Mark Dever - The compelling community: where Gods power makes a church attractive

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If you are ready to be refreshed as well as challenged, read this book. It is biblical and practical. Its clarity is powerful and very compelling. Thank you, Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop, for loving the church of Jesus Christ!

Ronnie Floyd, President, the Southern Baptist Convention; Senior Pastor, Cross Church, Springdale, Arkansas

The Compelling Community could not have come at a better time. Its arguments are compelling. What we need today are not new methods for church growth, but a fresh yielding to the Holy Spirit so that he can take us back to the gospel-centered principles we see in the New Testament that catapulted the early church into the center stage of human history. Thank you, Mark and Jamie, for refreshing our spirits with these timeless truths.

Conrad Mbewe, Pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia

The Compelling Community provides an alternative to running your church on the building blocks of specialization and segmentation. The book is well-timed. After all, many of us long to see the gospel build community along the lines of generalization and integration instead. Great stuff from two men who have given their lives to the welfare of the local church.

David R. Helm, Pastor, Holy Trinity Church, Chicago; Chairman, The Charles Simeon Trust

Many of us live in neighborhoods with an abundance of church congregations, yet those neighborhoods are flooded with crime, racism, lostness, and very few changed lives. Have you ever wondered why churches are not having more of an impact? This powerful and convicting book should challenge every church to do a self-examination to determine if their weekly gatherings are making an impact in their community through the power of the gospel!

Fred Luter Jr., Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, Louisiana

Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop remind us that the faithful local church is ever seeking to make a compelling case for Christ in community.

Tony Carter, Pastor, East Point Church, East Point, Georgia

Other 9Marks Books

The Pastor and Counseling: The Basics of Shepherding Members in Need, Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju (2015)

Who Is Jesus?, Greg Gilbert (2015)

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 3rd edition, Mark Dever (2013)

Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons, Thabiti M. Anyabwile (2012)

Am I Really a Christian?, Mike McKinley (2011)

What Is the Gospel?, Greg Gilbert (2010)

Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry, Michael Lawrence (2010)

Church Planting Is for Wimps: How God Uses Messed-up People to Plant Ordinary Churches That Do Extraordinary Things, Mike McKinley (2010)

It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement, Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence (2010)

What Does God Want of Us Anyway? A Quick Overview of the Whole Bible, Mark Dever (2010)

The Church and the Surprising Offense of Gods Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline, Jonathan Leeman (2010)

What Is a Healthy Church Member?, Thabiti M. Anyabwile (2008)

12 Challenges Churches Face, Mark Dever (2008)

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Mark Dever (2007)

What Is a Healthy Church?, Mark Dever (2007)

Building Healthy Churches

Edited by Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman

Church Elders: How to Shepherd Gods People Like Jesus, Jeramie Rinne (2014)

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE
COMPELLING
COMMUNITY

Where Gods Power Makes
a Church Attractive

MARK DEVER &
JAMIE DUNLOP

The Compelling Community: Where Gods Power Makes a Church Attractive

Copyright 2015 by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop

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.

Cover design: Mark Davis

Cover image: Sideways Design/Shutterstock.com

First printing 2015

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4354-8
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4357-9
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4355-5
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4356-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dever, Mark.

The compelling community : where Gods power makes a church attractive / Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop.

1 online resource. (9Marks books)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4335-4355-5 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-4335-4356-2 (mobi) ISBN 978-1-4335-4357-9 (epub) ISBN 978-1-4335-4354-8 (tpb)

1. Church. 2. CommunitiesReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV600.3

253dc23 2015001391

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To our church, with joy and gratitude

For what thanksgiving can
we return to God for you,
for all the joy that we feel for
your sake before our God?

The 9Marks series of books is premised on two basic ideas. First, the local church is far more important to the Christian life than many Christians today perhaps realize. We at 9Marks believe that a healthy Christian is a healthy church member.

Second, local churches grow in life and vitality as they organize their lives around Gods Word. God speaks. Churches should listen and follow. Its that simple. When a church listens and follows, it begins to look like the One it is following. It reflects his love and holiness. It displays his glory. A church will look like him as it listens to him. By this token, the reader might notice that all 9 marks, taken from Mark Devers book,