I work with a group of pastors developing strategies for church revitalization where the topic of church health is often raised. Recently, one of the pastors attended a meeting where the speaker defined church health as the ability of a church to hold its own. This definition was roundly criticized for being inadequate. The opinion of the group was that church health should in some way indicate spiritual vitality and the ability to grow and prosper. During this discussion, I reached for my smart phone to look up the dictionary definition of “health.” The primary definition of health is “a body without disease or ailment.” According to this definition of health, the speaker’s definition of church health as holding their own could be correct. Church health, to us, seemed to be much more than the absence of hindering forces.
As I contemplated the difficulties of developing a definition of church health, it occurred to me that church fitness would be a more accurate concept to describe the state in which we desire to see the church. According to The United States Department of Health and Human Services, physical fitness is defined as a set of attributes that people have or achieve that relates to the ability to perform physical activity. According to several physical fitness websites, fitness is the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities. There seems to be a consensus of fitness experts and organizations on how fitness is assessed. These experts have identified five main components of physical fitness: cardiovascular (or cardiorespiratory) endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition and flexibility. Physical fitness is more than the ability to run long distances or lift a great amount of weight. Fitness is how well a person performs in each category combined. The purpose of this article is to shift the dialogue from church health to church fitness and to develop a working definition of church fitness so that models of church fitness will be developed to help revitalize our churches.
Paul Minear wrote, in his classic work “Images of the Church in the New Testament,” that the apostle Paul alone explicitly describes the church as “the body of Christ.” The image of the church as a “body” is best seen in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14. Paul was addressing the use and abuse of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church and used the body metaphor to stress the importance of unity. Animosities among the classes of people seemed to be causing strife and division within the church at Corinth. The body metaphor acknowledges the diversity of the members of the church, but stresses the absolute necessity of unity for the common good. Metaphors give us a way to see and understand our world. However, metaphors are paradoxical because while they give insight into situations and concepts, every metaphor breaks down if applied too strenuously. Nevertheless, Paul uses the body metaphor to promote church unity, and we too can apply the body metaphor to illustrate church fitness.
