Mark Dever - Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

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It is astonishing that the apostle Paul describes the local gathering of Christians as the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood (Acts 20:28, ESV ). That raises the stakes of church life and health and mission about as high as it can be. We are dealing with a blood-bought body of people. I do not want human ideas. I want Gods word about the church. I turn with hope and confidence to Mark Devers radically biblical commitment. Few people today have thought more or better about what makes a church biblical and healthy. I thank God for the book and for 9Marks ministries.

John Piper , founder, Desiring God Ministries; chancellor, Bethlehem College and Seminary

Books on the church are a dime a dozen. This one is different. Only rarely does a book on the church come along that marries responsible biblical and theological reflection to godly, experienced, good judgment and practical application. This book is one of them. If you are a Christian leader, be careful of the work you are now holding in your hand: it may change your life and ministry.

D. A. Carson , Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

In a day when a church is most likely evaluated on her cosmetics, its vital to know how to assess her true health. They put cosmetics on corpses! Mark Dever gives the biblical criteria for discerning the spiritual well-being of a church, not what it looks like on the outside before the world, but what it is on the inside before God. This is a foundational work which I highly recommend.

John MacArthur , Pastor, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is one of the very best, most readable, and useful books for learning how to lead a church into spiritual change. Its focus is not on church growth but on church health, which is the proper goal of a God-centered ministry. Each chapter gives the biblical rationale and offers practical suggestions for preaching, evangelism, discipleship, or some other aspect of church life. These principles and practices have been tested in Devers own dynamic ministry as senior pastor of a thriving urban congregation.

Philip Graham Ryken , President, Wheaton College

Postmodern America is awash with spiritualitybut not with authentic Christianity. Clear evidence of this fact is seen in the loss of a biblical ecclesiology in so many sectors. Reformation is always directed to the churchand we must pray to see the church reformed in our age. Mark Dever points toward a truly biblical recovery of the New Testament church in his manifesto, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church . Every page is loaded with thoughtful analysis and careful consideration. It belongs in the hands of every faithful pastor and all those who pray for reformation in this age.

R. Albert Mohler , President and Joseph Emerson Brown Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The future of biblical Christianity in the Western world is inextricably bound to the future of the local church. Mark Dever knows this, and his Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is a biblical prescription for faithfulness.

J. Ligon Duncan , John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is required reading for my students in ecclesiology. Even though I do not always come to the same conclusions as the author, the book is one of the few recent serious engagements with trenchantly important ecclesiological issues. This is also a great book for pastors to share with their congregations.

Paige Patterson , President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

A powerful and passionate call for congregations to take seriously their responsibilities, for the glory of God and the saving of lost souls.

Timothy George , Founding Dean, Beeson Divinity School; General Editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

In the tradition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Stott, Mark Dever calls the church to rediscover her biblical heritage. Perhaps never in history has the church tried so hard to be relevant to a culture and become less relevant in doing so! While many modern church gurus encourage us to be in the world, Mark reminds us that our calling is to do so without being of the world. This volume is consumed with church being rather than church doing. After all, being comes before doing, for what we ultimately do is always determined by who we are. Let the church be the church! Read it and reap!

O. S. Hawkins , President, Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention

For a young pastor wrestling with questions of what success and faithfulness look like for a church, Mark Devers book is a godsend. It helps you see past the hype and fanfare of numbers, statistics, and the latest methodology. Instead it guides you back to the old paths and the simple, world-changing beauty of Gods plan for the local church.

Joshua Harris , Senior Pastor, Covenant Life Church, Gaithersburg, MD; author, Dug Down Deep

Books that affirm the priority of the church are rare. Books that define the practice of the local church from the pages of Scripture rather than from cultural trends are even more rare. Mark Dever has given us just such a book. Written by a pastor and theologian who has built a strong local church in Washington, DC, this is the best book I have read on this topic of critical importance.

C. J. Mahaney , Sovereign Grace Ministries

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church

Third Edition

Other Crossway Books by Mark Dever

What Does God Want of Us Anyway? A Quick Overview of the Whole Bible

It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement, with Michael Lawrence

Proclaiming a Cross-Centered Theology, with J. Ligon Duncan, R. Albert Mohler Jr., C. J. Mahaney

12 Challenges Churches Face

In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement, with J. I. Packer

Preaching the Cross , with J. Ligon Duncan, R. Albert Mohler Jr., C. J. Mahaney

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

What Is a Healthy Church?

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made

The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept

The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel, with Paul Alexander

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (3rd edition)

Copyright 2000, 2004, 2013 by Mark Dever

Published by Crossway

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.

The first edition, published in 2000, was an expansion of a much shorter work published in 1997 by Founders Press.

Cover image: Dual Identity

First printing 2013

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible ( The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition. Used by permission. All rights reserved.