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Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Home Quotation Randy Pope on a Healthy Church

Randy Pope on a Healthy Church

Posted on August 17, 2019 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


I ran across this video in byFaith, the official magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and thought I would share it with you.

For convenience sake, I have captured the 12 characteristics of a healthy church that Randy mentions. On some of them I would like to have further clarification but, the following is an attempt at a faithful transcript of the list.

Healthy churches:

  1. Embark on a journey of faith
  2. Choose influence over success
  3. Embrace ministries of the head, heart and hand
  4. Are intentional about making mature and equipped followers of Christ who make mature and equipped followers of Christ
  5. Equip their people to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit
  6. Emphasize the marriage of grace and duty
  7. Destroy the ministry idols of tradition and preference
  8. Don’t compromise spiritual nutrition for the sake of simplicity and growth
  9. Provide healthy environments for worship and feeding rather than environments for entertainment and self-help inspiration
  10. Correctly steward the keys to the kingdom and the sacraments
  11. Underscore all their teaching with the realities of the authentic Gospel and of Christ as the only hope of glory
  12. They allow their pastor to focus on shepherding through his teaching, leading and equipping

I especially liked Randy’s emphasis on taking people into holiness and having a plan for getting them there.

My 50 or so years of church experience has shown me that most churches either have no plan to bring people into maturity or if they do have a plan it is not very effective. This is a shame and there is no good excuse for it.

May we get better at this moving forward.


Filed Under: Quotation

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

I have the opportunity to go to Istanbul, Turkey this summer to minister to Syrian refugees. If you would like more details about this trip, please use this link Mark McIntyre - Istanbul, Turkey Please note that this trip is fully funded, but I would appreciate your continued prayer. The trip will take place June 27 - July 6, 2025.

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