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A Display of God's Glory
Dever unfolds the biblical blueprint to find a leadership structure that blesses churches with peace, but doesn't buckle under the pressures of corporate life.
84 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Mark Dever
126 books329 followersMark E. Dever serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Since his ordination to the ministry in 1985, Dr. Dever has served on the pastoral staffs of four churches, the second being a church he planted in Massachusetts. Prior to moving to Washington in 1994, Dr. Dever taught for the faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University while serving two years as an associate pastor of Eden Baptist Church.
In an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America, Dr. Dever serves as the executive director for 9Marks (formerly The Center for Church Reform, CCR) in Washington, D.C. 9Marks encourages pastors of local churches look to the Bible for instruction on how to organize and lead their churches. Dr. Dever also teaches periodically at various conferences, speaking everywhere from South Africa to Brazil to the United Kingdom to Alabama. Feeling a deep burden for student ministry, Dr. Dever often addresses student ministry groups at campuses throughout the country. He has also taught at a number of seminaries, including Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. Dr. Dever’s scholarly interests include Puritanism and ecclesiology.
Dr. Dever currently serves as a trustee of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; he also serves as a member of the board, vice-chairman, and chairman of the Forum for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. From 1995 until 2001, he served on the steering committee for Founders Ministries, a pastoral movement for biblical teaching and healthy church life within the Southern Baptist Convention. As Guest Senate Chaplain for two weeks in 1995, Dr. Dever opened the daily sessions of the United States Senate in prayer. He is a member of the American Society of Church History and the Tyndale Fellowship. He also held the J.B. Lightfoot Scholarship at Cambridge University from 1989 to 1991.
In an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America, Dr. Dever serves as the executive director for 9Marks (formerly The Center for Church Reform, CCR) in Washington, D.C. 9Marks encourages pastors of local churches look to the Bible for instruction on how to organize and lead their churches. Dr. Dever also teaches periodically at various conferences, speaking everywhere from South Africa to Brazil to the United Kingdom to Alabama. Feeling a deep burden for student ministry, Dr. Dever often addresses student ministry groups at campuses throughout the country. He has also taught at a number of seminaries, including Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. Dr. Dever’s scholarly interests include Puritanism and ecclesiology.
Dr. Dever currently serves as a trustee of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; he also serves as a member of the board, vice-chairman, and chairman of the Forum for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. From 1995 until 2001, he served on the steering committee for Founders Ministries, a pastoral movement for biblical teaching and healthy church life within the Southern Baptist Convention. As Guest Senate Chaplain for two weeks in 1995, Dr. Dever opened the daily sessions of the United States Senate in prayer. He is a member of the American Society of Church History and the Tyndale Fellowship. He also held the J.B. Lightfoot Scholarship at Cambridge University from 1989 to 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 25, 2021
Read and discussed this with my deacons. Very clear, very helpful.
January 13, 2025
Can’t justify giving this anything less than 4 stars. While not my favorite read, an excellent beginner guide to elder led Congregationalism. As well as clarifying one’s ecclesiology!
July 8, 2019
Très bon, un court livre sur 4 domaines en particulier : diacres, anciens, congrégationalisme, être membre d’une Eglise. Ces 4 sujets sont abordés avec clarté, concision et Bible en main.
May 1, 2023
This book was short and sweet! Very academic exposition of how the church is supposed to be a picture of God’s glory. I enjoyed and would recommend- literally took me an hour to read!
June 11, 2024
Good. Feels like a proto-version of much of the 9 Marks material that has been released since 2001.
October 10, 2021
I think I read this about 14 years ago. This is a very helpful, short, clear book arguing that an elder-led, congregational church with deacons is biblical.
October 1, 2025
This little book offers a helpful introduction to Baptist church polity. My favorite chapter was on deacons, and I’d recommend it to be read by every deacon candidate. The chapters on elders and congregationalism also gave a clearer picture of leadership responsibilities and the members’ part to play.
At times, however, some arguments were not fully convincing (ex. the contrasts between congregationalism and presbyterianism or episcopalism). Grammar, syntax and paragraph structure issues also made it seem like an unrevised internal church document turned into a book. Nevertheless, I consider this to be a worthwhile primer, though not without flaws.
