Healthy churches are comprised of healthy church members. Because I love the church I thought it might help to challenge some of her members to evaluate themselves.

Take a few moments to answer these ten questions and consider what type of church member you are. (These questions are not original as I have based them on the primary emphases in a helpful book.[1])

1.      Are you an expositional listener? Proper sermon digestion requires “listening for the meaning of a passage of Scripture and accepting that meaning as the main idea to be grasped for our personal and corporate lives as Christians” (20). Healthy churches are built with men and women who discipline themselves to hear God’s word in a way that fosters understanding and obedience.

2.      Are you a biblical theologian? A believer’s first and greatest calling is to ‘know God.’ Do you know what the Bible says about God? Are you committed – through systematic study – to pursuing this knowledge of God?

3.      Are you gospel saturated? “Apart from the gospel, the church has nothing to say – that is, nothing to say that cannot be said by some other human agency” (39). Have you so immersed yourself in this story that you order your life around it’s truth?

4.      Are you genuinely converted? Salvation brings life alteration. Is there obvious fruit in your life of a genuine life change?

5.      Are you a biblical evangelist? The call for a disciple is to be a disciple-maker. Are you active in sharing the gospel with others?

6.      Are you a committed member? Church membership is a vow taken before God to participate in the life and ministry of a local church. Have you broken that vow through inconsistent attendance, a failure to give, or a refusal to serve?

7.      Do you seek discipline? Church membership involves mutual accountability. Do you humbly seek and receive the loving correction from others?

8.      Are you a growing disciple? Healthy churches grow from healthy church members. “It’s impossible to divide the well-being of a church member from his or her spiritual growth and discipleship” (83).

9.      Are you a humble follower? “Leadership in the local church is established by God for the blessing of his people” (103). Do you follow God’s leaders with wide-open hearts, eager obedience, and joyful submission?

10.  Are you a prayer warrior? Perhaps the best way to support the ministry of your local church is to beg God to accomplish what mere men cannot.

---

[1] Thabiti M. Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member? Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.