9 Merkmale einer gesunden Gemeinde

by Mark Dever

Paperback, 280 Seiten, 3L Sept. 2009 Um eines vorweg zu nehmen: In diesem Buch geht es nicht um eine neue Strategie für Gemeindewachstum! Der Autor ermutigt vielmehr dazu, bestehende Gemeindeaktivitäten zu hinterfragen und zu sehen, was die Bibel der lokalen Gemeinde zu sagen hat. "9 Merkmale einer gesunden Gemeinde" handelt nicht von dem, was Menschen wollen und zu brauchen glauben, sondern möchte ungesunden Gemeinden helfen, gesünder bzw. biblischer zu werden. "Dieses Buch stellt dar, wie man die biblische Predigt und Gemeinde-leitung wiederentdecken kann in einer Zeit, in der allzu viele Gemeinden in einem rein äußerlichen und oberflächlichen Christentum und dem daraus folgenden Pragmatismus sowie Belanglosigkeiten stecken bleiben. Das Ziel vieler evangelikaler Gemeinden hat sich verschoben, nämlich weg von der Verherrlichung Gottes hin zu einem reinen zahlenmäßigen Wachstum – mit der Annahme, dass dieses Ziel, auf welchem Weg auch immer es erreicht wird – Gott verherrlichen muss." (Mark Dever). Um diesem aktuellen Trend entgegenzuwirken, betont der Autor die Bedeutung und Notwendigkeit folgender neun Merkmale, die in der heutigen Zeit in vielen evangelikalen Gemeinden häufig vernachlässigt werden: Auslegungspredigten, biblische Theologie, Evangelium, Bekehrung, Evangelisation, Gemeindemitgliedschaft, Gemeindezucht, geistliches Wachstum und biblische Gemeindeleitung.

Genres: Theology, Church, Christian, Ecclesiology, Christianity, Nonfiction, Leadership

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Mark 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.

Reviews

[Justin Tapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. I had read portions of this book years ago and cite it frequently but recently decided to study the whole thing again. In any organization you have to define the standard-- what is healthy? What structures, policies, procedures, and best practices need to be actively in place in order for this organization to be sustainable?

Mark Dever admits that this is just one book in a long line of similar books, and even provides a bibliography of dozens of recently-published books; he provides his own grain of salt, in other words. There is nothing new under the sun, and nothing written today that wasn't written about 100 years ago. Dever also gives the caveat that this book is not a comprehensive list, but only the major points. Yet, this has now turned into a ministry by which you can find churches in the U.S. that aspire to the Nine Marks.


Weaknesses of the book:
Dever's audience is primarily Southern Baptists, so the book is both a call for SBC churches to find better moorings but also as a way for us to judge churches as "health" or "unhealthy," on a scale from zero to nine.

He is also taking clear aim at megachurches where elders are unable to have personal contact with all the "members," membership roles are not clearly dileneated, and the preaching is not expositional. The book he cites most frequently in Nine Marks is Os Guiness' Dining With the Devil: The Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity.


The book is very America-centric. I can think of congregations overseas that would think Dever's criticisms are off-base or say "Really, Americans have built their churches this way? Why?"

His examination of church history deals exclusively with SBC in 1800s, Puritans in the 1600s. His sermon illustrations are almost always from colonial New England.

The book also ignores what we know about church polity in the first centuries of the church. Much has been written about elders and discipline in that first era after the Apostles that is valuable to today's church. Harkening only back to the Puritans is problematic for many reasons.



While I agree with all of Dever's points, I find his method of delivery to be a minus. The book is written as a compilation of sermons. Now, I listen to Dever preach regularly and I'm also reading his book compilation of Old Testament overview sermons. But he has a folksy way of delivering his sermon (probably what he grew up on in Kentucky, as it sounds very similar to my ear) that could be made much more succinct for a book.

That said, the book lays out some very good guidelines and a way to judge a church (on a scale from 0 to 9) on how "healthy" it is. If a church doesn't meet the Nine Marks, I would ask it why it considers itself healthy. Now, the marks:

Mark One: Expositional Preaching
Expositional preaching, roughly defined, is working through entire passages of Scripture as opposed to picking a topic and then picking a few verses to support it. One can, however, teach a themed or topical message expositionally. The preacher does not have to use expositional preaching exclusively-- Dever has preached several topical sermons just this year-- but primarily.

"Expositional preaching is not simply producing a verbal commentary on some passage of Scripture. Rather, expositional preaching is that preaching which take for the point of a sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture. That's it."


"Be very careful before you ever join a church that does not stress expositional preaching, or help to call a preacher who is not an expositional preacher, who is not committed to preaching all of God's Word, regardless of how uncomfortable parts of it may be."


I agree with the centrality of this point. A pastor friend recently commented that "the most important thing I can do as a pastor is teach the congregation to read the Bible (for themselves)." That's the heart of it, preaching should inspire us to dig deeper into God's Word and learn more about it.