At times, however, some arguments were not fully convincing (ex. the contrasts between congregationalism and presbyterianism or episcopalism). Grammar, syntax and paragraph structure issues also made it seem like an unrevised internal church document turned into a book. Nevertheless, I consider this to be a worthwhile primer, though not without flaws.
August 29, 2018
A good simple read. Not sure I am fully convinced by him about membership and Congregationalism. But other then that it was a short helpful read about deacons, elders, and the church. Mark Devor always does a great job explaining things clearly.
May 25, 2020
This book is a crash course on the basics of Ecclesiology.
Want to know what a healthy church structure looks like according to God’s Word? Read this book and you will see.
It’s an easy read that is short and to the point.
Want to know what a healthy church structure looks like according to God’s Word? Read this book and you will see.
It’s an easy read that is short and to the point.
August 5, 2020
A concise and clear explanation of how the church displays God’s glory through biblical church structure—the non-glamorous but vital topics of deacons, elders, congregationalism, and membership. “How do you see the invisible God? By looking at the local Christian congregation.”
Read
November 16, 2022A great book that serves as an introduction to the New Testament structure of a local church. Covers deacons, elders, congregationalism and membership and is written at a lay level. Would put in the hands of anyone who wants to know what the Bible teaches about how the church should be structured.
January 29, 2018
Um pequeno frasco com um excelente perfume, um livro sobre os elementos básicos da Estrutura da Igreja, livro recheado de textos bíblicos, ótimo material para o trabalho ministerial!
August 30, 2018
Great little book offering a brief overview and defense of biblical church structure.
April 10, 2020
A clear, concise introduction to what the church of Jesus Christ is (a display of God’s glory) and how the New Testament describes its structure.
June 24, 2021
Good introduction to extended works on healthy/biblical church polity. It will be evidenced by biblical leadership and a committed body of regenerate believers. All to the glory of God.
May 9, 2022
Quick, great read. Both enforces and challenges ideas about Deacons, Elders, Congregationalism, and Membership in the church.
December 10, 2024
An excellent, short book on Baptist polity. This is now my go to resource for briefly explaining to someone else about what Baptists believe about how the church should be run.
October 20, 2022
Mark Dever has preached and practiced proper polity for many years. As pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church and author of multiple books, Dever has often argued that proper church structure is more than an issue of preference. In A Display of God’s Glory, we find one of Dever’s simplest works dealing with issues of elders, deacons, congregationalism, and church membership
Positives
This book is short, simple, and to-the-point. Dever argues clearly that churches should have a plurality of elders who oversee a congregational church government structure. He clearly articulates that the office of deacon is an office of service rather than authority. Dever also helps us to see why it is important that individuals take church membership seriously.
A few quotes might help to show some of the solid teaching that Dever shares in this tiny work. Dever argues that deacons are to be supporters and defenders of church unity when he writes:
Edifying and uniting the church is especially the ministry of the deacons as we see it in Acts 6. Therefore, we cannot have people serve us well as deacons who are unhappy with the church. The deacons are not those in the church who are complaining the loudest or jarring the church with their actions or attitudes. Quite the opposite! The deacons are to be the mufflers, the shock-absorbers (14).
Dever points to the role of elders in a church as one of both teaching and character by stating, “It seems that the role of the elders is fundamentally to lead God's people by teaching God's Word. This teaching must be by the public handling of God's Word and also by the exemplary lives they lead” (25). Unlike some who present elders in a church and exclude congregationalism, Dever argues that the congregation is the final earthly protector of the gospel when he asks, “Could it be that the gospel itself is so simple and clear, and the relationship that we have with God by the Holy Spirit's action in giving us the new birth is so real that the collection of those who believe the gospel and who know God are simply the best guardians of that gospel” (42)? And the author challenges churches to avoid false messages and confusion by taking membership very seriously when he writes, “Uninvolved "members" confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian. And we "active" members do the voluntarily "inactive" members no service when we allow them to remain members of the church; for membership is the church's corporate endorsement of a person's salvation” (58).
Negatives
The weaknesses of this book are attributable to the shortness of the work. The author simply does not have enough pages in this book to prove every point he wants to make. He also makes at least one weak argument by failing to go deep in his addressing of the question of whether or not a body of elders should have one lead pastor over it. Dever addresses that point, but, he cannot make a satisfactory argument around it.
