Healthy Church Check-Up

I am a part of the I.F.C.A. International (Independent Fundamental Churches of America). It is a great organization where Bible churches can fellowship and cooperate together under the banner of the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. Since the strength of the fellowship will be dependent upon the health of the churches that are fellowshipping together, the I.F.C.A. is always striving for the health and maturity of churches. To help churches evaluate their health, the I.F.C.A. has put together a list of healthy church qualities. Few churches will have all of the 21 vital signs, but every church should be striving for them.

1. Doctrinal Purity
2. Holy Living
3. Fervent Prayer
4. Expository Preaching
5. Relevant teaching
6. Servant leadership
7. Intentional equipping
8. Leadership development
9. Pastoral Mentoring (pastor apprenticeship)
10. Evangelistic zeal
11. Missions Involvement
12. Church extension (planting, establishing, and nurturing local churches)
13. Compassionate concern (toward the physical, material, and emotional needs of those inside and outside the church)
14. Unified purpose
15. Effective communication (to clearly, thoughtfully, and sensitively distribute useful data)
16. Biblical conciliation
17. Sensitive separation (separation and church discipline excersized with humility and grace)
18. Multi-generational ministry
    
19. Multi-cultural/ethnically diverse ministry
20. Financial Stewardship
21. Continual Improvement