September 8thWhat Makes for A Healthy Church?
What makes for a healthy church? This is a question that has been motivating Mennonite Church Manitoba’s Congregational Health Committee (CHC) since its inception in 2021.
“There are many good descriptions of a ‘healthy church’ out there,” says Executive Minister Michael Pahl, who serves as MCM’s staff member on the CHC. “One that we’ve found useful, at least in general terms, is the one provided by the Flourishing Congregations Institute out of Ambrose University in Calgary."
Many tools for church health are based on research outside the Canadian context, Michael adds, but Flourishing Congregations’ research is focused on Canadian churches.
“Healthy congregations have three dimensions,” says Michael. “There’s an interior dimension—our worship life, our learning together, our care for one another. There’s an outward dimension—our witness to Jesus in our community and the wider world in partnership with others. And there’s the organizational ethos of the church—a sense of forward direction, good structures for decision-making, and so on. All three dimensions are needed for a church to flourish.” (Click on the image to expand.)
Recently Michael brought this vision of a healthy congregation to North Kildonan Mennonite Church as part of a Congregational Check-up, a program offered by MCM staff to get a quick, overall sense of a congregation’s health. These Congregational Check-ups focus around a Sunday morning of congregational storytelling, worship, and table conversation.
“NKMC is in a season of looking to the future and assessing our needs and gifts,” says pastor Ken Warkentin. “The MCM Congregational Check-up was a meaningful process which helped us uncover both some potential gifts and identify some areas we need to look at.”
Phil Franz-Warkentin, congregational chair for NKMC, adds: “This was a good opportunity for NKMC to look inward and shine some light on what makes us, us. We were able to think about things that might not fit in a typical Sunday morning service, or even a typical lunchtime potluck. We talked about the past and the present, and I think came away with renewed optimism for the future.”
Michael notes that many MCM congregations are exploring questions of health and vitality. “Exactly what a ‘healthy congregation’ looks like will vary from one congregation to the next. This isn’t a one size fits all formula, but it’s helpful to have a general sense of where we should be putting our energies to thrive as communities of faith.”
Pray for the health of our congregations! If your church is interested in learning more about congregational health generally or Congregational Check-ups specifically, please see the Congregational Ministries web page or contact Michael at the MCM office. If you’d like to give financially to support these efforts, see www.mennochurch.mb.ca/giving.