Sermon preached by the Revd Phill Ball on Sunday 28th June 2015 at St Martin's Church Walsall, based on the 'Healthy Churches Handbook' by Robert Warren
As we come to the end of our series
on ‘The Seven Signs of a Healthy Church’, it seems like we’ve been on quite a
journey – one which I hope has been useful to us individually and especially as a church.
The final sign of a healthy church
that we are going to look at this morning is, in my opinion, one of the most
important of all the seven signs: namely, that a healthy church does a few
things and does them well. You know, I believe that all of us here today need
to take this principle on board in our own personal lives, as well as to apply
it to our life as a church fellowship.
I want to begin, though, by taking a
considered look at our second reading, a parable that Jesus used as He taught
His disciples. So, let me read for you Matthew 25:14-30 …
Parable of the Talents and the Three
Servants
14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can
be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together
his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave
talents s of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of
silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left
on his trip.
16 “The servant who received the five
bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant
with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the
servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the
master’s money.
19 “After a long time their master
returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used
his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came
forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to
invest, and I have earned five more.’
21 “The master was full of praise.
‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling
this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s
celebrate together!’
22 “The servant who had received the
two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of
silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’
23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my
good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small
amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate
together!’
24 “Then the servant with the one bag
of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops
you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I
would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money
back.’
26 “But the master replied, ‘You
wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and
gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the
bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money
from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To
those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will
have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have
will be taken away.
30 Now throw this useless servant
into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This is a pretty dramatic story and
one that I have always found fascinating, because Jesus told it in order to
illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
We all know how the story begins and
develops: a wealthy man who is going on a long, foreign trip decides that he
doesn’t want his money to stand idle while he’s away, so he divides it between
his staff according to the level of ability of each servant.
One servant was given five talents of
silver, another was given two talents, and a third servant was given one
talent. These were huge sums of money: it’s reckoned that the value of the
eight talents he distributed was equivalent to between 3 and 4 million pounds –
that’s some trust the wealthy man had in his servants!
While their master’s away, two of the
servants put the money to work, while the third just hid the silver he’d been
given in the ground. When the master returns from his trip, he calls them into
his presence to see just how much more money they’ve made for him. The servant
given five talents of silver brings those and five more, so his master is
understandably very pleased with him. The servant given two talents of silver
brings those and two more and he, too, receives great praise. But the servant
who was given one talent, brings just that one talent back – he hasn’t done
anything with what he’d been given and he is cast out of his master’s presence,
out of his employment, out of his master’s house. He’s all washed up.
Now I’m not going to go into detail
about the meaning of this parable right now – let it suffice to say that God
gives us spiritual gifts and other resources, so that we will diligently serve
Him and extend the boundaries of the Kingdom of Heaven. On the other hand, if
we fail to use what He has given us to good effect, we face a pretty awful
judgment.
In fact, what has really spoken to me
this week from this parable is something entirely different, something a little
bizarre, but interesting nonetheless. Remember how the wealthy man gave five
talents of silver to the first servant? And how many extra talents did that
servant make while his master was away? Yes, five more. So, he earned a 100%
return for his master.
Now, remember how the second servant
received two talents of silver? How many extra talents did he make during his
master’s trip? Yes, two more. So, like the first servant he earned a 100%
return for his master.
You know, whenever I’ve read that
parable before, I think I have always subconsciously considered the servant who
was given five talents to be more effective than the servant who was given two
talents – maybe because it’s implied he was more able. But when you come to
think of it in these terms, they both did equally well looking after their
master’s fortune. And then you also realise that the story doesn’t actually
suggest that the first servant worked any harder than the second servant, or
that he was any busier, or that he was any more successful. Both were commended
for the quality of the work they had done with what they were given. It’s just
the one who does nothing at all who’s on the receiving end of a right dressing
down!
As I said a few minutes ago, this
morning we discover that the seventh sign of a healthy church is that it does a
few things and does them well. It’s not the size of the church that matters,
neither is it the degree of busy-ness that counts, it’s about how effectively
we use the talents God has given us in order to serve Him. This means that
small churches with few members can still be extremely successful for the
Kingdom of Heaven and, as a result, can experience growth.
In his book, The Healthy Churches’
Handbook, Robert Warren argues that a healthy church
- does the basics well;
- does set-piece services – baptisms,
weddings and funerals – well;
- recognises that how it goes about
being church is important;
- enjoys what it does.
They will need some explanation, so
let’s take them in turn.
A healthy church does the basics well
The churches that were found to be
thriving were not doing particularly extraordinary things, nor were they doing
a huge number of different things. But they were doing the basic things well:
§ church buildings were tidy and
uncluttered
§ meetings were well run
§ worship services were well prepared
§ pastoral care was sensitively
delivered
Another reading tells of one occasion
when Jesus was staying with Mary and Martha. Martha was busy trying to get a
meal ready while Mary just sat on the floor at Jesus’ feet listening to what He
had to say. When Martha complained, Jesus told her that it was Mary who had got
it right.
At first, it may seem as though
Martha is the model for the healthy church, staying busy and doing everything
as quickly as she can. But, in actual fact, the healthy church is more like
Mary in that it gets the basics right – it recognises what is important and
doesn’t get distracted from it. Yes, the healthy church does the basics well.
The second significant feature of a
healthy church is that …
it does set-piece services well
By this I’m referring to baptisms,
weddings and funerals – the one-off services which are so important to
individuals, families and communities. In healthy churches, Robert Warren found
that these services were prepared and conducted sensitively and prayerfully,
such that they established good relationships with those involved. It’s as
simple as that, really.
