starter? Do you listen well or talk over others to express your opinions?

It is difficult to gauge these things in yourself. Be brave and ask a few insightful friends and church members around you for their candid assessment. It might be helpful.

Let's look at not a lover of money, not greedy. It says elders must not be greedy for money. Peter said that elders must serve not for the money, but eagerly. Now, this may be a little bit of a not thought of as much in our circles.

But these words, I think, offer a stinging rebuke to pastors who use their ministries to get rich and live large. I mean, the Scriptures teach against this. Beware of shepherds who fleece the sheep. Greed isn't a problem just for paid pastors.

Elders who aren't paid, who live to make money, have difficulty investing time and energy into caring for the congregation. Sometimes greedy elders manipulate churches with their donations. They may control church budgets and steer funds towards pet ministries. They assess the church's health and successes by monthly. They assess the church's health and success by the monthly treasures report.

When money-loving men lead a church, spending towards the poor, church planting, and global evangelism dries up. How do you relate to money? Do you love it and live to amass it? Or do you enjoy to give to the local church, spread the gospel, and the needs of others?

Do you give a tithe or a token, sacrifice, or a symbol? Or does your giving come with strings attached? Examine yourself carefully, for the love of money is a root of all evil, 1 Timothy 6:10.

Before we move on, stop for a moment and think about Jesus. When the religious leaders accused him of being in league with the devil, the charges didn't stick because he was above reproach. When the sword brandishing Peter offered him an opportunity to avoid his captors, he remained self-controlled, determined to fulfill what he and the Father had planned at the cross.

It wasn't organic. It was planned. While dealing with the weak, hurting, and sick, he was gentle. When the devil offered him the kingdoms of the world, he was not greedy.

Jesus was acting as God's perfect shepherd of the sheep, as well as making a pattern for elders in churches today.

Able to teach. Another qualification, it says, can you teach the Bible? This is the one that makes me a little jumpy. Paul said an overseer must be an able teacher, 1 Timothy 3:2. Teaching the Bible is central to an elder's shepherding work. Have I instructed others from God's word with notable effort? When you think about this, at times, someone suggests a man who has been a believer, a faithful church member for years. We talk about the man's godly character and his happy marriage. We list ministries and committees on which he has served and realize this man has volunteered hundreds of hours. The more we talk, the more obvious it seems this man should be an elder.

Then someone asks, can he teach the Bible? Certainly, this man in question has taught us by his godly example. But that's not what Paul meant when he required an elder to be able to teach. He meant fruitful, and I think verbal communication of the gospel and biblical doctrine. And the reason for this is an elder must be able to hold to faithful messages taught for two reasons, so that he will be able to encourage with sound teaching and refute those who contradict.

I think in some cases, we realize the brother has never taught, even in small settings, such as a home group. And that's why I like our church. We give opportunity for that so you guys don't have that excuse.

If he can't teach, this does disqualify him from being an elder. However, it does not disqualify him from being a deacon. And really, that's the only difference between the two. So my thought this morning, and I ran out of time to make my sermon longer. But my thought this morning is, when we think of healthy churches, don't assume that it's going to happen organically. I think it's really important to understand everything that's successful is done with a plan and with a purpose. And God gave us some patterns to follow. And I think it's very, very helpful if we do that. I think sometimes there's this attempt to go out and we're going to start churches and just wherever you decide to go, run into a city, another country, wherever.

And there's no thought put into it. They don't look at the qualifications. And I think the qualifications of elders surround the quality of the church. And that's why I think the value of discipling ourselves and developing ourselves is huge as to the success of our church and the impact that we're going to have and the opportunities that's going to come to impact our communities and the people around us.

So don't assume. Think through it and do it well.