A Healthy Church Is Known by Its Love

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A healthy church is more than just a building filled with people on Sunday mornings. We could all agree that churches can fill with people and still be unhealthy. So, what is a healthy church? Last month, we saw a couple of truths about a healthy church. First, it is a gathering of believers who stand in right relationship with God, surrendered to Christ’s lordship. Secondly, a healthy church is made up of Christ followers who are moving toward Jesus.

Jesus gives us another clue about a healthy church in John 13:34-35, where He said, “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” A healthy church is a gathering of believers who demonstrate strong, loving relationships with one another. It’s interesting that in John 13:34, Jesus said He was giving a new commandment, and then He told us to love one another. That doesn’t sound new. After all, Leviticus 19:18 makes it clear that we are to love our neighbours, and that was written long before Jesus’s words recorded in John 13. Jesus’s commandment, however, was to “love one another, even as I have loved you.”

Love one another, even as I have loved you. - John 13:34

Loving relationships should be the defining attribute of Christ’s followers. Jesus stated clearly that the world would know we are His disciples by the quality of our relationships. Our love will be authentic and sacrificial. It will be unconditional and merciful. Christians’ love for others will be so profound that people will not be able to miss it. This kind of loving relationship will be so startling and so unique that others will take notice.

Authentic loving relationships can’t be manufactured or maintained in our flesh because it is generated from God’s Spirit. Galatians 5:22 says it’s a result of the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives – a fruit of the Spirit.

If a church does not demonstrate loving relationships, it is at best anemic. A church without love is an oxymoron, an anomaly. It reveals a deep spiritual problem and a serious health issue that breeds toxicity and decline.

Loving relationships reflect compassion and unity. It produces spiritual fruit that lasts and reflects Christ’s character to the world. It opens hearts and minds to the truths of the gospel and bears beautiful fruit that lasts. It breaks down relational barriers with unbelievers and opens the door to emotional healing. It may clear a path to Gospel receptivity and ultimately bring about true spiritual restoration.

So, what is a healthy church? While it’s many things, it’s got to be a gathering of Christ followers demonstrating authentic, radical love for one another. Do you see this quality evidenced in your church?