After reading Dever's 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, what 3 do you/your
church need to work on the most? Why? What steps could you/your
church take to implement those areas?
c c c c c c Two marks that I need to work on are evangelism (mark 5) and a
concern for church growth (mark 8). In many ways evangelism is the path and
church growth is the result. Unfortunately, I do not prioritize evangelism and
therefore, I do not contribute to the growth of my church. Dever himself makes
this clear in the eight chapter of his book by emphasizing that God alone
causes a church to grow, but there is an important human component which
requires God’s people to evangelize and share the Gospel message.[1]
c c c c c c Evangelism is extremely difficult for me because I work as a
healthcare chaplain so it is strictly prohibited to evangelize, witness, share my
faith, or reference the Bible. My work is extremely important to me and it is a
major part of my life, which has caused my work restrictions to transfer into my
personal life. Since it is against the rules to evangelize at work, it has begun to
feel “wrong” to evangelize in my personal life as well. This is something I really
need to work on and get more comfortable with because it is extremely
important to God and His kingdom.
c c c c c c In his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Dever emphasizes the
universal responsibility which is shared by all of God’s people. Dever writes
that, “The Great Commission is a commission for all of Jesus’s disciples—those
who heard his words directly, and we who read his words today… All
Christians, not just the professional clergy, are to spread the good news…
Christians should tell everyone the good news. And we should all evangelize.”[2]
As Dever highlights, all Christians are expected to evangelize, not only because
God commanded us to, but also because it is essential for church growth. God
uses His people to evangelize and share the gospel message so that they can
enter into a relationship with Him, receive salvation, and grow His kingdom.
c c c c c c Dever emphasizes the direct relationship between personal
evangelism and church growth by writing, “The New Testament idea of growth
involves telling people a serious message about their condition before God, and
about the tremendous news of the new life God is offering them in Christ. And
we’re inviting them to enter into that life by dire and desperate means—
repentance and faith… Working to promote growth is working to bring glory not
to ourselves but to God. This is how God will make himself known in the
world.”[3] This means that church growth is from God, but there is a very
important human component which requires God’s people to evangelize and
increase God’s kingdom through converting others, sharing the biblical message,
and inviting new members to attend church.
c c c c c c Reading Dever’s book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, provided
me a wake up call, reminded me the importance of evangelism, and revealed
my failure to uphold the Great Commission. I now realize that I desperately
need to become a better disciple of God by evangelizing and growing God’s
kingdom. I plan to begin improving immediately by regularly seeking God’s
strength through prayer and through creating an evangelism plan which will
remind me to share the gospel message, and hold me accountable if I
backslide again. Evangelism and church growth are extremely important to God
and I need to make them a priority to me as well.
Word Count: 629
References
c c c c c c Dever, Mark. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. 3rd ed. S.l.:
Crossway Books, 2013.
[1] Dever, Mark. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. 3rd ed. S.l.: Crossway Books,
2013.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