Conclusion
I wholeheartedly recommend A Display of God’s Glory to any church member interested in how the church should be structured. This would be a great starting point for churches that are considering eldership, biblical deacon roles, or membership issues. It is short, clear, and highly readable besides being solid in what it presents.
Positives
This book is short, simple, and to-the-point. Dever argues clearly that churches should have a plurality of elders who oversee a congregational church government structure. He clearly articulates that the office of deacon is an office of service rather than authority. Dever also helps us to see why it is important that individuals take church membership seriously.
A few quotes might help to show some of the solid teaching that Dever shares in this tiny work. Dever argues that deacons are to be supporters and defenders of church unity when he writes:
Edifying and uniting the church is especially the ministry of the deacons as we see it in Acts 6. Therefore, we cannot have people serve us well as deacons who are unhappy with the church. The deacons are not those in the church who are complaining the loudest or jarring the church with their actions or attitudes. Quite the opposite! The deacons are to be the mufflers, the shock-absorbers (14).
Dever points to the role of elders in a church as one of both teaching and character by stating, “It seems that the role of the elders is fundamentally to lead God's people by teaching God's Word. This teaching must be by the public handling of God's Word and also by the exemplary lives they lead” (25). Unlike some who present elders in a church and exclude congregationalism, Dever argues that the congregation is the final earthly protector of the gospel when he asks, “Could it be that the gospel itself is so simple and clear, and the relationship that we have with God by the Holy Spirit's action in giving us the new birth is so real that the collection of those who believe the gospel and who know God are simply the best guardians of that gospel” (42)? And the author challenges churches to avoid false messages and confusion by taking membership very seriously when he writes, “Uninvolved "members" confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian. And we "active" members do the voluntarily "inactive" members no service when we allow them to remain members of the church; for membership is the church's corporate endorsement of a person's salvation” (58).
Negatives
The weaknesses of this book are attributable to the shortness of the work. The author simply does not have enough pages in this book to prove every point he wants to make. He also makes at least one weak argument by failing to go deep in his addressing of the question of whether or not a body of elders should have one lead pastor over it. Dever addresses that point, but, he cannot make a satisfactory argument around it.
Conclusion
I wholeheartedly recommend A Display of God’s Glory to any church member interested in how the church should be structured. This would be a great starting point for churches that are considering eldership, biblical deacon roles, or membership issues. It is short, clear, and highly readable besides being solid in what it presents.
March 26, 2013
A good, concise treatment of the polity or organizational structure of the local church. I appreciate Dever's approach to this subject that it is not left to personal preference or creativity to order the church, but that we must search and submit to the Scriptures in all things as supremely authoritative and finally sufficient. Though Dever does bring some different references in history to bear, he exhorts that we not look to history but to the Bible.
He undertakes to present a simple, biblical view of deacons, elders, congregationalism, and church membership. He looks at the pieces while keeping the whole in view. He justifies his title and consummates his argument by showing that the local church is to display God's glory and the biblical order is a reflection of the nature of God.
I am a local-church Baptist and so there are places where I am more apt to rally around and some where I can't scotch. Overall I found the brief book refreshing and am thankful for these issues to be seriously considered. The order of the local church is not just a polemical issue for some cantankerous, nineteenth century Baptists in America. It is an extremely important issue from the time Jesus founded His first church as part of His work on earth before His death. A part of His final revelatory words to us are letters to seven of His churches that had been planted through the commission He gave to the first one.
I recommend reading this book carefully and thoughtfully. These are not trendy topics today and too few treat them with the seriousness they deserve.
He undertakes to present a simple, biblical view of deacons, elders, congregationalism, and church membership. He looks at the pieces while keeping the whole in view. He justifies his title and consummates his argument by showing that the local church is to display God's glory and the biblical order is a reflection of the nature of God.
I am a local-church Baptist and so there are places where I am more apt to rally around and some where I can't scotch. Overall I found the brief book refreshing and am thankful for these issues to be seriously considered. The order of the local church is not just a polemical issue for some cantankerous, nineteenth century Baptists in America. It is an extremely important issue from the time Jesus founded His first church as part of His work on earth before His death. A part of His final revelatory words to us are letters to seven of His churches that had been planted through the commission He gave to the first one.
