Spiritually healthy churches are one of the greatest needs in the country today.
Too often churches are held back from their potential over matters related to doctrine and leadership, which in turn has prompted a section of Christians to abandon worship services altogether.
What do spiritually healthy churches look like?” That can be a tough question, especially when you get into the intricacies of what the terms ‘spiritual’ and ‘healthy’ mean.
Health and growth of the church were uppermost in the mind of Robert Kayanja, the founding Pastor Miracle Centre Cathedral – Rubaga, in his seventh book on the Holy Spirit released recently.
He made an appeal to church leaders to discover the essential growth principles, and learn some practical ideas that they have to embrace in order to see change in their prayer meetings.
He urged that the Holy Spirit does not import the items or tools He intends to use for His glory. “He uses the ordinary things around and available,” he said.
Pastor Kayanja explained that healthy churches are passionate about their walk with the Trinity.
“All three members of the Trinity have to work together with you in order to bring to pass the plan of God in your life,” he said.
That is why the scripture says that there are three which bear witness in heaven and these three are one; the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, Pr Kayanja explained.
“When God said, “Let there be light,” whom was He speaking to? The fact that the Holy Spirit was hovering over the surface of the deep, yet darkness still covered the face of the earth, baffles my mind. It goes to show that you can have the presence of the Holy Spirit but still without results. God can be with you yet be so limited by you that He does nothing,” he said.
“It is an incomplete picture just like it was when John the Baptist with all his anointing ended up in prison until he was beheaded, and yet Jesus said he was the greatest of all that were born of a woman. It simply does not add up! There are a number of parallels to note between John the Baptist and Jesus. For instance, both had disciples, both had powerful predetermined ministries and both died young. However, you can note significant differences between Jesus’ disciples and those of John because Jesus’ disciples were introduced to and filled with the Holy Spirit while John, who was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb, did not introduce his disciples to the Holy Spirit.
Pr Kayanja noted, Paul met some of John’s disciples in the book of Acts and they had “not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
The Channel 44 TV CEO explained that pastors of healthy churches need not be spiritual “superstars” and, in fact, the superstar pastor typically becomes a hindrance to what God is wanting to do in a church.
“When hosting the Holy Spirit, we need to be patient and give Him time to do His will,” he said.
“You must show forth the glory of the power at work in you. This has been the mistake of the church for centuries; the pastor eats, sleeps and drives better, yet his fellow ministers and parishioners are struggling in life for basic necessities,” he continued.
“If as a pastor, you fail to transfer the principles that have blessed you to the people under your care and pastorship, you will find your message irrelevant to the people in the long run. It may be authentic, but as long as it does not work for them, people will not listen to you no matter how much you tell them,” he added.
