Healthy Church Elements

The healthy church path we are on is lit by the light of the world, who is a lamp to our feet and path.

By Kalengule Kaoma, Superintendent, Africa

The August 2024 golden Jubilee celebrations in Grace Communion International (GCI) in Accra, Ghana, have lately occupied my mind. Fifty years of living and sharing the gospel in Ghana have helped us take note of traits of a healthy church. In addition, GCI – Africa has celebrated at least 200 collective years of participation in the gospel and reflecting aspects of Healthy Church. This article is a reflection on some elements of a healthy church I experience in GCI Africa. There is much variety and beauty throughout GCI Africa. I liken it to the amazing array of color seen when light goes through an optical prism.

Let me highlight some healthy church elements GCI Africa has been emphasizing.

Missions

The apostle John quoted Jesus referring to himself as the light of the world. In his Gospel, Matthew indicated that Jesus envisioned his plans to build a church. Both of these records of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples point to the mission he would do in the world through his body, the church. Like light going through a prism, Jesus’ disciples went in many different directions and reached many different groups in a variety of ways.

Jesus’ mission is an expression and act of love — love to redeem, save, and serve the lost. He invites people to himself. Those who respond are placed in the church, his body, so that they can go out and participate with him by reaching out to others.

In GCI Africa, we refer to missions as the Love Avenue. It is a place where Jesus meets people at their points of need. This is where the Holy Spirit washes, heals, and restores all kinds of people to a loving relationship with the Father. Mission fields are found in families, neighborhoods, workplaces, villages, wherever people are and wherever Jesus goes. In this ministry, Jesus promises to mend broken hearts. He turns situations, attitudes, and lives around. The hearts and minds of people are filled with joy even in the midst of trials and the hardships of life.

People who respond to the invitation of Jesus are added to the body (church) of Jesus Christ. These become coworkers with Jesus. They are charged to represent Jesus as ambassadors of the kingdom of God.

Opportunities for growth

On the heel of the missional responsibilities of a healthy church is the teaching ministry. The strands of light coming through the prism encourages the church to make disciples, followers, and friends of Jesus. People who join the missional journey of and with Jesus join a class to discover who Jesus is. In these discipleship classes, people not only learn about who Jesus is, but also about the Father and the Holy Spirit. The light of the world shines into the hearts of people enabling them to know their place in the Father, Son, and Spirit. There is an intense yet gentle illumination of the light which allows people to see a warm relationship developing between them and the triune God. This pathway is echoed by the apostle Peter when he urged Christians of his time to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV).

Our Lord and Master, Jesus, commanded the apostles to go into all the world to make disciples and teach them to obey his teachings (Matthew 28:18-20). This growth solidifies a believer’s faith, which is firmly anchored on the Rock, Jesus Christ. In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul wrote about the connection of faith to love. Christ Jesus, the rich soil of love in which faith grows, deeply dwells in our hearts by faith. (Ephesians 3:17). GCI – Africa refers to this growth pattern as Faith Avenue. This is an Avenue where the word of God is shared among brethren with the aim of developing a knowledgeable relationship of faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. African believers have a thousand reasons to celebrate their growth in faith. The light of Jesus keeps shining from glory to glory.

Warm, obedient response to God

In one of his teachings on prayer, Jesus taught his disciples to include aspects of God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Part of what is done in heaven is seen in several books of the Bible, including Revelations 7:11 where it is recorded that “all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.” One of the elements of a healthy church is exhibited through worship, praise, and thanksgiving to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As members of Grace Communion International in Africa, we are happy to collectively call this response part of our Hope Avenue.

Hope Avenue is an Avenue of mutual relationship with God. Like the beautiful colors coming out of a prism, God meets his people in a variety of ways — right where they are — and they commune through sacraments of praise, worship, prayer, word, offerings, dedications, song, and other divinely guided ordinances. Jesus, the hope of glory, meets with his people in the house and at the table of fellowship. They break bread together and Jesus confirms with deep affirmations his word in the lives of his people.

Everywhere I attend church service in Africa, I join brethren in electrifying, lively, exuberant, and exultant praise and worship. During the celebrations in Ghana, we plan to join our voices together and lift one voice of honor to our Father in heaven. This is healthy for a healthy church.

Our response to God’s love includes planning and preparing for before, during, and after the worship service. The ambience, the emotional attitudes, the physical temperature, the dress of the participants, and the heart and mind preparations are all part of our response to honor of our living God. What comes to mind is the way King David prepared himself, the priests, and the people to receive the ark of the covenant into the city of Jerusalem. Similarly, King Solomon thoroughly prepared himself, the priests, and the congregation of Israel for the dedication of the temple. God also responded by symbolically filling the temple with his glory. Our positive, warm, and joyful response to God’s love is an awesome element of a healthy church.

I pointed out earlier that there are several elements which are indicative of a healthy church. I have highlighted GCI’s approach to encouraging us to examine if we are on the right path towards becoming a healthy church. I am persuaded and of the mind that we are moving in the right direction towards a healthy church throughout Africa. In this world, we are on the path of growth. We are becoming more like Jesus. The path we are on is lit by the light of the world, who is a lamp to our feet and path. Each day is an opportunity to grow toward becoming a healthy church which brings glory and honor to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.