Summer Blogging Project: Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

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At the beginning of this year my family made a monumental change; in obedience to the Lord, we left our church of 18 years and began searching for a new church home. My husband and I prayed over a plan we thought prudent. We had an ongoing discussions about what we should be looking for in a church, but finding that church wasn't as easy as I'd hoped (my wise husband knew better). Just as we were growing weary and impatient, God providentially redirected our steps. We are thankful that we have found the place we believe will be our church home for as long as He allows us to remain.

During our search, I poured over Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. This book was an wonderful resource for us. In fact, I believe it would be a great benefit to any believer.

From the Introduction,
Biblically, we find that god's Word is replete with images of delayed blessing. God, for His own inscrutable purposes, tests and tries His Jobs and Josephs, His Jeremiahs, and even Jesus Himself. The trials of Job, the beating and selling of Joseph, the imprisonment and mocking of Jeremiah, the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus all remind us that God moves in mysterious ways. He calls us more fundamentally to a relationship of trust with Him than to a full understanding of Him and His ways. The parables of Jesus are full of stories of the kingdom of God beginning in surprisingly small ways but growing finally to a glorious prominence. Biblically, we must realize that the size of what our eyes see is rarely a good way to estimate the greatness of something in the eyes of God. (p. 27, emphasis mine)
This passage resonated with me when I first read it; I realized I needed to set aside my great expectations and be patient. These words are more meaningful now that we are at a church much smaller than the one we left and the others we visited.

I'll be blogging through Nine Marks of a Healthy Church this summer. I hope you'll join me here on Tuesdays as I share snippets from the book and our church search, and thoughts on the importance of each of the 9 marks.

Comments

Trisha said…
Sounds great, Melissa. I'm looking forward to reading your posts.
June 4, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Kim Shay said…
Such a great book. I have another one by Dever, that they gave to us at T4G. It's about the Church, and another blogger I follow is blogging through that. I have an extra copy if you want it when I send the other books.
June 5, 2013 at 7:23 AM
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