You can tell a plant is healthy because it grows. You plant a seed in the ground, and it sends forth a shoot, and the shoot produces leaves, it gets bigger and stronger, and in time it produces fruit and reproduces itself.

Jesus talks about this sort of growth in terms of people’s spiritual journey. He says, ‘As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. (Mt 13:23 ESV)’ Healthy Christians produce fruit. The gospel is meant to grow in our lives and produce visible change.

And the same is true for churches. Healthy churches produce fruit. As the Apostle Paul reflects on the many churches that had been planted across the Roman Empire he says ‘All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing. (Col 1:6 NIV)’ Our denominational mission is, ‘To grow healthy churches which nurture and equip their members and, by God’s grace, expand numerically, become the mother-churches of as many fellowships and congregations as possible, and take further initiatives to penetrate structures of society with the gospel. (Task Two: Grow)’

I would like to suggest that one of the fruit of a healthy church is its commitment to local outreach, to penetrate our society with the gospel. How healthy is our denomination in reaching out to our society with the hope of the gospel? How healthy is your church? If you were to rate your commitment to outreach from 1 to 10 how high would you rate it? And what about ‘doing’ local outreach? It’s one thing to say we’re committed to outreach, but are we actually reaching out to our local communities with the Good News about Jesus?

And what about our personal lives? As a pastor or an elder are we an example to our congregation of someone who is passionate about the proclamation of the gospel? As our Church Order says, ‘The calling of a minister of the Word and Sacraments is to proclaim, explain and apply Holy Scripture in order to gather in (emphasis added) and build up the members of the Church of Jesus Christ. (CO, Art. 11)’ And ‘With the minister of the church, the elders shall equip and encourage God’s people in evangelism. (CO, Art. 23f)’

The truth is we can all grow in this area of our lives, and so can our churches. As the Local Church Outreach Representative my prayer is that over the next three years our denomination will grow in its commitment and passion for outreach, and that we as church leaders will grow in our personal commitment to proclaiming the gospel in our community, and that our church members will grow in personally reaching out to people with the Good news of Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to join with me in praying for those things as well.

God bless. Ps Josh