I recommend reading this book carefully and thoughtfully. These are not trendy topics today and too few treat them with the seriousness they deserve.
May 21, 2013
A sharpening, influential book. I am not entirely settled in my understanding of church polity, but this was good information that was biblically and historically based. I am confident that these ideas were a good push in the right direction.
The questions I have coming away from it are: Why use the title of "pastor" (i.e., professionally trained, full-time, paid teaching elder) as as subset of the rest of the elders? I understand the biblical command to especially esteem that sort of elder (1 Timothy 5:17). However, I believe calling them by a different title perpetuates the misconception that they are *the* pastor of the church or that the other elders are not as vital to the church's life.
Also, I don't think Dever intends this at all, but I know my own heart: I think that a heavy focus on the local church (or even one's small group) can cause people to neglect to love, interact with, and serve the church at large. In other words, it's easy to become territorial. I think very few people intend to fall into that, but it's easy to start treating other Christians as "outsiders". From what I've heard of Dever and CHBC, they don't sound territorial at all, which is encouraging.
The questions I have coming away from it are: Why use the title of "pastor" (i.e., professionally trained, full-time, paid teaching elder) as as subset of the rest of the elders? I understand the biblical command to especially esteem that sort of elder (1 Timothy 5:17). However, I believe calling them by a different title perpetuates the misconception that they are *the* pastor of the church or that the other elders are not as vital to the church's life.
Also, I don't think Dever intends this at all, but I know my own heart: I think that a heavy focus on the local church (or even one's small group) can cause people to neglect to love, interact with, and serve the church at large. In other words, it's easy to become territorial. I think very few people intend to fall into that, but it's easy to start treating other Christians as "outsiders". From what I've heard of Dever and CHBC, they don't sound territorial at all, which is encouraging.
February 10, 2016
This is another booklet that I've read as part of the Covenant Class for membership at my church.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. It does a great job breaking down the Biblical roles and responsibilities inside the church. The view is distinctly Baptist (it was written by Mark Dever, after all), but he makes a solid case for the overview he's presenting.
Don't get me wrong, it is only an overview. He doesn't dive deep into his proofs; nor does he fully explain the various aspects of the things he says, but what he does do is introduce the reader to the Biblical understanding of Deacons, Elders, Congregationalism, and Church Membership.
If curious about any of those things, this is a great place to start to understand them.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. It does a great job breaking down the Biblical roles and responsibilities inside the church. The view is distinctly Baptist (it was written by Mark Dever, after all), but he makes a solid case for the overview he's presenting.
Don't get me wrong, it is only an overview. He doesn't dive deep into his proofs; nor does he fully explain the various aspects of the things he says, but what he does do is introduce the reader to the Biblical understanding of Deacons, Elders, Congregationalism, and Church Membership.
If curious about any of those things, this is a great place to start to understand them.
December 30, 2013
Do churches need structure and leadership? Quite so, as Dever explains. Dever aptly reviews the roles of deacons, elders, congregationalism, and church membership is this brief, but highly informative book. Without miring in nuance, he highlights the key biblical understandings of each of these roles and their function within God’s structuring of His church. Dever writes with skillful precision and has crafted an extremely useful resource for those seeking to glorify God according to His design.
February 8, 2014
Helpful short book that explains church government and church officers. He argues for a “lead” elder, multiple elders, deacons and congregational government. He does this effectively with biblical support. Of course Dever understands that godly people who honor the Bible come to different conclusions, but this short text is well worth reading if you have interest in the subject.
November 17, 2024
Very helpful assessment of biblical, historical, and practical role of elders/deacons/congregations in the church.
June 3, 2010
This book helped me understand more clearly the whole concept of elder-led congregationalism. It gave me a lot to think about. His treatment of deacons, though brief, was likewise thought-provoking.
June 15, 2012
Short, sweet, and to the point. A good read on Church government.
October 28, 2014
A helpful book on church polity
January 9, 2016
A great introduction and also a great quick reference guide to the basics of Church structure!
Read
June 30, 2016An excellent little book on the basics of what the church should look like. The conclusion is powerful!
January 8, 2008
A practical read that explores church polity.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews