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Marks of A Healthy Church: Biblical Theology by Pastor Kevin Feder

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We continue our series on the various marks of a healthy church. There are several outcomes I would like to see in having an educated congregation. First, a congregation who understand what a healthy church is will be able to have the right expectations for their church. Second, an educated congregation will understand their role to promote health within the church, giving them a hand in the success of the church. 


Healthy churches are marked by biblical theology. For those who study theology this isn’t to differential between systematic theology (where theological topics are organized into a system for easy reference) and biblical theology (looking at how a theological topic is developed throughout the course of Scripture and redemptive history). By biblical theology we mean theology that is sound. 


In other words, we can look at 1 John 3:2 which says “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” What does this mean? A mormon would look at this and suggest that Scripture affirms that we will become gods. As a Christian who looks to Scripture as their authority we must interpret that in light of the totality of Scripture. In other words, we must interpret our theology in light of the whole Bible. In this we could say a healthy church is marked by biblical theology, another way we can say it is that it is marked by theology that is biblical: interpreting the parts of Scripture in terms of the whole. 


For this the church must not shrink away from teaching the whole counsel of God. On the one hand it is easy to critique an overly topically oriented church that only preaches and teaches within the confines of mini-series that address what is deemed to be relevant. There is certainly a danger in this. On the other hand, I think there is a caution against a church who goes very slowly through one book. To spend eight or more years in one book could deprive a congregation of being exposed to “the whole counsel of God.” 


A simple way to summarize this mark of a healthy church is that the congregation has a growing understanding of the entire message of the Bible. Thus, when one verse is assigned a meaning a healthy church would ask if that interpretation is sensible to the totality of what is revealed in Scripture. This is a good sign, and something shepherds and sheep should strive to do. 


In Christ,

Pastor Kevin

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