As you may have already guessed, the main purpose of this book is to present some key elements that must be present in a healthy church. Mark Dever does a wonderful job in simply laying out what he considers to be the nine basic indicators of church health. These 9 marks are:
1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. The Gospel
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Church Leadership
Dr. Dever is clear to explain that this is not an exhaustive ecclesiology. Instead it is a concise address on common errors that are responsible for so much that goes wrong in the church. As such, this book is very useful.
In Mark 1, Expositional Preaching, Dever explains why he believes that systematically preaching through God’s Word should be the staple form of preaching in a healthy church. The difference between topical and expository preaching, as Dever sees it, is that in topical preaching the pastor chooses a topic and then picks the Scriptures that support what he has already decided he wants to say; with expository preaching, on the other hand, the pastor systematically works through the text of Scripture, unfolding God’s Word for God’s people. Many times, an expository preacher will not know what he intends to say when he comes to a particular text. In fact, Dr. Dever says that many times he is quite surprised by the things he finds in a passage as he studies it (pg. 40). Topical preachers pick select topics that they feel their congregation needs to hear and find Scripture to support it. Expository preachers assume that all of the Bible is relevent to all of us, all the time. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is:
Many pastors happily accept the authority of God’s Word and profess to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible; yet if they do not in practice regularly preach expositionally, I’m convinced that they will never preach more than they knew when they began the whole exercises. [...] A preacher should have his mind increasingly shaped by Scripture. He shouldn’t just use Scripture as an excuse for what he already knows he wants to say (pg. 41).
Mark 2, Biblical Theology, was another that was particularly interesting to me. At the beginning of this chapter Dr. Dever tells the following story:
I had made a statement in a doctoral seminar about God. Bill responded politely but firmly that he liked to think of God rather differently. For several minutes, Bill painted a picture for us of a friendly deity. He liked to think of God as being wise, but not meddling; compassionate, but never overpowering; ever so resourceful, but never interrupting. “This,” said Bill in conclusion, “is how I like to think of God.”
My reply was perhaps somewhat sharper than it should have been. “Thank you, Bill,” I said, “for telling us so much about yourself, but we are concerned to know what God is really like, not simply about our own desires (pg. 58).”
This particular chapter really resonated with me because I find this type of attitude so prevalent in the modern evangelical church. We need to be concerned with knowing and understanding who the God of the Bible really is, so that we can worship Him. No matter how sincere your worship, if it is directed to a deity who is not the God described in Scripture it is idolatry.
As you may have expected, Dever does touch on God’s sovereignty in this chapter. As exemplified in the story to open this chapter, Dever is not exactly bashful in his defense of the truth and integrity of God’s Word and Biblical leadership. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from this chapter is quite bold but immeasurably important:
For confessing Christians to resist the idea of God’s sovereignty in creation or salvation is really to flirt with pious paganism. Many Christians will have honest questions about God’s sovereignty. But a sustained, tenacious denial of God’s sovereignty should concern us (pg. 72).
Dever then takes it a step further, applying this to church leadership:
As dangerous as such resistance is for the spiritual life of any Christian, it is even more dangerous in the leader of a congregation. To appoint a person as a leader who doubts God’s sovereignty or who seriously misunderstands the Bible’s teaching on it, is to set up as an example a person who in his own heart may well be deeply unwilling to trust God. That is bound to hinder the church as it tries to trust the Lord together (pg. 73).
Theology is the study of God. Therefore it is essential for a healthy church to have a Biblical understanding of God and His ways with us. Dr. Dever plainly states:
How you think about God impacts the way you live and what you want your church to be like. You must have a biblical understanding of God (pg. 72).
While I would love to give a little summary of every single chapter in the book, I’m affraid that would deem the reading of the book unnecessary in the minds of many of you. Dr. Dever’s insight is far more siginificant than I could even begin to summarize. Each and ever chapter of this book is filled with biblical truth as applied to the local church. Every single chapter is worth reading, and I would recommend this book to anyone. Whether you are in a position of church leadership desiring to grow a healthy church, or a lay person desiring to measure the health of your current local church, and especially if you’re a lay person trying to find a local church, this book is a must-read!
To conclude, here’s a list of some endorsements of this book by some of my favorite pastors/teachers/theologians:
If you are a Christian leader, be careful of the work you are now holding in your hand: it may change your life and ministry. (D.A. Carson)
Mark Dever gives the biblical criteria for discerning the spiritual well-being of a church, not what it looks like on the outside before the world, but what it is on the inside before God. This is a foundational work which I highly recommend. (John MacArthur)
It is astonishing that the apostle Paul describes the local gathering of Christians as “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 ESV). That raises the stakes of church life and health and mission about as high as it can be. We are dealing with a blood-bought body of people. I do not want human ideas. I want God’s Word about the church. I turn with hope and confidence to Mark Dever’s radically biblical commitment. Few people today have thought more or better about what makes a church biblical and healthy. (John Piper)
Written by a pastor and theologian who has built a strong local church in Washington D.C., this is the best book I have read on this topic of critical importance. (C.J. Mahaney)
Mark Dever points toward a truly biblical recovery of the New Testament church in his manifesto, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Every page is loaded with thoughtful analysis and careful consideration. It belongs in the hands of every faithful pastor and all those who pray for reformation in this age. (Albert Mohler)
By his grace; for his glory,
Brandon
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