What Is a Healthy Church Member? E-Book

Thabiti M. Anyabwile

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Building Healthy Churches
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 147

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Pastor and Author Thabiti M. Anyabwile Empowers Readers to Actively Contribute to the Vitality of the Local Church God wants Christians to experience the local church as a home more profoundly wonderful and meaningful than any other place on earth. To achieve this, all believers should play an active, intentional role in the body of Christ. But what does it mean to be a healthy church member? In this 9Marks guide, pastor Thabiti Anyabwile studies God's word to show readers how they can labor for the health of their church. Covering 10 essential topics—including evangelism, discipleship, self-discipline, and prayer—he demonstrates how contributing to the mission of the local church also helps readers experience profound spiritual growth in their own lives.  - An Essential Guide on Church Membership and Participation: Helps Christians understand their individual roles in building a healthy church - Written by Thabiti M. Anyabwile: Pastor, author, and council member for the Gospel Coalition - From 9Marks: Other titles include What Is a Healthy Church?; Why Trust the Bible?; and Is God Really Sovereign? - Replaces ISBN 978-1-4335-0212-5

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“Some books are so simple they are scarcely worth skimming; others are so complex that, unless their subject matter is extraordinarily important, they are not worth the time they demand. But sometimes one finds a book that is simultaneously simple and profound—and this is one of them. In a generation when many people are talking about the importance of Christians living ‘in community,’ few have unpacked, in biblically faithful and personally penetrating ways, just what that means. Thabiti Anyabwile closes the gap. Read it, think about it, pray over it—and distribute it generously around your congregation.”

D. A. Carson, Theologian-at-Large, The Gospel Coalition

“This book provides an excellent and much-needed focus on the individual church member. We can all benefit from this insightful book.”

R. C. Sproul, Late Founder, Ligonier Ministries

“A faithful pastor is also a good church member. Thabiti Anyabwile is evidence of this truth and thus has written with pastoral insight and personal experience on what it means to be a healthy church member. Any church desiring to strengthen its membership would do well to get this book into the hands of its members. Being a faithful church member in an age of overindulgence and selfish impulses is not easy. Yet, Anyabwile not only reminds us it is possible but also challenges us with the biblical reality that it is necessary.”

Anthony J. Carter, Lead Pastor, East Point Church, East Point, Georgia

“Thabiti Anyabwile’s What Is a Healthy Church Member? asks the right questions about the offer of church membership, calling each local body of believers to cultivate and sustain practices of an assembly formed by the gospel. It is a most practical manual, yet it is free from the religious utilitarianism that often marks seeker-oriented works in this genre. Any leadership and laity that would elect to read this book together and embrace its exhortations would find their life as the family of God increasing in its wisdom, power, love, and witness in the world. What a balm we all will find in the words of this book!”

Eric C. Redmond, Professor of Bible, Moody Bible Institute; Associate Pastor of Preaching and Teaching, Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, Illinois

What Is a Healthy Church Member?

9Marks: Building Healthy Churches

Edited by Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman

What Is a Healthy Church?, Mark Dever (2024)

What Is a Healthy Church Member?, Thabiti Anyabwile (2024)

Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church, Matt Smethurst (2021)

Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God’s People, Matt Merker (2021)

Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church, John Onwuchekwa (2018)

Biblical Theology: How the Church Faithfully Teaches the Gospel, Nick Roark and Robert Cline (2018)

Missions: How the Local Church Goes Global, Andy Johnson (2017)

Conversion: How God Creates a People, Michael Lawrence (2017)

Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus, Mark Dever (2016)

The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ, Ray Ortlund (2014)

Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today, David R. Helm (2014)

Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus, J. Mack Stiles (2014)

Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus, Jeramie Rinne (2014)

Sound Doctrine: How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God, Bobby Jamieson (2013)

Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus, Jonathan Leeman (2012)

Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus, Jonathan Leeman (2012)

Building Healthy Churches

What Is a Healthy Church Member?

Thabiti M. Anyabwile

What Is a Healthy Church Member?

