Is it time for a Tenth Mark?
If you travel much in reformed Christian circles you're likely familiar with Mark Dever's Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Today I'd like to show you some compelling video from a new blog called Focused on Christ. Blogger, Joshua, is in India and has undertaken a series of interviews focused on the church in India. What follows is an interview with "a friendly, easy-going, yet hard working pastor/leader from Chhattisgarh, India," by the name of Rajesh.
The interview is about 10 minutes long. Listen in particular for his answer to the question (about 7 min. in) "As you visit churches, what signs do you look for that tell you if they are a healthy church or an unhealthy church?"
Though it's clear from the rest of the interview that Rajesh would largely agree with Dever's points, I think he makes a pretty good case for a "10th Mark" - a tenth test of a healthy church: "Will it survive if it's pastor is taken away?"
How healthy is your church?
The interview is about 10 minutes long. Listen in particular for his answer to the question (about 7 min. in) "As you visit churches, what signs do you look for that tell you if they are a healthy church or an unhealthy church?"
Though it's clear from the rest of the interview that Rajesh would largely agree with Dever's points, I think he makes a pretty good case for a "10th Mark" - a tenth test of a healthy church: "Will it survive if it's pastor is taken away?"
How healthy is your church?
Comments
Another question is that since we have no shortage of churches in this area, would it be a bad thing (from God’s prespective) if this congregation was to be distributed among the others? Or does one local church matter when one considers the universal church (same number of believers just meeting in different buildings)? Of course, in India where Christian churches are few it is very important that each one survives.
10th Mark of a Healthy Church - that is a helpful connection. I was actually thinking of 9 Marks ministries when I framed that segment of the interview.
You raised a good point. I think taking that to heart, it be good for any leader to hold that humble position along with John the Baptist - "He must increase, but I must decrease."