In 1910, the United Presbyterian Church in North American formally adopted a set of mission statements that was intended to define its life and work. Called the "Six Great Ends of the Church," these brief phrases attempted to draw together elements of belief and practice that could be traced throughout our own confessional history to the very teachings of Jesus himself. Nearly one hundred years and two denominational mergers later, these statements remain in the Constitution of the PC(USA), and they appear in the opening pages of the Book of Order.

• The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind
• The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God
• The maintenance of divine worship
• The preservation of the truth
• The promotion of social righteousness
• The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world

While the whole of the plan and purpose of God can never be reduced to a short list, statements like this are useful tools in helping us to evaluate the overall health of our churches. There have been other markers of health used over the years.

Church historian George Marsden, for example, observes that healthy churches throughout history always have at least three characteristics. They are confessional (they know what they believe); they are conversional (there is a lively, transformational experience of Jesus); and they are missional (they keep their face turned toward the world). Marsden says that churches will eventually go “into the ditch” if one or more of these is missing.

We should also confront the challenge of what some have called the “3-fold priority of the Christian life”: Growing more in love with Trinitarian God—growing more in love with the Body of Christ—and growing more in love with the work of Christ in the world.

There are common elements of each of these statements regarding our life as a community of faith. Each helps us to think afresh about our identity, our purpose and our activity. Each is centered in the work of God, includes a focus on the care and nurture of one another, and has a missional emphasis.

We should not forget that the Great Ends begins with proclamation and ends with exhibition. It embraces both the Gospel “about” Jesus, which is centered in his life, death, resurrection and ascension on behalf of all humankind, and the Gospel “of” Jesus, which focuses on his own preaching of the Kingdom and his call that others join him in the life of that Kingdom beginning now and continuing through eternity.

As we look at our life as God’s people in light of these simple statements, what do we see? Our churches seem to be better at sheltering, nurturing, maintaining and preserving, than in proclaiming, promoting, and exhibiting. Our churches often emphasize being confessional (how we think about faith), but give less time to true transformation or mission. Our churches are often more known for our love of God and perhaps each other, than for our love of Christ’s work in the world. Just look at how we spend our resources.

We do well from time to time to take a look at how we are doing as communities of faith in light of some simple criteria derived from Scripture which articulates the marks of healthy church life.

We might also back up and ask such questions as: 1) What is God doing in the world? 2) What is God’s purpose for the church in the world? 3) How can we align ourselves with the purposes and activity of God?