© 2008 by Thabiti M. Anyabwile

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, 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. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2008

Reprinted with new cover 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-8833-4ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2203-1PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-0456-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anyabwile, Thabiti M., 1970–

 What is a healthy church member? / Thabiti M. Anyabwile; foreword by Mark Dever.

  p. cm. — (IX marks series)

 ISBN 978-1-4335-0212-5 (hc)

 1. Church—Marks. I. Title.

BV601.A59   2008

248.4—dc22  2007051434

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2024-10-04 09:51:16 AM

For Jesus Christ, the Head of the church,

For his body and each member doing its part,

For local churches that have shaped me:

First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman,

Capitol Hill Baptist Church,

Church on the Rock

and

For the church that lives in my home:

Kristie, Afiya, Eden, and Titus

Contents

Series Preface

Foreword

Introduction

Mark 1 A Healthy Church Member Is an Expositional Listener

Mark 2 A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Theologian

Mark 3 A Healthy Church Member Is Gospel Saturated

Mark 4 A Healthy Church Member Is Genuinely Converted

Mark 5 A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Evangelist

Mark 6 A Healthy Church Member Is a Committed Member

Mark 7 A Healthy Church Member Seeks Discipline

Mark 8 A Healthy Church Member Is a Growing Disciple

Mark 9 A Healthy Church Member Is a Humble Follower

Mark 10 A Healthy Church Member Is a Prayer Warrior

A Final Word

Appendix: A Typical Covenant of a Healthy Church

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

Do you believe it’s your responsibility to help build a healthy church? If you are a Christian, we believe that it is.

Jesus commands you to make disciples (Matt. 28:18–20). Jude says to build yourselves up in the faith (Jude 20–21). Peter calls you to use your gifts to serve others (1 Pet. 4:10). Paul tells you to speak the truth in love so that your church will become mature (Eph. 4:13, 15). Do you see where we are getting this?

Whether you are a church member or leader, the Building Healthy Churches series of books aims to help you fulfill such biblical commands and so play your part in building a healthy church. Another way to say it might be, we hope these books will help you grow in loving your church like Jesus loves your church.

In this series, 9Marks has produced short, readable books on each of what Mark Dever has called nine marks of a healthy church—plus a few more. These include books on expositional preaching, biblical theology, sound doctrine, the gospel, conversion, evangelism, church membership, church discipline, discipleship and growth, church elders, deacons, prayer, missions, and corporate worship.

Local churches exist to display God’s glory to the nations. We do that by fixing our eyes on the gospel of JesusChrist, trusting him for salvation, and then loving one another with God’s own holiness, unity, and love. We pray the book you are holding will help.

With hope,

Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman

series editors

Foreword

“Beloved.” On Sunday mornings, that was the way Thabiti always greeted the congregation that we pastored together. And he meant it. He loved them, and they loved him. Some of the older members couldn’t pronounce his name (thuh-BEE-tee), but they knew that Thabiti meant it when he called them “Beloved.”

“Good morning, Beloved.” I can still hear it.

That’s also the word that the apostle John used again and again in his letters to some of the earliest churches. In God’s providence, John’s letters, together with the rest of the New Testament, tell us a lot about what it means to be Christians together. They tell us what it means to be a church member, which is what this little book is about, too.

Thabiti knows from experience that living the Christian life is not something that we’re supposed to do alone. Being a Christian is a personal matter, not a private one. When you are born again, you are born into a family. And that family is not only the great extended family of Christians throughout the world, but also the particular nuclear family of a local congregation.

As a fellow church member for a number of years, I had the joy of knowing Thabiti and his wife, Kristie. I remember the first Sunday I met Thabiti. I was struck by how interesting (he worked at a “think tank”), how distinguished (he just looks the part), and how thoughtful (he was measured with his words) he was. But he wasn’t simply a fascinating brain. The brother has a heart! He quickly began involving himself in the lives of other people in the church. Within a few weeks Thabiti was already helping to pastor the congregation. Though it would be several years before he was recognized as an elder, he was eldering.

All of this shows that Thabiti understands the idea that sheep are to be in a sheepfold, and I have seen him be both a great member of the sheepfold and an outstanding undershepherd.

I’ve spent enough of your time now. This is supposed to be a short book. Now I invite you to jump into it and profit. But take a moment to pray before you do. Pray that God might use Thabiti in your life, as he has used him in so many other lives. Pray that God would use this book to help you know and love your local church in a way you never have before. And pray that, as you come to know and love your church, you would increasingly come to know and show God’s love.

God bless and happy reading, Beloved.

Mark Dever

Washington DC

September 2007

Introduction

Jenny surprised me when she started crying during our membership interview. The first twenty minutes of the interview were fairly routine. She recounted her childhood growing up in a Christian home, her high school years filled with fear, and a period of living as a prodigal during college. Then she recalled with some joy her conversion experience in a hometown local church.

So I did not expect her to sob at the question, “How was that church for you spiritually? Did you grow there?”

After pausing for a moment, she explained, “I expected that after my conversion someone would have helped me to grow as a Christian.” She continued with a distinct trace of confusion and anger: “But it was as if people put me in a corner somewhere, as if they expected me to figure things out on my own. It was a terrible and lonely time.”

