Finding Healthy Church

One of the more difficult chapters in Paul's letters is a crucial moment of leadership, and his example gives great insight into leadership in the Kingdom of God. Join Mike and Barb as they take a look at Paul's example of standing on the foundational Christian principle of a shift in responsibility for life guidance and discernment in a church from special people or classes of poeple to the Spirit of God through all members of Christ's Body.

Jesus says something to his disciples regarding authority that seems like it's largely ignored in churches today - that no one in the new community he's creating will call each other by honorific titles because all authority will be in The Way, The Truth and The Life. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss how the practice of using honorific titles affects relationships and how Jesus reshaped the language his disciples used to address each other.

There are two major erroneous teachings about authority that people claim are in the Bible - that pastors and/or elders have authority over churches and that husbands have authority over wives. Join Mike and Barb as they look at a general picture of authority in the New Testament, discussing words and examples in the biblical story that bring light to the topic.

Paul writes that you can look at how a human body functions to see how the Body of Christ was designed to function. It's one thing to understand this concept, but it's another to experience it and for it to be the environment that you're "raised" in. But it's foundational to the Christian life and growth. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss how leadership in the Kingdom of God is developed and why most churches get it backwards today.

Some will call it "fathering" or "shepherding." It's the idea that everyone should be accountable to and submitting to a leader who provides wisdom, accountability and protection. While the idea's intention is good, it's not biblical the fruit of the practice is not good. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss why this relational framework is deceptively unhealthy and Scriptures throughout the biblical story that clue us in to a healthier way.

It's common for humans to operate in systems of authority and submission where people are in charge of other people. But when Jesus was confronted by such a system, he gave a surprising response that revealed a different system in the Kingdom of God. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss how authority and submission operate in a healthy church.

Largely in the church today, being a leader is about being a little god or a prince or an official. It's about being in a needed position permanently. But you see something different in the biblical story. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss the primary job of a leader in the first churches based on the example of Jesus and the first apostles.

There are many word used by the writers of the New Testament that have come to mean things different than what they originally meant. "Deacon" and "bishop" have come to mean positions in an organization rather than descriptions of the parts of a living organism. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss what the writers of the New Testament meant by these words and how it relates to being a healthy church.

1 Corinthians 12:28 says "And God has appointed in the church, first apostles..." So why are apostles first? There are two main ways to answer that question. Join Mike and Barb as they discuss this critical function in a church and how it contributes to a church being healthy.

It's common to hear people talking about how churches are the "Body of Christ." But what does that mean practically? What does it look like to actually function like that? Join Mike and Barb as they discuss how the image of the human body reveals how a church was designed to do life together, and how it's different than anything else in the world.