The Fitness Factor
Something had to change. I (Phil) could not stand to look at myself in a mirror or view myself in a picture. My face was full (a nice way of saying fat). My pant size was huge. Yet, by most indicators, I was healthy. The standard markers of health were all within range. Blood pressure? Fine. Cholesterol? Under 200. Temperature? Standard. I was free of disease and had no major illnesses. Based on popular health indicators, I was healthy. But . . . I was not fit! If someone had asked me to run a mile, I could not have done it. A big gap lies between health and fitness. People often view health as meeting a minimum standard of evaluation. Meeting this standard may provide a person with a sense of well-being, but it does not tell the entire story. An individual who desires a more effective and energetic life ought to strive for fitness.
Determining if a person is healthy, let alone fit, is not an easy matter. For example, I weighed 242 pounds, which would have been just right if I stood six foot four. However, I am five foot ten. At that height, a normal, healthy weight for a male between 25 and 59, with a large frame, is between 158 and 180 pounds.1 Clearly, I was overweight. However, that’s only part of the story. To determine if a person is overweight, the bone, muscle, and fat in their body’s composition must be taken into consideration. A critical measure used by medical professionals is body mass index (BMI). A BMI higher than 24.9 is considered overweight, and my BMI was 34.7, which is considered obese. BMI is only an approximate indicator to be used as a rough guide. It does, however, provide an accurate assessment of a person’s fitness.
Healthy or Fit?
Fitness implies a level of activity. After assessing my personal level of fitness, I reached a point of dissatisfaction. A mentor of mine shared with me that dissatisfaction is a one-word definition for motivation. Once I became aware of, and dissatisfied with, my fitness level, I was motivated to take the necessary steps to become fit. My plan embraced three key elements: regular exercise, food portion control, and tracking my progress. After implementing these three elements consistently as part of my lifestyle, I lost more than fifty pounds, which I have kept off. Exercise was the real key, and I chose running as my primary activity.
Runners can be categorized according to five basic levels. First, beginner runners have no experience. At this stage, a person’s interest in running is more philosophical. That is, they like the idea of running and the results it will bring but have yet to test their resolve in the actual activity of running.
Second, novice runners have some background in running. They can typically run between one and three miles. The pace may not be great, but they have a propensity to achieve a higher fitness level. They have much to learn in the area of pace, nutrition, and recovery, but they are actively learning.
Third, intermediate runners can run for thirty minutes at a nine-minute-per-mile pace.2 At this level, they are making progress in both running time and pace. They demonstrate knowledge about running and the practice of actually running well.
The late running specialist Hal Higdon defined the fourth stage, advanced runner, as one who is familiar with the training necessary to increase running efficiency and has the attitude to do so.3 Advanced runners push themselves to increased fitness. They look for others to challenge them, and they participate in a variety of running events to develop their running expertise. In addition, they look for opportunities to share their knowledge and experience to assist others in developing their own running skills.
The top, and last, category is composed of elite runners, who compete at a much higher level than others. According to New York Times health and science columnist Gina Kolata, “Elite distance runners have physiological traits that make them faster than the rest of us and account for the albatross between Olympic champions and the masses of fitness and recreational runners.”4 World-class runners have a particular bent for running, and they regularly put in the hard work to achieve above-average success.
Few people, of course, are world-class runners, yet almost anyone can engage in activity to increase their level of fitness. You may never run a sub-four-minute mile, but you can run a mile. You may never compete on the world stage, but you can do better on the platform God has provided for you.
A Metaphor about Running
Churches are much like people when it comes to health and fitness. Church leaders are enamored with the concept of developing healthy churches. Unfortunately, church health does not always result in making disciples (see Matt. 28:19–20). In reality, church health in and of itself does not necessarily result in fruitfulness. Just as an individual may be healthy living a sedentary lifestyle, churches are often content with a minimum level of health. Thus, they are technically healthy but not fit.
