Spirit-Empowered
Message Notes and Questions
John Harris
January 12, 2025

January 12, 2025
John Harris

Healthy Church: Spirit-Empowered

John 3:1-7

A healthy church is a spiritual

whose members know they’ve been by Christ and have begun to one like Christ loves them.


1. A healthy church is a family because its members have been by the .


2. A healthy church is a family because its members are continually by the .

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  1. Share with the group about a time when you returned to your childhood home? What was it like?

  2. In John 3:1-8, Jesus explains how conversion is God’s work, comparing it to being “born again.” Looking at the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, why do you think Jesus chose this particular metaphor? What aspects of spiritual birth relate to the health of a church?

  3. Many Christians’ approach to church is to treat it like “one more store to peek your head into at the Christian mall.” What cultural attitudes or personal tendencies might lead to this consumer-minded approach to church? How can we resist this tendency?

  4. “Church membership is not simply a record of a box we once checked.” What experiences have helped you move beyond viewing church membership as just a formal process to seeing it as a “living commitment”?

  5. Church membership means saying “I am now your responsibility, and you are my responsibility.” What practical changes might occur in our church relationships if we truly embraced this perspective?

  6. The Scriptures present several biblical metaphors for the church: a temple with bricks, a flock with sheep, a vine with branches, and a body with members. Which of these metaphors speaks most powerfully to you about the church, and why?

  7. What opportunities do you see in our church family right now where we could be there for each other? What might prevent us from taking these initiatives?

  8. If we think about taking our church family’s “spiritual pulse,” what signs of health do you see in our community? Where do you think we need growth or strengthening as a spiritual family?