Over the past 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting hundreds of churches across the country. Recently, I’ve highlighted several exceptional examples in this space. While there are many more I could have named, these congregations serve as reminders of what it means to be a healthy church. Below are ten characteristics these churches share, regardless of their size or location.

  1. A Respected Pastor Who Leads with Integrity

A winning football team has a good quarterback. A thriving church is usually led by a qualified pastor the congregation loves and respects. While not perfect, he is recognized as a genuine Christ-follower whose leadership inspires trust. Respect isn’t built overnight—it grows through faithful service over time. For this reason, the healthiest churches are often led by pastors who have served for a decade or more, offering stability and continuity. Frequent turnover in the pulpit may signal deeper issues within a congregation.

2. Supportive Elders Who Reinforce the Pastor’s Vision While Holding Him Accountable

A healthy church is not a one-man show. It is dangerous for a church when the pastor has no accountability. Strong and supportive elders play a crucial role by partnering with the pastor to cast vision, advance the church’s mission, and provide spiritual and fiscal accountability. When elders reinforce the pastor as the primary leader while providing guidance and oversight, they form a unified leadership team. This partnership fosters confidence within the congregation, ensures wise decision-making, and allows the church to navigate challenges with strength and clarity.

3. Courageous, Biblical Preaching with a Focus on Expository Teaching

While already in prison for preaching, the Apostle Paul requested others pray for him to be bold in proclaiming the Gospel, knowing that its message was offensive to the world. There is incredible power in courageous, Scripture-based preaching.  Diluted, feel-good sermons from timid preachers produce an uncertain and feeble church. Healthy churches are fed by pastors who teach and apply biblical truths with conviction and love. Such preaching convicts sinners, uplifts the discouraged, and spiritually nourishes the congregation. A good shepherd tends to and feeds his sheep knowing the Bible is water, bread, milk, meat, and honey for the soul.

4. Meaningful Congregational Worship

In a healthy church, the worship music exalts Christ, praising Him for his holiness and goodness. While excellence on the platform matters, it should not be seen as a performance by those on stage but a congregational act of glorifying God. When worship is God-centered and Spirit-filled, the entire church senses God’s presence and responds with joyful participation, declaring, “Surely the Spirit of the Lord is in this place.”

5. A Compassionate Heart for the Hurting

A healthy church pastors to those in need, both inside and outside its walls. It starts with providing prayer support, benevolence, and encouragement for members, then extends outward to the broader community. Whether through addiction recovery programs, food drives, or disaster relief efforts, compassionate churches reflect the Good Samaritan by meeting people where they are and offering Christ’s love in tangible ways. The community often recognizes them as a church that truly cares.

6. A Contagious Spirit of Joy and Harmony

David wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” In a healthy church, this joy is palpable. From warm greetings in the lobby to heartfelt laughter and engaging conversations, a spirit of love and unity draws people in. As Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

7. Steady Numerical Growth

A healthy church, like any healthy organism, grows. Growth may look different depending on the church’s size and setting, but a steady increase in attendance, baptisms, and spiritual maturity is a common marker. Whether in a rural community or an urban center, healthy churches guide new believers into deeper relationships with Christ. A healthy church makes disciples who make disciples.

8. Balanced Doctrine Over “Denominational Distinctives”

I first heard this phrase expressed at a church-growth conference 50 years ago and have increasingly come to understand its validity.  Almost every denomination or movement has a pet doctrine they over-emphasize because it’s distinctive to that group.  It may be free will, sanctification, spiritual gifts, eternal security or baptism by immersion.  While doctrinal integrity is vital, healthy churches avoid overemphasizing denominational distinctives at the expense of the Gospel. They focus on allegiance to Christ above all else, fostering unity among believers and ensuring sound doctrine is taught in balance. In these churches, Christ increases while secondary labels fade into the background.

9. Diversity That Reflects the Beauty of Heaven

A healthy church reflects generational, racial, and socioeconomic diversity. A church that doesn’t reflect the ethnic or racial demographics of its community or consists only of young adults or the elderly or the wealthy is not in top condition.   The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Churches that preach the Gospel with authenticity and extend genuine hospitality often find that people of all backgrounds respond. The result is a congregation that mirrors the diversity of God’s kingdom.

10. An Unapologetic Commitment to Evangelism and Discipleship

Jesus commissioned His followers to go and make disciples of all nations and then teach them everything He had shared with them.  (See Matthew 28:18-20.)  The primary mission of the church is to evangelize and make disciples. However, many churches stray from this primary purpose because, as John Stott wrote, “Evangelism is prickly because it calls people to repentance.” As a result, these churches become focused on meeting social needs or avoiding conflict and trying to keep everyone happy.

However, even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular, healthy churches ensure that evangelism and discipleship remain central to their identity. Whether through local outreach, global missions, or expository preaching and teaching, these churches are passionate about seeing lives transformed by the Gospel.  As a result, the waters of the baptistry are always stirring.

Years ago, David Foster, a pastor of a megachurch in Nashville, shared an observation after visiting many growing churches. He said, “Bob, I’ve visited almost all the cutting-edge churches and discovered they are markedly different in many ways.  But there is one thing that is common in each.”  I asked “What’s that?”  He said, “Go into any of those church worship services 15 minutes early and just sit and watch people and feel the atmosphere.  There’s always a sense of anticipation among the people.  There’s a feeling that God is going to show up here and lost people are going to be saved.  Broken people are going to be mended and hungry people are going to be fed.”

 

“So, the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers” (Acts 16:5).

 

Bob Russell is retired Senior Minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville KY.