The vision of the Free Church is of A Healthy Gospel Church for Every Community in Scotland. But one of the questions that we get asked is “What is a healthy church?”
In this video and discussion series we are therefore looking at seven characteristics of healthy Christians and healthy churches. Churches with Jesus Christ and the Christian gospel at their centre.
So far in this series we have looked at Healthy Preaching, Healthy Worship, Healthy Prayer, and Healthy Mission. The next characteristic, the fifth one in this model that we are working through, is Healthy Discipleship.
Healthy congregations will be engaged in Healthy Discipleship.
That might be teaching young people and new Christians what the Bible says and the things that Jesus has commanded us. Or modelling what it looks like to live the Christian life in our families and workplaces and social groups.
It is also likely to involve helping people in our congregations think biblically about the world around them and the issues they are dealing with.
Healthy discipleship will involve new ways of training and equipping today, recognising that there is less Christian influence in Scottish society, and less biblical literacy.
In the past learning and talking about the Westminster Catechism would have been an important part of discipleship, but that is perhaps not as common today, so some form of deliberate discipleship is likely to be needed in our congregations.
Studying the Bible with someone one-to-one and answering their questions can be really helpful. Or looking at the Bible together in small groups. There are resources available from the Scottish Bible Society to help congregations read through the New Testament over a number of weeks and discuss it together. Book reviews or recommending books or podcasts for others to listen to can be helpful. And Edinburgh Theological Seminary runs Saturday seminars on a variety of topics that many people have benefitted from.
These short videos are intended to just be a brief introduction to a longer discussion. We do hope you will be able to have a conversation with others in your congregation about each of these seven areas. The discussion guide, available below, asks each of us to think about how we might grow in discipleship, and how our congregation might better engage in healthy discipleship.
Our vision is for A Healthy Gospel Church for Every Community in Scotland. Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we want to see increasingly Healthy Christians, and Healthy Congregations.