Prompt:After reading Dever’s9 Marks of a Healthy Church, what do
you/your church need to work on the most? What steps could you/your
church take to implement those areas?
What Requires Attention
Before reading the book, and at the outset of this assignment, I
truly struggled to realize anything with which the church I attend now
struggles—truly! The pastor, also a Liberty University professor, has been
with his congregation for more than forty years. Moreover, he is
absolutely impressive—just as a human being! One rarely finds one so
humble and who attempts the closest likeness to the loving Christ that he
can. The members of the congregation rarely appear any different.
Quick retrospection of the vast majority of my personal
congregational history (one which covers more than half the United States
and even a tent in the middle of a Saudi-Arabian desert), on the other
hand, flashes a greater collection of difficulties than I can presently count
(some initially unrecognized due to my youth, at times). I have even
witnessed the makings of physical fights in a church building where long-
standing members insisted upon personal ownership, claiming all to
compose “our church.” Needless, to say, that group embraced poor
cohesion. It was not long before I witnessed a “church split,” as it is
nowadays often called.
So then, with so vast an array of ills before me, a second study of
my current congregation yields some concerns (although, certainly not to
the extent formerly raised here). I have considered one such issue as chief
among them. To be clear, there are unquestionably no issues with the
existence nor the immense quality of the expositional preaching provided
there. The same is true of the theology of that preaching (and I am a bit of
a stickler for details).
I find, instead, the greatest issue with what evidence I perceive of the
biblical understanding of evangelism. In fact, I have never
knownanychurch that does not revealsomeversion of the same issue!
Mark Dever expresses it best where he imitates the attitude he most
encounters, echoing the idea that evangelism should be left to the
“professionals,” the clergy, those that they perceive are fully aware of
how it must be done, etc.[1]This idea is so prevalent—that it scarcely
raises an eyebrow when expressed.
How It Should Be Remedied
Simply put, I believe the remedy for this is the same as all others—
adherence to unaltered scriptural instruction. In the first place, the idea of
evangelism (and discipleship, for that matter) should very much be
normalized as “the” responses to the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).
Relative to the issue is the fact that entirely too many Christians fail to
know the meaning of evangelism, in the truest biblical sense of the word.
[2]Among these and other ideas, I believe constant expounding of the
subject is key. For example, as a matter of my internship, I teach quite a
great deal. As such, I try never to forsake an opportunity to explain how
Scripture defines even the simplest of terms—those churchy words of
which one assumes everyone knows the meaning. (Assumptions, we can
no longer afford.) The truth is, if they do not, it is quite likely they will not
ask, for the sake of potential embarrassment. Finally (and also as a matter
of great encouragement), I believe it is imperative to stress what
evangelism isnot, just as the author has in the text.[3]This likely relieves
anxiety over expected responsibilities where the Christian really has none.
Simultaneously, it highlights the need to review many of the other things
we have “always thought” about church matters and/or the biblical views
of how things in the church and its congregations work. In other words,
one might ask, “What else have I been getting wrong/missing all this
time?”
Bibliography
Dever, Mark.Nine Marks of a Healty Church.Nashville: WORDsearch,
2015.
[1]Mark Dever,Nine Marks of a Healthy Church(Nashville: WORDsearch,
2015), 127.
[2]Dever, 127.
[3]Ibid. 129.