The next important feature of a
healthy church that was identified is that …
it recognises that how it goes about
being church is important
Very often, the way we do things is
as significant as what we do, because it speaks very loudly to those outside
the church. The way we conduct ourselves will often communicate the gospel to
people long before we have an opportunity to actually speak to them about
faith.
Churches that concentrate on doing a
few things and doing them well were held in much higher regard by those outside
them and were much more likely to attract people in than those churches that were
frantically running around trying to do lots of things, but not managing to do
any of them particularly well. Some churches fall into the trap of believing
that if only they did a few more things, all would be well – that isn’t true.
Healthy churches are those that concentrate on quality, not quantity.
Some of these healthy churches have
gone so far as to encourage their members to take on just one task within the
church and to do it well, rather than doing many things and find they don’t
have the time to do each task justice. For this to be possible, though,
requires that everyone within the fellowship is actively involved in the
mission and life of the church.
For many churches, this will take a
long period to achieve, because it involves quite a drastic culture change.
And the final sign of a healthy
church I want to look at today is that …
it enjoys what it does
Laughter is one of the marks of a
healthy church. A sense of enjoyment communicates well to other people and
draws them in. If we enjoy being church together, if we enjoy what we do for
the Lord, it will be very attractive to many who are on the outside looking in.
I’ll finish with a story from the
Healthy Churches’ Handbook:
A rural church was eager to
communicate its faith, but wanted to do it in a way that both connected with
the surrounding community and didn’t leave themselves with an overloaded
programme or unachievable goals.
They decided to hold four ‘Food for
Thought’ evenings each year in the village hall. A very good meal was laid on
and tables were beautifully laid and decorated. Each evening they had someone
with an interesting job who came to speak about their work and their faith.
The vicar reported that his primary
job after the first couple of years was persuading church members not to
attend, so that those who weren’t churchgoers could have a place, as seats were
sold out several weeks in advance.
The evenings were done well, were
very enjoyable and resulted in a steady stream of people coming to church to
explore the Christian faith further. At Christmas, over one third of the
population of the local villages attended church.
Conclusion
We’ve looked at all seven signs of
the healthy church now and it is my hope that this will have prompted and
helped us to consider where we are as a church in our service of God in this
town. Ultimately, we aren’t aiming to be a healthy church merely for our own
sake, but primarily for the sake of Him who gave His only Son that people might
not die, but have eternal life through Him.
Are you using your God given talents
well, are you putting your talents to work in the service of the kingdom, or
burying your talent to keep it safe and only for your use?
Will the Master be pleased in what returns you
give him?
To God be the glory. Amen.
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Congregational Responses:
Is St Martin's a church that does a few things, and does them well?
- Weak & holding us back 0%
- Only a few signs 0%
- Some evidence of this 9%
- Making progress 30%
- Evidence of much of this 57%
- This is a strength 4%
What we need to work on....
- Not too good (sometimes) about the
not-rushing-around bit
- I feel that somethings we do particularly well –
long may they continue! I pray that in
other areas (particularly on Sunday mornings) we could be more joyful. We’ve got a lot to be joyful about i.e.
Jesus!
- Encouraging more people to be on just one rota.
- Greater encouragement to those who do a
lot.
- Need to what is done to be admitted and made
into a cohesive mission for the year running forward. E.g. what is St Martin’s
about?
- Need to work on communicating what is done well
to everyone.
- Welcoming new people, praying for them
- Evaluate what is being done. Does anything need to stop so that something
else can start. Limit people to two
things only in the church so all are then able to do something.
- I think we do the basics quite well, but it
concerns me that too few people in the church do a great many tasks – their
talents are spread too thinly
- More people need to get involved with things
going on such as flowers, sides-persons, helping at coffee and offer rotas
- Re. last point (enjoys what is does: and is
relaxed about what is not being done) – we need to make sure we do enjoy what
our church does more. A lot of people
have a lot to do – ensure they don’t feel pressurised. I don’t think we are relaxed enough about
what is not being done enough.
- I think we do well at lots of things but I think
we do too much which stretches our resources.
I think we need to concentrate on the things we do really well. Perhaps evaluate our best features we
actually enjoy the jobs we do. The
opportunity to serve others and raise a smile is our aim, and thank God for
these opportunities.
- Acknowledge what works well and celebrate this
- We need to celebrate what we do well rather than
trying to find other/new ways
- Getting the young adults into church. We need youth clubs and the scouts, etc.
back.
- If a things worth doing its worth doing
well. Brings people together. Be sensitive to others faiths. Be a beacon of hope in the community.
- Spreading the load! Too few people doing too much for the
church.
- In many ways St Martin’s shows great strengths –
the basics and in getting people into the building. We need to get a significant number to
transfer into the church proper
- Very little in the way of ad lib – never stray
from the script. No allowance for Holy
Spirit or extra worship songs. The choir
need to smile”! Be nice to have
different music groups. The big services
are great – but the everyday services can be tedious.
- It is difficult to get an accurate picture of
this is you are unable to see those things in operation. It only comes by word of mouth for many of
us.
- Regular flyers to encourage community to join us
for services (not just special services)
- Raise awareness of our services to community so
they know we are here for them in various ways (loneliness, bereavement,
children’s services, etc.)
- More fellowship meals to encourage members and
non-members to chat and get to know each other (e.g. monthly fellowship meals –
bring a dish)
- We are not always relaxed about what is not
being done… we tend to be driven rather than be lead
- More and better poetry in song, speech and
worship, and in life.
- Using our talents – church members don’t know
what they have.
- Prayer.
- Things not being done should be drawn to the
attention of the congregation.
- Bring more people in as suggested.
