[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":105},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-for-a-check-up":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-for-a-check-up-surround":95},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":14,"columnName":77,"date":78,"description":20,"extension":79,"image":80,"meta":81,"minRead":82,"navigation":83,"path":84,"postType":85,"publication":86,"publicationUrl":80,"seo":87,"stem":88,"topics":89,"__hash__":94},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-for-a-check-up.md","Time for a Check-Up",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12,13],"Amos","Revelation","1 Corinthians","Galatians","Acts",{"type":15,"value":16,"toc":73},"minimark",[17,21,24,27,30,37,43,49,55,61,67,70],[18,19,20],"p",{},"Do you go to the doctor for an annual check-up? Do you carefully monitor your vital signs—blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate?",[18,22,23],{},"What about your church? Could it use a check-up too? What would be the Great Physician's diagnosis if he did a thorough examination of your congregation?",[18,25,26],{},"Dr. Joe Ellis coined some terms to describe unhealthy organizations. For example, a college or university falls prey to \"academentia\" when it loses touch with the needs of its students and supporters. When an organization forgets its primary mission and focuses on perpetuating itself, it's sick with \"institutionitis.\"",[18,28,29],{},"Here are some church illnesses I've noticed.",[18,31,32,36],{},[33,34,35],"em",{},"Blurred Vision",". Sick churches lack passion and purpose. The leaders are too consumed with day-to-day problems to dream about the future. The members feel like motion-sick passengers in the backseat of a car—they're moving, but it's not clear where they're going.",[18,38,39,42],{},[33,40,41],{},"Hearing Problems",". God has spoken, but no one is listening. There is \"a famine of hearing the words of the LORD\" (Amos 8:11). Personal Bible study isn't happening. Irrelevant sermons produce irreverent Christians.",[18,44,45,48],{},[33,46,47],{},"Heart Failure",". Healthy churches have a heart for the Lord and a heart for people. There's an atmosphere of humility, sincerity, earnestness, and genuine concern. Laughter is common, tears fall without embarrassment, and needs are met without prodding or coercion. Unhealthy churches, however, are marked by weak faith, stale prayers, overly-predictable worship services, and shallow personal relationships. Sick churches have a weak pulse because they've lost their \"first love\" (Revelation 2:4).",[18,50,51,54],{},[33,52,53],{},"Chronic Complaints",". In a healthy body, \"if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it\" (1 Corinthians 12:26). An unhealthy body, on the other hand, is filled with incessant groans and grumblings—and awkwardness results when eyes, ears, hands, and feet compete for attention.",[18,56,57,60],{},[33,58,59],{},"Self-Cannibalism",". In extreme cases, different parts of the body actually begin to attack and destroy one another—a deadly disease indeed. \"If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other\" (Galatians 5:15).",[18,62,63,66],{},[33,64,65],{},"Dizziness and Lack of Balance",". Healthy churches are well-balanced, blending consistency and variety, truth and love. They take a firm stand on sound doctrine, but they grant lots of grace to the broken, the bruised, and the searching. In unhealthy churches, something is out of balance. There's a big push to increase attendance, but little emphasis on discipleship. There's too much emotion—or none at all. There's too little teaching—or an over-emphasis on head-knowledge without applying it to life. An unhealthy congregation stays busy with a dizzying array of programs, but somehow it's clear that something is wrong.",[18,68,69],{},"Yes, most churches could use a spiritual check-up now and then. And so could you and I. If you want to know the temperature of your church, stick the thermometer in your own mouth. Does your heart beat with passion for the things of God? Have you been listening to the Father's voice? Are you asking the Great Physician to heal your own soul's diseases?",[18,71,72],{},"If each member would accept responsibility for the church's health . . . if each of us would pay more attention to our own spiritual nutrition and exercise . . . then the body of Christ would never fall prey to \"institutionitis.\" And once again God's people could be the kind of healthy body we read about in Acts 9:31, which says, \"Then the church . . . enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.\"",{"title":74,"searchDepth":75,"depth":75,"links":76},"",2,[],"First Look","2006-10-08","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-for-a-check-up","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":20},"articles\u002Ftime-for-a-check-up",[90,91,92,93],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Spiritual Formation","Christian Unity","E3ni12JOVNVScy3voEWE2sg6c1Ly7RWuAOD6WTyNKUU",[96,100],{"title":97,"path":98,"stem":99,"description":97,"children":-1},"Time for a Change?","\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-for-a-change","articles\u002Ftime-for-a-change",{"title":101,"path":102,"stem":103,"description":104,"children":-1},"Time-Out","\u002Farticles\u002Ftime-out","articles\u002Ftime-out","Some countries have sacred cows. In America, we have sports—a religion that draws throngs of faithful worshipers to stadiums and gyms every week and daily fills the airwaves and newsstands with its gospel of wins and losses, batting averages and power plays.",1790466188568]