Healthy, Growing Churches (8)

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13.34, 35

Tractates on the Gospel of John 65.1
Augustine (354-430)
“For this they hear and observe, ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another,’ not as those who are corrupt love one another or as human beings who love one another only in a human way. Instead, they are to love one another as those who are God’s. All of them are to love as children of the Highest, who are siblings, therefore, of his only Son. They are to love with that mutual love by which he loved them when about to lead them on to the goal where all sufficiency should be theirs and where their every desire should be satisfied with good things.”

The new commandment requires special attention and effort in loving those who are members with us of the one body of Christ. We love our neighbors as we love ourselves, caring for their needs as best we can, individually and as congregations. But we love one another in the church, not as we love ourselves, but as Christ loves us – sacrificially, unto edification in Jesus, and to strengthen each other for the work of ministry that builds the church. The focus of our love for our lost and needy neighbors is that they might see Jesus. The focus of our love for our fellow Christians is that Christ might be formed in them and in us. A church where this kind of love exists among members is truly growing and mature, whether its numbers are many or few. The goal of building a healthy church is unity and maturity in the Lord, culminating in and expressed as love for God, neighbor, and one another. The humblest house church, where love shines with the brilliance of the risen Jesus, is more truly a church than the largest mega-church where mere numbers and activity are the focus. Let us strive for healthy, growing churches.

What opportunities for loving one another do the members of your church share? How do your shepherds lead church members in loving one another?

T. M. Moore

Healthy, Growing Churches
Our assessment tool, Twelve Questions that Could Change Your Church, can help you discover the extent to which you are building the Lord’s church as He intends. Use this tool with your church leaders to discern the health of your church, then to plan the next phase of your growth as the Body of Christ. You can download Twelve Questionsfor free by clicking here.The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.