Parameters for health

In the last issue, I promised parameters for this issue that are much more health of a congregation than its size. Michael Frost, an Australian theologian, lists the following criteria:

• The number of people reporting improved marriages over time.
• The number of people reporting improved friendships over time.
• The number of people who accompany others on their journey.
• The number of people who experience accompaniment.
• The number of people who are able to formulate their life's vocation.
• The number of people who serve other people - either in the church or outside.
• The number of people growing in giving money for the Kingdom of Jesus.
• The number of people who strive for a fair, sustainable and increasingly simple lifestyle.
• The number of people who are marked by a love for the whole church and tear down walls instead of building new ones.
• The number of people whose lived faith can be described by the formula "love God with all your heart and your God with all their heart and love their fellow human beings as themselves".

Let us be challenged by these points. And not to impress God with them, but because his love wants to change us into his image. This is a joy and happens in his presence as if by itself: "Yes, we all see with unveiled face the glory of the Lord. We see it as in a mirror, and by gazing upon the image of the Lord, our whole being is transformed in such a way that we become more and more like Him and share more and more of His glory. This transformation is the work of the Lord; it is the work of his Spirit."(2 Corinthians 3:18).

Foreword from the seetal chile Poscht 11/2019