What Is a Healthy Church? E-Book

Mark Dever

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007

Beschreibung

What is an ideal church, and how can you tell? How does it look different from other churches? More importantly, how does it act differently, especially in society? Many of us aren't sure how to answer those questions, even though we probably have some preconceived idea. But with this book, you don't have to wonder any more. Author Mark Dever seeks to help believers recognize the key characteristics of a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a right understanding of the gospel. Dever then calls us to develop those characteristics in our own churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing church members from pastors to pew sitters, Dever challenges all believers to do their part in maintaining the local church. What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help each of us fulfill our God-given roles in the body of Christ.

Leseprobe

WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH?

CROSSWAY BOOKS BY MARK DEVER

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

The Deliberate Church (with Paul Alexander)

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (forthcoming)

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made

The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept

The Church and Her Challenges (forthcoming)

What Is a Healthy Church?

Copyright © 2007 by Mark E. Dever and 9Marks

Published by Crossway Books

                     a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers                      1300 Crescent Street                      Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Reprinted from 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, Copyright © 2005 by Mark E.

Dever

Cover design: Josh Dennis

Cover photo: iStock

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture quotations marked esv are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publlcation Data

Dever, Mark.

What is a healthy church? / Mark Dever.

        p.     cm.

“Adapted from 9 marks of a healthy church, © 2005 by Mark Dever”—T.p. verso.

ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-937-5 (hc)

1. Church—Marks. 2. Church—Biblical teaching. 3. Choice of church. I. Dever, Mark. 9 marks of a healthy church. II. Title.

BV601.D49       2007

250—dc22                                                                      2006102865

In thanks to God for faithful pastors I have known:

HAROLD PURDY WALLY THOMAS ED HENEGER

CONTENTS

Preface: A Parable 9Introduction: What Are You Looking for in a Church? 13

PART 1: WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH?

1 Your Christianity and Your Church 212 What a Church Is . . . and Isn’t 333 What Every Church Should Aspire to Be: Healthy 39

4 The Ultimate How-to Guide: How to Display God’s Character

49

PART 2: ESSENTIAL MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

5 Expositional Preaching 636 Biblical Theology 697 A Biblical Understanding of the Good News 75

PART 3: IMPORTANT MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

8 A Biblical Understanding of Conversion 859 A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism 8910 A Biblical Understanding of Membership 9311 Biblical Church Discipline 10112 Biblical Discipleship and Growth10713 Biblical Church Leadership 11314 Conclusion: Where the Rubber Meets the Road119Appendix: A Typical Covenant of a Healthy Church 123Special Thanks 125

PREFACE: A PARABLE

God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

—1 CORINTHIANS 12:18–21

Nose and Hand were sitting in the church pew talking. The morning service, led by Ear and Mouth, had just ended, and Hand was telling Nose that he and his family had decided to look for a different church.

“Really?” Nose responded to Hand’s news. “Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hand said, looking down. He was usually slower to speak than other members of the church body. “I guess because the church doesn’t have what Mrs. Hand and I are looking for.”

“Well, what are you looking for in a church?” Nose asked. The tone in which he spoke these words was sympathetic. But even as he was speaking them he knew he would dismiss Hand’s answer. If the Hands couldn’t see that Nose and the rest of the leadership were pointing the church body in the right direction, the body could do without them.

Hand had to think before answering. He and Mrs. Hand liked Pastor Mouth and his family. And Minister of Music Ear meant well. “Well, I guess we’re looking for a place where people are more like us,” Hand finally stammered. “We tried spending time with the Legs, but we didn’t connect with them. Next we joined the small group for all the Toes. But they kept talking about socks and shoes and odors. And that didn’t interest us.”

Nose looked at him this time with genuine dismay: “Aren’t you glad they’re concerned with odors?!”

“Sure, sure. But it’s not for us. Then, we attended the Sunday school for all you facial features. Do you remember? We came for several Sundays a couple of months ago?”

“It was great to have you.”

“Thank you. But everyone just wanted to talk, and listen, and smell, and taste. It felt like, well, it felt like you never wanted to get to work and get your hands dirty. Anyway, Mrs. Hand and I were thinking about checking out that new church over on East Side. We hear they do a lot of clapping and hand-raising, which is closer to what we need right now.”

“Hmmm,” Nose replied. “I see what you mean. We’d hate to see you go. But I guess you have to do what’s good for you.”

At that moment, Mrs. Hand, who had been caught up in another conversation, turned back to join her husband and Nose. Hand briefly explained what he and Nose had been talking about, after which Nose repeated his sadness at the prospect of losing the Hands. But he again said that he understood since it sounded like their needs weren’t being met.

Mrs. Hand nodded in agreement. She wanted to be polite, but, truth be told, she wasn’t sad to be leaving. Her husband had made just enough critical remarks about the church over the years that her heart had begun to reflect his. No, he had never burst into an open tirade against the body. In fact, he usually apologized for “being so negative,” as he put it. But the little complaints that he let slip out here and there had had an effect. The small groups were a little cliquish. The music was a little out of date. The programs did seem a little silly. The teaching wasn’t entirely to their liking. In the end, it was hard for the two of them to put their fingers on it, but they finally decided that the church wasn’t for them.

In addition to all that, Mrs. Hand knew that their daughter Pinkie was not comfortable with the youth group. Everyone was so different from her, she felt out of joint.

Mrs. Hand then said something about how much she appreciated Nose and the leadership. But the conversation had already run on too long for Nose. Besides, her perfume made him want to sneeze. He thanked Mrs. Hand for her encouragement, repeated that he was sorry to hear of their departure, then turned and walked away. Who needed the Hands? Apparently, they didn’t need him.