The metaphor of long-distance runners highlights the five stages in the health and fitness of churches. First, beginner churches are extremely sedentary. They have little experience with church health concepts and do not think about church fitness. Most have had declining worship attendance for a decade or longer. They may have launched new programs to increase vitality but gave up when no results appeared immediately. Beginner churches have extremely high BMIs and may be nearer to death than life.
Second, novice churches have some understanding of church health principles and have attempted to implement specific ideas to strengthen the church. Worship attendance has often plateaued, but these churches are comfortable. While their BMIs are not as high as those of beginner churches, their comfort is akin to hypertension in humans. They can live with hypertension for many years, but if left untreated, it may result in a stroke or death.
Third, intermediate churches have achieved good levels of health. They are unified, loving, and caring. Worshipers know their spiritual gifts and passions; many serve in ministry roles. Church leaders teach the Word of God with conviction. Parents raise their children in the faith. Members support missionaries and offer prayers for the salvation of souls around the world. An intermediate level is respectable, but these churches need to move on to become fit churches.
Fourth, advanced churches are extremely fit, make new disciples each year, and have started at least one or two daughter churches. They stand out from other churches due to their higher levels of people involved in prayer, Christ-exalting worship, and missional engagement in the community. Advanced churches have a clear vision and a strong passion and effectively execute their mission.
Fifth, elite churches have attained extraordinary levels of fitness. They are called the best of the best, top in their class, A1, and exceptional. As one might expect, elite churches are rare. They are unusually gifted but also have worked long and hard to achieve high levels of fruitfulness.
Fitness Components
According to FitDay, a link accessed through the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), fitness has five components: (1) cardiovascular endurance, (2) muscular strength, (3) muscular endurance, (4) flexibility, and (5) body composition.5 These components are applicable to both people and churches that desire to become fit in life and in ministry. As the apostle Paul wrote, life is a race (not a sprint but a long-distance run to be more exact), so “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1 NIV). Churches ought to work on their spiritual muscles so that when the time comes, the faith community will “be strong [muscular strength] in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10) and able to remain strong [muscular endurance] in the Lord. Churches must have flexibility, because at times God will ask them to do something that may stretch them or make them feel uncomfortable. In the same way a person’s body needs fuel, churches as spiritual bodies need the right balance of nutrients found in God’s Word. Feeding on the Word of God strengthens the composition of church bodies, allowing them to endure any challenge that comes their way.
Developing endurance requires church leaders to remain disciplined so they will be spiritually fit and eventually hear those humbling words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt. 25:21 NIV). Fitness requires discipline. Little effort is required to sit on a couch watching television three hours a day. However, working out moderately for thirty minutes a day, five days a week takes immense discipline. Likewise, a church can maintain a low level of health with little effort, but moving toward a high level of fitness takes immense effort. Thus, the five components of fitness—cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition can be improved through disciplined effort. Cardiovascular endurance is the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to muscles while they are working.6
Oxygen is the lifeblood of the body, as it is for churches. So what keeps oxygen flowing to the vital organs of a church? A focus on outreach, effective evangelism, and community engagement. These activities bring new energy to a church body to keep it living and breathing.
The second component, muscular strength, is needed to overcome resistance. Muscular strength is the highest amount of effort exerted by the muscles of the body in order to overcome the most resistance in a single effort.7 Muscular strength influences everything the body does—from getting out of bed in the morning to getting back in bed at night and everything in between. All activity demands muscular strength. Churches need muscular strength to overcome the resistance society exerts against them. They need muscular strength to serve the community, to preach the gospel, and to build up their members. Personal ministry, God-honoring stewardship, and leadership development provide muscular strength. Each of these characteristics strengthens the spiritual muscles needed for the church body to be fit.
Closely aligned with muscular strength is muscular endurance. While muscular strength deals with exertion in a single effort, muscular endurance relates to doing something repeatedly. “Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to repeatedly exert force against resistance.”8 The characteristics that provide for muscular endurance are Christ-exalting worship, disciple-making strategy, and pastoral leadership. These characteristics provide the needed strength to continue for the long haul.
