AGROS MINISTRIES

Growing a Healthy Church

by Dann Spader & Gary Mayes

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Spader, Dann & Gary Mayes. Growing a Healthy Church. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.1991

Major Points:

Church growth is accomplished by following Christ’s plan for ministry. This involves:

1. Building a proper environment for growth.
2. Training a team for ministry.
3. Mobilizing the people for evangelism.
4. Multiplying your base of leadership.

Significant scripture passages & why:

Probably the most significant discussion of scripture was the application of Luke 7:1, (:1-6, and 9:11-17. Dann Spader applied this to the way that Christ developed a leadership team to go and reach the world with the message of Christ. It involved teaching, then showing, then sending, and finally involving them in ministry.

3 Most significant things that apply personally & why:

1. The importance of evangelism being a team sport rather than “lone ranger” evangelism. Too often we place the importance of evangelism at the feet of individuals, rather than using the whole body of Christ to impact people for God.
2. The overall purpose for the life of a believer is to produce disciples that can in turn produce disciples. This involves all aspects of the Christian life. My goal should be producing disciples who can in turn produce disciples.
3. True long term growth for the church and the body is accomplished by winning (outreach), building (growth), equipping (ministry), and multiplying leadership. I spend a majority of my time building and not enough time winning.

Questions I would ask the author:

I would like to have seen him address the issue of the disciplines in relationship to a believers stages of growth. I believe that the disciplines could be dovetailed into the aspects of equipping and multiplying leaders. I wonder if he has considered the relationship of the disciplines to this area? Evaluation of my own life as a whole within regard to the book: The overall impact came from the discussion of Christ and prayer. If any person could have not prayed, it would have been Christ. Yet the ministry of Christ involved many times of serious prayer (after ministering, John’s death, selection of the twelve, and Gethsemane, etc.). This is an area of my life that I must develop in order to be successful in ministry by God’s standards.

Specific applications from this book:

I was very impressed with the 6 elements that are involved in Christ’s ministry that must be present in any ministry I am involved in.

1. It must create an atmosphere of love.
2. It must be relationship oriented in its lifestyle.
3. It must communicate Christ clearly.
4. It must have a healthy ministry image.
5. It must be based on prayer.
6. It must place primary importance on application and teaching of God’s truth. It will be my desire and goal to make these elements an integral part of the ministry I am involved with and a personal part of my own Christian life.

Other thoughts / insights as I discussed the book with others:

The most fascinating insight I gained: the time frame of Christ’s ministry. Christ spent almost 1 1/2 years developing a relationship with the disciples before He called them to follow Him. The fact that he spent this much time impressed upon me the need for proper preparation for ministry. In spite of His time constraint, He took the time to develop these relationships.

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