What is a Healthy Church?

by: Rev. Dr. Anna Hall

Recently, I spoke with my pastor, Ashley, about how we define a Healthy Church in 2025. I didn’t have any easy answers for her. Here at Convergence, we prefer the term “vitality” over “health,” but the questions that congregations ask us are essentially the same.

• Do we have enough people? 
• Do we have enough young families?
• Do we have enough money?
• Is our building in good shape?
• Are we fighting? Are we depressed?

While the last two questions are crucial, the first four questions suggest an archetype of a congregation that may not be suitable for our current era. When you close your eyes and picture a healthy church, what do you envision? Perhaps you see:

• A beautiful building with a tall steeple, fresh paint, and gleaming surfaces.
• A charismatic pastor up in the pulpit, people hanging on every word. (And be honest – did you first picture a white man as the pastor?)
• Pews or seats full of young families and elders, with new people being added weekly.
• A budget spreadsheet with only surplus year after year.

If this is what you imagined, you are not alone. Even an image search of “church” on Google yields this typical view. However, this model of a “healthy church” is one that only briefly existed in the 20th century here in the USA, when over 90% of Americans identified as Christians. In 1950, 49% of Americans had attended church in the past 7 days and 76% were members of a church, compared with only 32% attending and 45% as members in 2023. Internationally, churches around the world also trouble this archetype through their beautiful diversity in music, buildings, and worship ways.

Our old archetype of a Healthy Church is no longer realistic or helpful.

We have learned from the disability rights and health-at-every-size movements that being healthy does not have to conform to a perfect archetype of disease and disability free bodies. Like the church, ideas of health in the US are often grounded in a post-WW2 image of a flawless (likely male and white) body. The 1948 definition of health from the World Health Organization reads  “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” 20th-century health research was often limited to white males in a way that made it impossible to envision other ways of being healthy. Today, we are learning that we can live full lives with chronic conditions, varying abilities, and at any size. A recent article from the Disability and Health Journal proposes moving from that old definition toward a new one: “the dynamic balance of physical, mental, social, and existential well-being in adapting to conditions of life and the environment.” 

What if we applied this idea to the church?

In this model, a healthy church:

• Promotes well-being. This healthy church cares for members and their physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. This church builds people up rather than burning them out. The congregation ends any programs or patterns that take away from members’ well-being. People know each other deeply and authentically, offering prayers and support in good times and bad. If disagreements arise, the church gets the support and training needed to disagree and dialogue in healthy ways. These churches also attend to the well-being of neighbors. They love and listen to neighbors and partner with those neighbors rather than going it alone. 
• Adjusts to its environmental conditions. This healthy church can be small, medium, or large. Members may meet weekly or more/less often. Participants may be mostly young families, or largely elders, or a mix of both. These churches may meet in a storefront, a living room, or a building with pews and a steeple. When times and conditions change, such a church holds archetypes loosely and is willing to move on from buildings, budgets, or programming that are not life-giving for members and neighbors. It loves and celebrates its gifts regardless of size or budget.
• Adapts to the conditions of life. Some seasons may be busier, others quieter, depending on the needs of its people and context. When people or money are less, this church streamlines and stops supporting anything that is a drain on the ministry, including a legacy program or an older building. This church is generous with any surplus funding, using it to care for members and neighbors rather than saving for a rainy day. During times of growth, care for newcomers is top of mind rather than finding new workers to carry the load. The congregation changes as needed with agility and grace. 

In this reimagined model, a healthy church is a living, vibrant community that adapts and adjusts, embracing diversity and promoting overall well-being. How would your perception of your church change if you tried on this new definition of a healthy church? If you would like to discuss how to move into a new model of healthy church, please reach out ot me at anna@convergenceus.org.

Sources: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/#:~:text=Trends%20within%20Christianity,slightly%20from%207%25%20in%202007.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/358364/religious-americans.aspx

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1936657421000753#:~:text=Health%20is%20a%20state%20of,presence%20of%20disease%20or%20infirmity.