Five Reasons Ecclesiology is Critical for Church Health
Blog post by Justin Nash
Ecclesiology is the study of the doctrines of the church. This includes things like church membership, church discipline, baptism, the Lord’s Supper and polity, to name just a few. For many people in the pew, and even in the pulpit, ecclesiology is often seen as abstract and impractical when it comes to guiding and structuring the life and ministry of the church. This is a mistaken notion. Having a robust and clear ecclesiology is critical to having a healthy church. Here are five reasons good ecclesiology is critical for church health.
Everything in a church is ultimately theological
Theology, either good or bad, drives and shapes everything in a church. There is no escaping theology in the life of a church. Ecclesiology gives as a systematic and structured treatment to the biblical doctrines that describe what a church is and what a church does. Everyone has an ecclesiology of some sort. This can be robust, clear and thoughtful or anemic, vague and reactive. For instance, many pastors have never really given much thought to the Lord’s Supper. Who should take the supper? How often should it be partaken? How should it be partaken? What does the supper mean? What, if anything, does it do in and for the believer? Good and godly people may come to different answers for some of these questions, but the important thing is that pastors, in particular, have searched the Scriptures to arrive at thoughtful and biblically-informed answers to these questions. Ecclesiology provides the language and categories to help us understand how God has designed his church and what he expects from it.
It distinguishes between substance and form
Ecclesiology helps us to understand the substance of the church and its various functions rather than fixating on the form that substance takes. For instance, the Bible offers some very clear instructions on the nature of corporate worship in the church. As an example, we are to worship in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Further, our worship is to be Word-centered, Christ-centered and gospel-centered. We are to sing together and pray together. There is significant latitude in the way faithful biblical worship can take place. Various congregations can be equally faithful in their expressions (forms) of the worship while maintaining fidelity to the substance of worship. In the area of music, some congregations may sing psalms, others traditional hymns and still others more contemporary spiritual songs. It’s not a question of style. It is a question of substance. Good ecclesiology helps us understand the substance so that it might properly shape the forms that substance takes in our various churches.
It gives us the right metrics
How do you measure church health? To answer this question, the very first thing we must do is to define our metrics. If we aim at the wrong target, or if we have the wrong goals, we will accomplish the wrong things. In our western/American culture one thing rules – numbers. In sports, it’s all about the wins and losses. In business, it’s all about the bottom line. Often that thinking (sometimes with good motivations) spills over into the church. We become obsessed with attendance, budget and program numbers. When we do that, the pursuit of increasing those numbers becomes our priority. This is not to say that numbers are all bad and we should ignore them. There are practical implications if these numbers rise or fall significantly. Quantitative metrics like these should be a part of our calculus when evaluating the health of our church, but they are not preeminent. To paraphrase pastor Harry Reeder, “Our goal should be church health, not church growth.” Instead of giving numbers all the weight in evaluation, we should focus on biblical metrics for health. For instance, instead of focusing on how many people are attending, focus on whether those who are attending are growing in Christlike maturity, unity, discernment and love (Ephesians 4:11-16). Good ecclesiology gives us the right metrics to use in evaluating our church’s health.
It's extremely concrete and practical
Ecclesiology is not high-minded, theological abstraction useful only as fodder for ivory tower theologians or doctoral dissertations. Ecclesiology is actually extremely concrete and practical. Church governance or polity may not seem like the most scintillating topic, but few things could be more practical in the life of a local church than who has authority and how decisions are made. If our governance structures and practices are out of line with Scripture, the consequences will be dire as myriad church conflicts and splits attest. Ecclesiology helps us think through this vital aspect of church life. It is the tools and language to discern what the Bible has to say about church polity. Again, good and godly people may come to different conclusions, but the important thing is that you’ve taken time to evaluate it through the lens of Scripture. When this is done, you come to see that the Bible offers us some clear directives that can shape our churches in very real and practical ways.
It keeps pragmatism from being our driving force
Pragmatism is the idea that whatever works is good. How we judge what works depends on how we measure success. As noted above, what works is often viewed as that which has the greatest numeric success. Ministry and practice in many churches are pragmatically-driven rather than biblically-driven. Pastors can easily fall into the trap of doing the thing that draws the biggest crowd or that receives the most positive response. This is not a good way to make ministry decisions. Pragmatism can lead the church astray and ultimately to non-existence if left unchecked. One area this can be seen is in preaching. Pragmatism will lead a preacher to tell great stories, give people practical life advice and make hearers always feel better about themselves because that is what draws people. Scripture, of course, takes a different view of preaching. The Bible casts the faithful preacher not as one who draws a crowd or tells great stories, but as one who faithfully proclaims and explains the Word of God. Good ecclesiology makes Scripture our driving force rather than pragmatism.
It will take some time but it's worth it
Developing a robust, thoughtful and clear ecclesiology can take time and will definitely take a good deal of study. The payoff for that patience and investment of time and energy will be massive in the life of your church. Good ecclesiology gives us the tools, language and structures to rightly assess the health of our church using Scripture as the primary evaluation tool. It will also help us develop concrete and fruitful corrections in the church’s life.