We could estimate church health in social terms, since fellowship is a major factor in the life of a church. How well do the people relate together and in what ways do they relate?
Or we could estimate it in terms of spiritual strength. After all the church is the body of Christ where the Holy Spirit lives. How much is the life of the church like the life of Christ? Paul talked about mature churches – grown-up churches. What does a grown-up church look like? Paul said you could measure it against Christ himself. Does it talk and behave and believe like Christ?
Or a church’s health could be estimated by its pathology? How sick is it? Is it carrying any diseases or infections? Strange beliefs, bad behaviours, or is it just listless, caught up in a vague malaise?
A healthy church could be thought of as a Spirit-filled church, full of faith and of the knowledge of God, united together in love for each other, passionate about the gospel and eager to bring that gospel to as many as will listen, seriously in love with the Lord Jesus, eager to know the Father and to follow the Spirit, and full of praise and thankfulness when it meets.
And what makes it healthy? Actually the word of God does – as each of the members ministers that word to each other in the power of the Spirit of God.
Dale