In almost every instance, Jesus shared a positive and negative with each church. Then, He gave them a course of action to move forward. For example:
- “Do the works you did at first.”
- “Wake up.”
- “Hold fast.”
- “Make up your mind whether you are hot or cold.”
Notice, Christ did not try to make each church conform to a “cookie cutter” template. Instead, He addressed them as unique congregations with unique gifts, skills, contexts and opportunities. His evaluation had the simple goal of helping them to be more faithful and effective in the Kingdom.
Biblical church evaluation aims to help churches be the best church Christ has created them to be. That means that all church evaluation will seek to point out:
- Things the church is doing well.
- Places where the church needs to improve.
- Action steps to help the church move forward.
I believe that every church must consistently evaluate itself. Why? Because according to the example of Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus is already evaluating churches. And He has great expectations for every congregation.
If we really take our responsibility as the body of Christ seriously, shouldn’t we desire to evaluate ourselves regularly to make sure we are being faithful to our calling?
I certainly think so. If you’re not convinced, I’m asking you to evaluate the idea!