After reading Dever's9 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?
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]
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.
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.
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 andfaith… Working to promote
growth is working to bring glory not to ourselves but to God. This is how
God will make himself known in theworld.”[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.
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
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.