How many Jennys have you met in your lifetime? Perhaps you are a Jenny. Perhaps you have spent considerable time in a local church, or several churches. And perhaps your Christian life is not too dissimilar from Jenny’s. You came to the faith bright eyed and bushy tailed, bouncing with energy and zeal to do great things for the Lord. But soon you found yourself wondering, “What exactly am I supposed to be doing as a member of this local church?”

If so, this book is written for you. And if not, this book is written for you, too.

Whether your Christian life began yesterday or thirty years ago, the Lord’s intent is that you play an active and vital part in his body, the local church. He intends for you to experience the local church as a home more profoundly wonderful and meaningful than any other place on earth. He intends for his churches to be healthy places and for the members of those churches to be healthy as well.

This little book is written in the hope that you might discover or rediscover what it means to be a healthy member of a local church, and what it means to contribute to the overall health of the church.

In 2007, Crossway Books published Mark Dever’s What Is a Healthy Church? That book offered one definition of what a healthy church looks like biblically and historically and, along with his prior work Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, has shaped the thinking of many pastors and church leaders in the years since it was first published.

This book takes its cue from What Is a Healthy Church? though it attempts to answer a slightly different question: “What does a healthy church member look like in the light of Scripture?” While Nine Marks of a Healthy Church primarily addressed pastors in the task of church reform, this book seeks to address the people that pastors lead and to encourage those people to play their part in helping the local church to increasingly reflect the glory of God.

How can you, an individual member of a local church, contribute to the positive health of your church?

A lady named Mrs. Burns cornered me after the church service one Sunday morning. She was a little hot and bothered about some of the things that were changing in the church as well as some of the things that were remaining the same. I tried to greet others as they were leaving while at the same time nodding politely to Mrs. Burns as she complained of her dissatisfaction.

When she paused in her litany, my first thought was to ask her, “So what exactly would you have me to do about these things?” But in a rare moment of insight I thought better of asking that question. Instead I asked her, “So what are you going to do about the state of the church? How will you become a better member and contribute to the health of God’s family in this place?”

Those questions belong to every Christian, not just the ones who complain like Mrs. Burns. The health of the local church depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of the ministry.

The chapters that follow present one proposal for becoming a healthier member of your local church. The chapters assume that you’re already a member of a local congregation and that perhaps you just need a little nudge or the opportunity to think through a few key issues.

Chapter 1 encourages “expositional listening” to the word of God. Healthy church members are those who listen in a particular way to the word of God as it is preached and studied—they let God set the agenda by seeking always to hear the true meaning of the text so that they can apply it to their lives.

In chapter 2, church members are encouraged to dedicate themselves to learning the overarching themes of the Bible. In other words, they are asked to become “biblical theologians” in an effort to protect themselves and the church from false and unsound teaching.

Chapter 3 invites church members to be saturated in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that saves us (Rom. 1:16), and it is the gospel that will sustain and motivate us in our daily Christian lives.

There is no way to listen expositionally to the Scripture, to master its overarching narrative and themes, and to live a gospel-saturated life without also desiring and endeavoring to become a biblical evangelist. Chapters 4 and 5 offer some suggestions for thinking about conversion and evangelism in a biblically healthy way.

Chapter 6 is a call to make a serious and active commitment to membership in the local church. Then chapter 7 provides one reason why committed church membership is important: the local church is where Christians experience the shaping and correcting discipline of the Lord.

Chapter 8 examines spiritual growth from a biblical perspective, while chapter 9 includes some recommendations for effectively supporting the leadership of your local church.

Chapter 10 is a call to consider prayer an essential aspect of becoming and being a healthy church member. A brief discussion of the biblical basis of prayer is offered along with some suggested things for healthy church members to include in their prayer lives.

Each chapter also includes some recommended readings for further study. These are not the only things that make for a healthy church member; other things are important as well. But I hope these stir us all to love and good deeds for the glory of Christ and the beauty of his bride.

O Sovereign Lord, we beseech you to bless your people with an unusual humility, unity, joy, peace, and care for one another. We pray that you would increasingly make all of your people spiritually healthy and fruitful, not only as individuals but as one body, one new man, laboring together to grow up into Christ, even the fullness of his stature. Bless the reading, hearing, and study of your word for the glory of your name. And, O Lord, be pleased to use even this little book in some way to advance your kingdom and beautify your bride. Father, we ask these things knowing that nothing is too hard for you, with the full assurance of faith, in Jesus’s name. Amen.