How to Build a Healthy Church: A Practical Guide for Deliberate Leadership (Second Edition)

by Mark Dever, Paul Alexander

Overview

In this practical guide, pastors Mark Dever and Paul Alexander have compiled a practical handbook for pastors and church leaders on how to build a healthy church grounded in the gospel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433575778
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	08/24/2021
Series:	9Marks
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Connie, and they have two adult children.

Paul Alexander (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the pastor of Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Elgin, Illinois, where he lives with his wife, Laurie, and their six children.

Table of Contents

Foreword D. A. Carson 15

Mark's Preface 17

Paul's Preface 21

A Note to the Reader 23

Introduction 31

What Are We Building? 31

How Should We Build It? 33

What Will It Cost to Build Like This? 35

Section 1 Gathering the Church

1 The Four P's 41

Preaching 41

Praying 44

Personal Discipling Relationships 46

Patience 48

2 Beginning the Work 53

Clarifying the Gospel 53

Cultivating Trust 56

Cleaning the Rolls 58

Conducting Reverse Membership Interviews 60

3 Doing Responsible Evangelism 63

Including Essentials 63

Extending Invitations 64

Avoiding Entertainment 67

Avoiding Manipulation 68

Being God Centered 69

Training Members 70

4 Taking in New Members 73

Where Is Local Church Membership in the Bible? 74

The New Members' Class 76

The Church Covenant 76

The Membership Interview 79

The Ministry of New Members 80

The Margin of Error 81

5 Doing Church Discipline 83

Formative and Corrective 83

The Preventative Function of Accountability Relationships 84

The Context 85

The Care List 87

Removing a Member from the Rolls 87

Section 2 When the Church Gathers

6 Understanding the Regulative Principle 95

The Regulative Principle 95

Worship Is the Purpose of Redemption 96

God Cares How People Worship in the Old Testament 96

God Cares How People Worship in the New Testament 97

Why Does God Care about How We Worship Him? 98

7 Applying the Regulative Principle 101

Read the Bible 101

Preach the Bible 103

Pray the Bible 104

Sing the Bible 105

See the Bible 107

On Multiple Services 108

8 The Role of the Pastor 111

Practitioner of the Marks 111

Teaching Is Everything 112

The Day-to-Day 114

The Three G's 116

9 Evangelistic Exposition 119

What Expositional Preaching Does 120

What Evangelistic Sermons Are 121

How to Preach Expositional Sermons Evangelistically 123

10 The Roles of the Different Gatherings 129

Adult Education Hour 129

Sunday Morning Service 130

Sunday Evening Service 132

Wednesday Evening Service 135

Members' Meetings 137

11 The Role of the Ordinances 141

Baptism 141

The Lord's Supper 143

12 Loving Each Other 147

A Live, Active Culture 147

Building a Corporate Witness 151

13 Music 153

Congregational Singing 154

Accompaniment 160

Variety-a Staple Spice 163

Getting There 165

Section 3 Gathering Elders

14 The Importance of Elders 173

Brief Biblical Background 174

The Practicality of Plurality 175

15 Looking for a Few Good Men 179

Recognizing before Training 179

What Is an Elder Not? 181

What Is an Elder? 183

Qualification Quadrants 183

16 Assessment 187

Assessing Character 187

Assessing Ability 189

Assessing Fit 191

17 Why Character Is Crucial 195

Modeling 195

Meetings 197

The Great Meeting 198

18 Getting Started 203

Exposition 203

Recognition 205

Nomination 205

Election 206

Installation 206

Cooperation 208

Rotation 208

19 Staffing 211

Why Not Specialize? 211

What's the Alternative? 216

The Relationships between Staff, Elders, and Deacons 219

Section 4 When the Elders Gather

20 The Word and Prayer 225

The Word 226

Prayer 229

21 The Agenda: What to Talk About 235

Preparation 235

Categories for Conversation 236

The Annual Budget Process 245

Others in the Room 246

22 Decision-Making: How to Talk about It 249

The Pastor's Role 249

Speaking Graciously 251

Observing Order 253

Voting 254

Conclusion 257

A Godward-Looking Church 257

An Outward-Looking Church 259

Appendix: Church Membership Interview Form 267

Notes 271

General Index 281

Scripture Index 287

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In the year 2000, I attended a weekender at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. During our time there, Mark Dever allowed us to observe how they did church and invited us to ask questions. Everything the elders and the church did was intentional, and everything we observed was rooted in biblical convictions about what a church is and does. The Lord used that weekend to shape my understanding of what a healthy, biblical church might look like. What you hold in your hands is very much like a ‘weekender’ in book form. But make no mistake. This is not a ‘how-to’ book in the ordinary sense of that term. Instead, it is a ‘why-to’ book. In it, Dever and Paul Alexander argue that because the church is God’s idea, we must order it according to his word. Our God determined church health, and he has revealed in his word how to pursue it. So read this book, consider what a church is, then deliberately lead your church toward that end for the glory of God.”
—Juan Sanchez, Assistant Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“How to Build a Healthy Church is as simple as it is biblical. At the heart of the message is the presupposition that the Christian life is to be deliberately lived out in the community of a church family under the oversight of elders. Dever and Alexander provide no quick fixes, no new revelations; they simply call us to ordinary and consistent biblical Christianity.”
—Chopo Mwanza, Pastor, Faith Baptist Church Riverside, Kitwe, Zambia

“Here is one of the most faithful and insightful pastors of our time addressing the most crucial issues of church life. Mark Dever refuses to separate theology and congregational life, combining pastoral insight with clear biblical teaching. This book is a powerful antidote to the merely pragmatic approaches of our day—and a refutation to those who argue that theology just isn’t practical.”
—R. Albert Mohler Jr., President and Centennial Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“This book is the perfect example of what a truly practical book on church health and growth should be: it gives concrete guidance for and examples of biblical principles being put into practice in the life and ministry of the local congregation.”
—Ligon Duncan, Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary

“How to Build a Healthy Church shares many of the ministry lessons that Dever and his colleagues have learned from Scripture and sought to implement in the life of their church community. This book is for anyone who wants to get serious about following the biblical pattern for the church and is looking for down-to-earth practical help.”
—Philip Graham Ryken, President, Wheaton College

“Here is a novel idea: use the Bible as a handbook to gather and guide the church! And How to Build a Healthy Church is a novel volume indeed, standing amid the spate of ‘church-as-corporation, pastor-as-CEO’ manuals that glut church life. Here is a book that wafts a radical, refreshing breeze from the pages of Scripture that will breathe life into the church. A crucial read.”
—R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois