A congregation is not built in a weekend. The work God has given the local church stretches across generations, from the evangelist teaching the Bible in someone’s living room to the elders who one day shepherd a mature flock. On a day of new beginnings, it is worth asking what actually makes a church strong enough to last. The answer is not a building or a program. It comes down to three things a body of believers simply cannot do without.
Leadership That Grows From the Ground Up
Strong churches rise from strong families, and strong families rise from the patient work of teaching God’s Word. It begins with evangelists who are supported and sent out, carrying Scripture into people’s homes so that men and women learn self-control and conform their lives to what the Word teaches. From that teaching come strong families, with fathers leading their homes the way elders lead the church. From strong families come teachers, and only a congregation with teachers will ever have elders, because a man must be “apt to teach” to serve in that role (1 Timothy 3). Raising up faithful men to lead God’s people is never an overnight project. It is the labor of generations, and it is among the most important work a church can give itself to.
A Body With Many Members
No leader, however gifted, can carry a congregation alone. Paul’s picture of the church in 1 Corinthians 12 is a body with many members, each with a different function and every function necessary. The eye does not tell the hand it has no need of it, and the foot does not envy the ear. Romans 12 teaches the same thing: we have differing gifts according to the grace given us, whether teaching, serving, giving, or leading, and each gift is meant to strengthen the whole. Everyone at Valley Church of Christ has a role to find and a job to fill.
The danger comes when leaders are loaded down with work anyone could do. When Moses tried to judge every matter himself, his father-in-law Jethro warned that he would wear himself out and told him to appoint able men who feared God to share the burden (Exodus 18). The early church did much the same, choosing seven men “of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” to handle the daily work so that others could give themselves to the Word (Acts 6). Elders should be freed to set vision and shepherd souls, and deacons should oversee the physical work without becoming slaves to it. That takes a team of willing people who each recognize their part and do it well.
The One Thing That Holds It Together
Good leadership and a good team still need one more thing, and it may be the hardest of all. Love. Paul reminds us that love suffers long and is kind, does not behave itself unseemly, and seeks not her own (1 Corinthians 13). Jesus said the whole law hangs on two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22). A congregation that truly loves does not walk away the moment feelings are bruised. It works through the hard days together, the way a husband and wife stay and grow rather than reach for the door. That kind of love is what sustains a church through its trials, and it is what draws a watching community in.
A Call to Respond
Consider the difference a single degree makes. Water at 211 degrees is merely hot, but at 212 it boils, and boiling water becomes steam enough to move a locomotive. One degree more of effort from each of us can turn a warm congregation into a powerhouse for the Lord. Are you willing to give it? Go to the elders and deacons and tell them you want a job, and they will find one that lightens their load and builds up the body. And if you have drifted from the body of Christ, know that this congregation loves you and wants to walk through life with you. Come home. The invitation is always open.