Churches need to be flexible to adapt and stretch to embrace new challenges. The more flexible a muscle group, the less likelihood of injury. Likewise, the more flexible churches are, the more likely they will adapt to disciple-making opportunities. The characteristics that contribute to flexibility are loving community, vision-directed systems, and divine enablement. When the Spirit guides churches, when faith communities develop their systems and processes around vision, their agility and flexibility help avoid injury brought on by shortsightedness and stubbornness.
All twelve of these characteristics comprise the body composition of faith communities. In fitness terms, body composition is a “term for the percentage of fat, bone, and muscle in the body, of which fat is of greatest interest.”9 In general terms, the leaner the body mass, the more healthy/fit the individual. Balance is often the key. When the twelve characteristics are balanced in the life of churches, their body compositions become increasingly fit.
Joining the Run
This book explores the five types of churches in relation to each of the twelve characteristics of church fitness. It encourages church leaders to identify the type of church they serve, while providing practical guidelines for moving toward higher levels of fitness and, for a few, elite ministry.
Fitness requires measurements to track progress. The twelve characteristics of church fitness serve as a grid against which to compare the five types of churches. Descriptions and details of how the five types relate to each of the twelve characteristics are found in each chapter. As a church leader, you can quickly compare your church to the characteristic discussed.
In the areas where your church tracks well, you can rejoice. Where it does not track well, you learn the necessary adjustments to make to continue on the road to fitness.
The research foundation for this book comes from more than eighty years of combined experience in church leadership. Gary is a nationally and internationally respected writer, speaker, and professor and has focused on the biblical growth of churches for more than forty years. He is the author of twenty-five books and has published more than three hundred articles on a variety of topics related to church growth, pastoral ministry, and leadership. Phil has an extensive background in coaching denominational leaders, pastors, and church planters. He has consulted on church growth and multiplication issues with a variety of denominations and has conducted seminars all across North America on leadership, strategic change, church planting, church growth, evangelism, and missional church initiatives. He has spoken at conferences in North America, Australia, and Mexico and has written six books. Together, Gary and Phil bring a lifetime of research to bear in Building the Body.
Pursuing Fitness
Several years ago, Phil ran in a 5K event in his community. For this 5K run, like most others, organizers grouped runners into age categories. As Phil and his wife were watching the awards ceremony, they noticed a couple standing next to them. When the announcer read the name of the man next to them as the second-place winner in the sixty-plus age category, his wife said to him, “See, honey. I told you—if you live long enough, you win stuff.” Church fitness is achievable, but it takes effort, energy, and equipping. In addition, the fitter the body, the greater its impact for Christ and his church.
Fitness is a lifelong pursuit for an individual or a church. When church leaders pursue fitness, they discover many benefits. What Phil discovered is he wanted to be fit, not a certain weight. Pursuing fitness, of course, has resulted in many additional benefits, including weight loss. How we attain fitness is one thing, and maintaining it is another. Either way, the pursuit continues.
Five core beliefs guide the move toward church fitness: (1) all fit churches are healthy, but not all healthy churches are fit; (2) fitness enhances overall health; (3) fit churches are missionally minded and externally focused; (4) fit churches are multiplying churches; (5) the primary motivator for moving from health to fitness is dissatisfaction.
Our goal in writing Building the Body is to help you understand and pursue fitness for your church. When you understand the benefits of being fit and are dissatisfied enough to begin running, a completely new world will open up for you and the church you lead. Fit churches have more stamina. Fit churches have plans. Fit churches continually adjust to the world around them. Fit churches measure their progress. Thanks for choosing to go on this journey with us. You will not regret the run. Whether you are part of a beginner, a novice, an intermediate, an advanced, or an elite church, you can always achieve a level of fitness. Let’s start running!