The health of any living organism is dependent upon the condition of its parts. The Lord’s body is only as strong as its weakest member. It is only as healthy as its sickest organ. It is only as active as its most idle part. Each individual then must consider his connection to the body. Because as the individual goes, so goes the body. Consider some principles pertaining to the individual and the Lord’s body which are vital to a healthy church.

Everybody is somebody in the Lord’s body. “The body is not one member but many” (1 Cor. 12:14). Everybody who is a member of the Lord’s body is significant. Consider how the events of one member’s life effect the entire body. A death, a newborn, sickness, healing, a falling away, a restoration, strife, reconciliation, absence, presence, a move, a reunion, crisis, resolution—and a myriad of other random events in the life of an individual member become for the whole body the subjects of its prayers, the topics of its conversation, the occasions for its tears, embraces, and encouragement. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). How you personally respond to these joys and sorrows, triumphs and tragedies, experienced by your fellow members effects the health of the body. Because everybody is somebody in the Lord’s body, everybody has something to do.

Everybody needs everybody in the Lord’s body. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). The hand without eye is blind, can see nothing. The eye without the hand is impotent, can do nothing. They need one another. There is no place for schism, for prejudice, for cliques within the Lord’s body. Is there somebody in the congregation you don’t know? You need to know them and they need to know you, because you need one another for the body to be healthy. Is there somebody you are leaving out or ignoring—either purposely or negligently? Include them, invite them, pay attention to them, make time for them. Without them—and by God’s design—you are less than you can be with them, and they are less without you. Would you wilfully harm the health and deplete the strength of the Lord’s body? Have you limited yourself in your association with the Lord’s people to those in your age group, to those with common hobbies or interests, to those who sit on your side of the building? Limit your involvement and you limit the potential growth of the Lord’s people. Because everybody needs everybody in the Lord’s body, everybody has somebody to lean on.

Nobody is a nobody in the Lord’s body. “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body?” (1 Cor. 12:15). The foot does not possess the dexterity of the hand, but neither does the hand possess the mobility and stability of the foot. The work of a local church requires many skills—some public and some private, some people-oriented and some object-oriented, some manual and some intellectual, some spiritual and some material. But all are necessary. Your skills and your opportunities may be limited—by age, by sex, by health, by education, by marital status, by providence, by personality, by consequences. The skills and opportunities of everyone else are limited as well. That’s the reason for the body—“if they were all one member, where would the body be?” (1 Cor. 12:19). When you sit down because you think you have nothing to contribute, when you quit because you think you’ve been left out, when you mope because you think you’re not noticed—you hurt the body, and you hurt yourself. Cancer is a growth which takes from the body without giving anything profitable in return. Nobody has the right to behave in that manner. The body presents a window of opportunities for you to give and to grow thereby. Because nobody is a nobody in the Lord’s body, nobody has the right to do nothing, to be nothing.

Maintaining a healthy church starts with you. Maintaining a growing congregation begins with maintaining and promoting your own spiritual growth. And the church, the Lord’s body, presents an environment in which you can exercise your talents and opportunities to bring about such growth. When you grow, it grows. But when it grows, you don’t necessarily grow. You can just be a hanger-on. But that’s not healthy—for you or the body. As goes the individual, so goes the body. As grows the member, so grows the body. So, go! Grow! And you’ll glorify the Lord, fulfill His purpose, and manifest His wisdom in the local church, His body.