Richard Wurmbrand, one-time persecuted Christian, wrote that churches should have the aroma of a hospital: They should smell of sickness. He went on to explain that local churches are filled with sinners and so there will always be the need to address spiritual maladies. He was concerned about the unhealthy tendency of forgetting that Jesus, the Great Physician, came to seek not those who are well but rather those who are sick. This is clearly indicated in Mark 2:15–17:
And as [Jesus] reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Brackenhurst Baptist Church, in our biblical quest to be healthy we need to make allowance for some ill-health. If we don’t, then perhaps we aren’t as healthy as we think we are.
I don’t know the etymology of the phrase “healthy church,” but the nomenclature certainly permeates evangelical culture. As one studies the New Testament, the characteristics of a spiritually healthy church are not hard to discern. Mark Dever helpfully summarises these in his book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church where he identifies such characteristics as expository preaching, gospel-centred ministry, biblical theology, plurality of elders, meaningful membership, etc. Over the years, people have added others. I am grateful that, biblically-speaking, Brackenhurst Baptist Church is a healthy church. Yet we must keep in mind that healthy does not mean pain-free, or affliction-free, or scar-free, nor does it mean sin-free. Hence Wurmbrand’s observation that a healthy local church is much like a hospital. And, like a hospital, the local church should be a place of healing as well as a place of safety.
Several years ago, after a ten week stay in hospital, I was discharged. I remember that day clearly. I was both excited and anxious. As we drove home, I could feel pain in my abdomen at each bump of the tyres. As we arrived home, and I gingerly walked into the house, I was happy to be home, and yet a sense of insecurity shadowed my joy. “Will I be okay here?” My wife was a rock to me and yet she is neither a physician nor a pharmacist and therefore there was only so much she could do. However, at the hospital, I had round-the-clock attention by nurses and doctors, knowing that, in case of an emergency, capable medical care—and drugs!—were a call button away. All this to say that the hospital was a place where I felt safe in my sickness. Surrounded by skilled medical personnel and ready access to medicine, the hospital was a place of healing. So it is with the local church. At least it should be.
A healthy church is made up of healthy church members: church members who desire to pursue holiness and wholeness in Christ. But this pursuit implies an element of both being unholy and broken.
As we read the New Testament epistles, it becomes clear that the recipient churches had a lot of sin to be confronted and a lot of afflicted members in need of comfort. Reading with our imagination, we can smell the scent of antibiotics and surgical spirits and can see gauze and IVs while hearing the various beeps and buzzers indicating all is well, while in other cases attention is needed. Regardless of the spiritual ailment, the local church was called upon to apply the balm of the gospel. And sometimes it was called upon to inflict pain by the use of the scriptural scalpel, even the painful procedure of church discipline.
One way that a healthy church manifests its spiritual health is by doing the hard thing of confronting sin in its midst—even to the point of excommunication (Matthew 18:15–20). It is a way of excising disease from the body in order for the eventual spiritual health of the sinning member and for the general health (and safety) of the body. Confronting that which is unhealthy is a sign of health! Healthy churches acknowledge the presence of that which is unhealthy and work to make it well. This provides true Christians with a wonderful sense of security, knowing that the congregation will love one another enough to promote each other’s spiritual healthcare. And this leads to a final observation: We need to be patient with each patient.
At the end of the day each church member is like a spiritual patient in need of the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. Each of us has sinful attitudes and/or actions and/or addictions in need of spiritual renewal. Some of these are more overt in the lives of others and some require much attention. We need to forbear with one another; we need to be patient with one another; we need to be hopefully helpful to one another.
One of my favourite stories is of pastor John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) who patiently laboured alongside the great hymnist William Cowper (pronounced Cooper). Though a brilliantly gifted man, Cowper suffered from severe depression that was so bad that he tried to commit suicide three times. He required a lot of time from busy Newton, and yet Newton persevered with him as pastor and friend. Newton never saw great progress in Cowper’s life and yet loved him until Cowper’s death, assured that he would see him in heaven. Many would have dismissed Cowper as a lost cause, questioning whether his profession of faith was genuine. Not Newton. Newton knew from personal experience that he once was blind but, by the grace of the Great Physician, now he could see. I suppose he held to the same hope for Cowper. Cowper experienced in his pastor one who behaved like a hopeful physician of souls, just like his Master.
Brothers and sisters let us reject an unbelieving cynicism that gives up on the sin-sick among us. Rather, let us be a genuinely healthy church—a spiritual hospital where the soul-sick can find healing.
Doug