What is the key marker of a successful church? In a world obsessed with metrics, attendance numbers, and church size, we believe there is a much more important goal: having a healthy church.
While some congregations chase numerical growth, innovative programs, and entertaining services, they may be missing the fundamental elements that ensure their people are being spiritually nourished and equipped to represent God’s kingdom.
Today we get to share a video where Randy Pope, Founding Pastor of Perimeter Church and the President of Life on Life Ministries, explains the importance of prioritizing a healthy church.
When Pope began his ministry journey nearly 50 years ago, he observed that people’s wants and needs in church were closely aligned. Today, however,that is not always the case. By focusing on easy-to-measure metrics, many churches today are growing numerically while simultaneously declining in spiritual health.
This is not sustainable, however. Long-term growth of the kingdom requires spiritually mature and healthy people.
Watch the video interview with By Faith magazine to learn more about 12 characteristics and how to help ensure you are leading a healthy church. We have a summary of the video below that you can also reference.
The 12 Characteristics of a Healthy Church
Pope outlines twelve essential characteristics that mark a truly healthy church. These are in no particular order:
They Embark on a Journey of Faith: Healthy churches understand that spiritual growth is an ongoing journey, not a destination. They create environments where people can grow at their own pace while being consistently challenged to move forward.
They Choose Influence over Success: Rather than chasing traditional metrics of success, healthy churches prioritize kingdom impact and genuine community transformation.
They Embrace Ministries of the Head, Heart, and Hand: A balanced approach to ministry that engages the whole person–intellectual understanding, emotional connection, and practical service.
They Are Intentional About Making Disciples: Healthy churches focus on creating mature and equipped followers of Christ who can, in turn, create disciples themselves. This multiplication mindset is essential for sustainable spiritual growth.
They Equip People to Appropriate the Holy Spirit’s Power: Rather than relying solely on programs or personalities, healthy churches teach their members to depend on and walk in the Spirit’s power.
They Emphasize the Marriage of Grace and Duty: These churches avoid both legalism and cheap grace, teaching instead the beautiful harmony between God’s grace and our faithful response.
They Destroy the Ministry Idols of Tradition and Preference: Healthy churches aren’t bound by “we’ve always done it this way” thinking or personal preferences that hinder mission.
They Don’t Compromise Spiritual Nutrition: They resist the temptation to water down biblical teaching for the sake of accessibility or numerical growth.
They Provide Healthy Environments for Worship: Focus is placed on genuine worship and spiritual feeding rather than entertainment or mere inspiration.
They Correctly Steward the Keys to the Kingdom: These churches take seriously their responsibility to shepherd souls through proper use of church discipline and the sacraments.
They Underscore All Teaching with the Gospel: Everything points back to Christ as the only hope of glory, keeping the gospel central in all ministry areas.
They Allow Their Pastor to Focus on Shepherding: Healthy churches protect their pastoral leadership’s time for teaching, leading, and equipping the saints.
Finding the Right Model for Your Church
If you want a healthy church, then you need to consider the model around which you build your church. There are a few common models seen in many churches today:
- The Pastoral Model: You focus on taking care of people–the most common model when Perimeter started almost fifty years ago.
- The Attractional Model: The focus is centered on drawing crowds and reaching as many people as possible, even if it means you don’t go deep.
- The Influential Model: Emphasizing community impact, reaching people who would never be attracted to church.
Each of these models has merit, and in the video, Randy shares how Perimeter tried to bring aspects of each model together. But even when you bring them together, something is still missing.
If you want to see the characteristics of a healthy church, then we strongly believe you need to embrace the “life-on-life” model of church, based on Jesus’ own approach to discipleship and ministry. This model emphasizes deep, intentional investment in the lives of others who will, in turn, walk alongside others in their spiritual journey.
Without the depth of life-on-life discipleship to build spiritually mature and equipped believers, each church model falls short of producing truly healthy churches.
Creating a Plan for Church Health
Pope emphasizes that achieving church health also requires intentional planning. Just as a business needs a clear plan to succeed or a person needs a consistent fitness routine, churches need a well-thought-out strategy for spiritual formation.
If you are working on a plan of your own, consider these three key movements:
- How will you help move people from unbelief to belief?
- How will you move people from belief to maturity?
- How will you move people from maturity to leadership development?
And like any organization, your plan should define the following elements in a way that is easy to remember, simple, and applicable for the people in your congregation:
- Why do we exist? (define your Mission)
- What are we trying to accomplish? (define your Vision)
- How will we accomplish it? (define your Strategy)
- What are our values as we do this? (define your Core Values)
Once you’ve identified these things, you will have a plan that you can share with your congregation so everyone is moving in the same direction together. You’ll have a rubric for making decisions. You’ll know what to prioritize, and when to say, “no.”
A Call to Action
Church health is not achieved by accident. It requires intentional focus, careful planning, and consistent implementation of biblical principles. As you consider your church’s health, reflect on the twelve characteristics of a healthy church and prayerfully ask:
- Which areas of health are strongest in your church?
- Where do you see opportunities for growth?
- How can you begin implementing more life-on-life discipleship?
- What steps can you take today toward greater church health?
Remember, the goal is not to create another program or initiative, but to foster genuine spiritual transformation through intentional discipleship. As Randy reminds us, true success in ministry is not measured by how many people fill our buildings, but by how effectively we are making mature and equipped followers of Christ who can make other mature and equipped followers of Christ.
Take time to watch Randy Pope’s full message and consider how these principles might transform your approach to ministry. The future of the church depends not on our ability to draw crowds, but on our faithfulness in building healthy, disciple-making communities that truly reflect the character and mission of Jesus Christ.
Want to learn more about starting a life-on-life movement in your church? Join one of our upcoming Info Calls to learn more about our discipleship training program.