Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Christian Crier

Home
About

Home
Evangelical
Is Mark Dever’s “9 Marks of a Healthy Church” True?

Is Mark Dever’s “9 Marks of a Healthy Church” True?

Last updated on: January 11, 2015 at 6:04 pm by Jack Wellman

Is Mark Dever’s “9 Marks of a Healthy Church” True? 2015-01-11T18:04:35-06:00 Jack Wellman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Have you read or heard about Mark Dever’s book “9 Marks of a Healthy Church?” If so, do you think it’s true?

Marks of a Healthy Church

The book “9 Marks of a Healthy Church” by Mark Dever is an exceptional book that clarifies what a healthy church should look like. He covers nearly every essential for a biblical church to feed and equip the congregation, from biblical preaching, church discipline, what is true conversion, biblical principles on church leadership and membership, and having the right understanding of the gospel in order to be effectual in evangelizing. Here are 7 of the 9 marks that Mark Dever brings up that should be found in every church if they want to be biblical.

Church Discipline

The call to grow in holiness is for every believer and must be part of the discipleship process. Part of what most miss in the Great Commission, which was the imperative command given by Christ in Matthew 28:18-20, is to make disciples of all nations. Many churches might have an Outreach program but few have a discipleship process for their members. This involves a mentor-mentee relationship and reflects the mentoring relationship between Paul and Timothy. Every Paul needs a Timothy and every Timothy needs to have a Paul. This allows each individual to grow in the knowledge of God, not simply with head knowledge but as part of the sanctification process, one in which members are growing more and more like Christ. This should produce strong Christians with a determined will to live holy lives that reflect Christ.

Church Leadership

The pastor is not the one and only leader of a church. Even a small church should have the office of an elder and/or a deacon. From the biblical perspective, every pastor is an elder but not every elder serves as a pastor. The office of elder aids the pastor in the position of leadership as does the office of deacon, if a church has that position at all. The deacon is more concerned with those who are sick, those who are in need, and those who cannot do for themselves like the widows and the orphans of the church. Church leadership is essential to the proper functioning of a church. The elder can deal with areas of church discipline and might even back up the pastor behind the pulpit when called upon. The church will never go where the leadership is not first willing to take them. They must lead before anyone is willing to follow.

Church Discipleship

If a church is following the Great Commission that means that they are making disciples of others and being discipled. The person who is saved is to be discipled but when that person matures in the faith, they should be discipling others. It is a self-replicating mechanism within the Body of Christ, the church. Have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t say “Go into all the world and save as many as possible,” but rather He said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20a). Jesus says we are to go into all the world, even if it’s next door. When a person repents and trusts in Christ, they are to be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which essentially means that they are to be identified with them but how do you make disciples? It is by “teaching them to observe all that [Jesus] commanded” them. That is discipleship. Go, make disciples, baptize them (to be identified in) in the Father’s, Son’s, and the Holy Spirit’s name, and them to teach them the very same thing that Christ taught His disciples. That is the Great Commission.

Expository Preaching

The church depends on the pastor to feed the flock. Starving sheep are more likely to stray from the flock and find pastures elsewhere. This also under-nourishes the flock and sets them up for disease and illness. Expository preaching, although it might be missing in some churches, is an essential of a healthy church. Pastors are commanded by God to feed the flock the Word of God and are held responsible for their care because they really belong to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Pastors are simply an under-shepherd. Much of what you hear preached today is topological, where a subject or topic is expounded. The congregation must do biblical gymnastics in order to keep up and the context of the chapter and book are often lost. Context is always king. The risk of topical preaching is that text can be taken out of context and made into a pretext and possibly a false one. This may result in “proof texting” in order to build doctrines. I heard one old seminary professor say that we should never read only one verse by itself because the context of what the author was writing can possibly be lost.

Biblical Understanding of Conversion

Are you familiar with the “sinner’s prayer” that supposed to be repeated in the hopes that they really mean it. The phrases “Just let Jesus come into your heart” or “Just accept Jesus” are neither biblical nor effectual. None of these two are supported by Scripture. Have you heard of the story of a young boy as he entered the kitchen? When his mom heard him rummaging around in the utensil drawer and when she entered the kitchen she screamed. The boy had a knife pointed toward his chest. His mother asked “What are you doing!?” The boy simply said that he was going to let Jesus could come into his heart. What is rarely talked about is the necessity for repentance which where the first things Jesus and John the Baptist mentioned. Peter’s command for those who were deeply convicted of their sins on the Day of Pentecost wasn’t “just accept Jesus” (whatever that means) or “God loves you” but “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins” and then “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The necessity of being born again (John 3:3) and that no one can even see the kingdom unless they are born again (John 3:35) seems to have disappeared in much of today’s evangelism. The fact that a new creature in Christ is created and that they will, by necessity, bear fruit worthy or proving conversion (John 15) is nearly non-existent.

Church Membership

Last year the board and the general congregation had a vote to disfellowship someone. The only ones who could vote were those who were members of the church. Church membership is not simply being on a roll or ledger somewhere but having responsibility to the church to live a holy, sanctified life and being held accountable to one another. The fact that there are dozens and dozens of “one another’s” in the New Testament confirms the idea of many members comprising one body…the church. All of the members constitute the Body of Christ.

Biblical Evangelism

The idea that someone can be saved and not changed creates a lot of false converts. Having a watered down version of the gospel where nothing is required except to believe has created far too many false converts already in the church. When a person hears the good news of the gospel without first hearing about the bad news that God’s wrath is upon them (John 3:17-18; 3:36b) and that they need the Savior, they have been duped into believing that they are saved but a simple head knowledge of Jesus only qualifies someone to be a demon because even they believe but that doesn’t mean they’re saved (James 2:19). Unless you tell people that they’ve broken God’s law, they’ll never see the need to repent and trust in Christ as Savior. That’s because “The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Rom 3:20). Their lives must be placed against the holiness of God and shown the impossibility of ever being saved without the atoning work of Christ at Calvary and His righteousness being imputed to us (2 Cor 5:21).

Conclusion

Is your church biblical? Is it dogmatic on the essentials of the faith (e.g. Acts 4:12, Rom 10:9-13)? Does it have ongoing discipleship among the membership? Are the church members held responsible to one another and to the church for how they live their lives? Does it have proper church discipline when needed? Does the preaching contain expository verse by verse preaching or is it more topical? Is there a church leadership presence within the body? Do the members understand what the gospel really is and what conversion really looks like? If you can’t answer all or most of these questions, then your church might need a “well check” and Mark Dever’s book can help.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon

Bible Answers

Mark Dever

Previous Post

January 1, 2015

7 Great Bible Verses To Share on Facebook

Next Post

January 11, 2015 When is it Time to Disciple a Church Member? When Should they be Disfellowshipped?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bible Answers Bible Definitions Bible Story Bible Study Bible Verses Christian Books Christian Entertainment Christian Fathers Christian Mothers Christian Quotes Devotional Famous Christians Music News Parables Prayers Quotes Sunday School Lesson Uncategorized Youth Sermons

Select a Month October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Ruth's first husband?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Chilion Elimelech Mahlon Boaz