Challenge Accepted!

"There is no such thing as a “perfect” church. Honestly, there will never be a perfect church because the people who occupy the church are imperfect."

This was the beginning of 5 Signs You're Part of an Unhealthy Church. This post really got me thinking about how important evaluation of ministry is. If we are not constantly being challenged in our beliefs we will never grow. I have found that making students explain why they think something really helps them understand why they believe it. If you surround yourself with people who just agree with everything you say, you will never be pushed. Two of the signs of an unhealthy church that the article from ChurchLeaders.com points out are: Leadership can never be challenged; and You are comfortable, never convicted. This tells me that evaluation is extremely important to a healthy church.


In a small town it becomes even more difficult to challenge a leader of the church. In a small town everyone knows everybody, and gossip spreads like wildfire (two stereotypes that I have found to be extremely true). In every church their is the church bully. The few people that opposes everything for arguments sake. If the church is talking about changing the carpet color to green, they would say blue would be better. These type of people can make for annoying long business meetings, but I think the concept is a good one. If we are challenged in what we do, we are forced to have a reason why we are doing something. I was taught very early in ministry that everything I do needs to have a purpose. The ice-breaker games need to have purpose. The silly fear factor games need to have purpose. It is very important that we know why we are doing the things we do in church.


Most people do not like confrontation. I am in the minority when I say, "I love to argue." I think that healthy arguments are important to progress. The key word being healthy. Many times if we become comfortable in a situation we become stuck. The biggest example of this I have seen in church life is in using the word "traditional." Tradition tells me that you do things because that's how they have always been done, and to me that is the most scary thing in a church. If you are doing things because they have been done that way since 1900, you are stuck. I am not saying that traditions are a bad thing, I am however saying that doing things for traditions sake is dangerous.

"A tradition without intelligence is not worth having." T. S. Eliot

I challenge you in ministry to set down from time to time and set goals, and then come back and evaluate those goals. Also read the article 5 Signs You're Part of an Unhealthy Church and share it with your ministry community. Evaluation is an important part of ministry, and must be done!