Modern Americans are increasingly concerned about their health.Billions of dollars are spent on improving people’s health and well being, but in spite of this and the availability of the most advanced technology in the world, our national worry about health issues continues.

While people worry about their physical health, often they neglect their mental and spiritual health.  Physicians say that a lot of our physical symptoms are rooted in psychological problems.  Psychologists, on the other hand, say that much of our psychological problems can be traced to the dysfunctional families from which we came or in which we now live.  Preachers often laugh at this suggestion, but family therapists spend considerable amount of time and money doing research on improving the health of families.  Published studies show that we can learn much from their research about maintaining healthy families.

The church of Jesus Church is more than an organization; it is a living organism.  All living organisms must grow, develop and maintain their health. But what does a healthy church look like?

Pastoral theologian Charles Gerkin has written on the subject of Christian congregations.  In his book, An Introduction to Pastoral Care, Gerkin examines the congregation as a community of faith and describes five characteristics of a healthy congregation.  I believe all churches will benefit from examining themselves in light of these characteristics.

First of all, according to Gerkin, a healthy congregation is a community of language.  Secondly, a healthy congregation is a community of memory.  Thirdly, a healthy congregation is a community of inquiry.  Fourthly, a healthy congregation is a community of mutual care.  Finally, a healthy congregation is a community of mission.  In other words, a healthy church must be a Christ-centered community of language, memory, inquiry, mutual care and mission.

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