It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these. A book alert is not a book review or summary; rather, it is simply a preview of a book I deem worth checking out. In a book alert, I try to provide as much information as possible to assist you in your decision-making and/or purchases.
Title: What Is a Healthy Church?
Author: Mark Dever
Publisher: Crossway
Publishing Date: June 11, 2007
Pages: 128
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 1-5813-49378
Retail Price: $10.99
Table of Contents: n/a
Intro: n/a
Sample Chapter: n/a
What is an ideal church? While many Christians may never have considered that question, they probably have some preconceived idea of the perfect church in their minds. Yet they often have no clue what the ideal church looks like or how it works in our society.
Author Mark Dever reveals the key characteristics to a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a biblical understanding of the gospel. Dever then challenges believers to develop those characteristics in their churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing both the pastors and members of churches, Dever challenges all Christians to do their part in maintaining the local church. What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help all members fulfill their God-given roles in the church.
Buy @:
Amazon for $8.79
Crossway for $10.99
CBD for $8.99
BAMM for $8.79
Walmart for $8.44
Other book by Mark Dever:
Preaching the Cross (contributor and editor)
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel
The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made
The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept
Initial Thoughts:
One look at the ecclesiological landscape and you will find both anemic and bloated churches. Developing healthy churches isn’t easy, and know where to begin isn’t always obvious either. Some are looking for the latest leadership books while others are trying to emulate the latest trend in the church growth movement. Techniques and trends are no substitute for truth, for “the church indeed is the pillar and buttress of truth.” Consequently, we must begin with the Scriptures, the Word of truth, to show us just what a healthy church looks like. Mark Dever, a pastor and theologian, is a faithful surgeon that helps us diagnose the condition of our churches not according to the world’s standards of success, but according to God.
This book is short and could be digested from both the busy pastor and lay person as well. Indeed, this book is not simply for those in vocational ministry, but for everyone desirous of a healthy church. Wherever part you play in the body of Christ, every member needs to be healthy as well as committed to a healthy church. I hope that this book serves that purpose–uniting God’s people together for the sake of God’s Church and His glory in it.
I actually got the chance to meet Mark Dever between sessions at the New Attitude conference. He was kind enough to speak to me for about 10 minutes. Also, as I need to conduct an interview for a class, he said I could set up a chance to formally interview him in the near future. I’ll probably post concerning this on StrangeBaptistFire.com soon.
-Andrew
Good stuff Andrew. BTW, I am about to post something on conferences, and I would like your take on it. If you get a chance, give it a look.
I’ve just been reading 9 Marks of a Healthy Church. Good stuff!
Makes me “sad” though as I see some major health issues at the church we have attended the past 16 years…not that we didn’t know those issues existed, just didn’t have a “label” to put on them or scripture to back up our uneasy feelings…
Bretta,
If you enjoyed his book, you might want to check out their website. It is chock full of articles, MP3’s, and helpful advice on developing healthy churches. it is 9marks.org.
Thanks, Timmy…we’ll check it out!
This looks similar to Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, which I just got and haven’t yet read. Is this a rehashing of the same themes, or something entirely new?
David,
I am not sure. It seems too short to be a rehasing of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, but it might be a condensed version in a gift format or those smaller hardbacks (what are they called again?). Crossway seems to be in a habit of late of taking some of Piper’s larger works and condensing them in smaller, bite-size pieces, and I wonder if this is the same kind of thing going on here (notice the summary only mentions three marks instead of the nine). I would read the one you have first because it is foundational to what IX Marks is all about. Now that you have brought this up, I would be interested in seeing the difference between the two books.
I think Dever is on to something with this book, but I also think it’s greatly lacking because he doesn’t mention biblical love. No church is healthy without biblical love. I realize he’s not making every mark of a healthy church, but it doesn’t matter if you have his 9 marks is there is not love (1 Cor 13), something that he doesn’t really touch on to my recollection.
George,
That’s a very good point. Christian love is not only a defining mark of the Church, but it is a defining mark of true believers. While that may sound obvious, we cannot assume anything these days!