Does Your Church Have a Cold?

by Rob O’Neal, Director of Church Multiplication

I caught a spring cold recently. It wasn’t horrible, but the runny nose and body aches left me with little energy to do anything. I just wanted to sleep, drink chicken soup, and sit in the bathtub and let the warm water make me ache less.

When I am sick, I find it hard to impossible to do what I normally do. Exercise doesn’t go so well when I’m sick. Work feels like a chore, and my mind is really not present. Instead of spending time with my family, I really just want to be left alone. The only thing I am really good at when I am sick is sleeping and taking care of myself.

Then, when I feel good again, it’s amazing how fresh life feels. With no fever, I can run. Without a dripping nose, I get far more done at work. With no aches, I enjoy spending time with my family.

Churches can get sick just like people do. When our churches are ill, we find it difficult to do the kinds of things that churches are supposed to do. Instead, we turn inward and hurt.

Healthy churches, by contrast, make disciples. In the New Testament, we can look to the example of the church in Antioch. In Acts 11:22–30 a movement of God’s Holy Spirit broke out, and many people became followers of Jesus. Barnabas, who became involved in this movement, reached out to Saul of Tarsus to help him teach these young believers how to live as disciples. For an entire year, Saul (we know him better by his Roman name, Paul) and Barnabas taught and trained the growing group of disciples in Antioch.

Their efforts bore great fruit. The number of disciples grew. They collected a large offering for the poor. They began to get a grasp on their own giftedness. They prayed hard, fasted, and listened for God’s direction. That direction ultimately led them to send Barnabas and Saul on a great journey that launched Paul’s missionary career. Healthy churches make disciples.

I see that in the church multiplication movement as well. Church planters make disciples. I see it in Jason Egan, a church planter in Downer’s Grove, Illinois. Jason works with the people he serves to teach them how to study the Bible. As they study, they are gaining a deeper understanding of Christian theology. He knows that they need to grasp their faith in Jesus so that they can share it with others; so Jason diligently works to develop a disciple’s mind in the people he serves. That’s the Conference’s healthy, disciple-making churches value in action. May we all strive to build healthy, disciple-making churches.