I contrast that with a very well-known Baptist-rooted megachurch pastor who intentionally avoids quoting Scripture and makes it a point to never say "the Bible says..." It's not a pastor (or preaching elder)'s job to give his opinions or advice-- it's his job to "preach the Word."It's good advice, but his congregation is biblically illiterate.

I disagree with Dever on this point:
"Permit me to suggest the one-sidedness of preaching is not only excusable but actually important...God's Word comes as a monologue to us."

If that is true, then why did the Word of God (Jesus) repeatedly ask questions and engage in dialogue with his audience as he taught? One of the best (expositional) preachers I know uses a Socratic method to engage with his audience in a conversation. That style creates for a memorable sermon, and permit me to suggest that actually remembering what you heard in a sermon is important. Having the audience actively engaging their brain is something that rarely occurs in a preacher's monologue. I find preachers often dismiss proven pedagogy in order to maintain tradition-- even those with formal pedagogical training. Research shows time and again that the "sage on stage" method does not help facilitate classroom learning, and that methods like the "flipped classroom" work better at helping students retain the material and engage with it-- and requiring them to dig into the textbook material themselves (which is partly the goal of expositional preaching). Yet we Christians ignore that and put huge emphasis on a "sage on stage" monologue every Sunday morning. Would someone please reconcile this for me?


Mark Two: Biblical Theology
Dever condenses all of biblical theology-- the basic arc of Scripture -- into one chapter, which is quite a feat. But the underlying point of the chapter is that God is sovereign and very active in human history and we should hear Him preached as such.


Mark Three: The Gospel
Harkening back to Marks One and Two, the church and its preaching should present an accurate picture of the sinful, helpless state of man in need of redemption. The cross of Christ should be prominent in its preaching.

Dever's critics might argue that Dever puts too much emphasis on the cross and not enough on the resurrection and the power of our risen Lord and His church which can now see things with "resurrection eyes." However, in Dever's sermons I find there is often talk of the power, joy, and hope of the resurrection.

My criticism of Dever's point here (from a Reformed standpoing) is that the Gospel I hear him preach and describe in this chapter is of the "two chapter" sort relating to personal salvation rather than a full "four chapter" Gospel. Other Reformed pastors such as Tim Keller equally emphasize the role of all creation-- including work-- in God's redemptive plan. (See this series by Hugh Whelchel for more on this topic). I suspect that this is in part because Dever's thinking is heavily influenced by Baptist thought of the 1800s that was being increasingly influenced by dispensationalist thought, but someone might correct me on this point.

Mark Four: A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
Dever hints towards the end of the book that he will not baptise children. He laments that there are too many people who show no fruit of Jesus' work in their lives-- such as not being active in a church-- who claim they are saved because they "know that they know" once upon a time they prayed a prayer to "receive Jesus" and "once saved, always saved" removes any worry about their souls.

Mark Five: A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism

"We need to see an end to a wrong, shallow view of evangelism as simply getting people to say yes to a question, or to make a one-time decision...We need to see an end to worldly people having assurance that they're saved just because they once took a stand, shook a hand, or repeated a prayer. We need to see real revival not being lost amid our own manufactured and scheduled meetings that we euphemistically call 'revivals,' as if we could determine when the wind of God's Spirit would actually blow."



Evangelism should be out to preach a real Gospel to draw true converts-- disciples-- and not be a "how many prayed the prayer?" or baptism contest.

This chapter makes me wonder how many churches think they are doing well on the Nine Marks plumb line but are not to objective observers. I can think of a few flagship Southern Baptist churches that still use to long, manipulative invitations at the end of services and train members to do evangelism in a 5-step plan that presses for a "decision for Christ." The Kentucky Baptist Convention hands out awards and even a free vacation to the pastors with the most baptisms at its annual evangelism conference. That seems to fall short of a biblical understanding of evangelism, but many attendees claim to be Nine Marks aspirants and scarcely criticize the status quo.

Mark Six: A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
Dever's audience in this chapter is "you." He makes the case for church membership and individual involvement more than anything. But there are some clear notes for Southern Baptist churches. If your church's membership roll has more people on it than actively attend or engage with your church, then you might not have a biblical understanding of church membership.

"Discipleship is both an individual project and a corporate activity as we follow Christ and help each other along the way."

Mark Seven: Biblical Church Discipline

Dever quotes heavily from Gregory Will's Democratic Religion which looks at Southern Baptist history in the 1800s. Interestingly, Southern Baptist churches were growing rapidly while also excommunicating something like 2% of their members annually. Dever uses Capitol Hill Baptist's history to illustrate the various reasons why members were investigated for possible expulsion.

Reasons for expulsion include non-attendance, non-tithing, and other forms of non-participation. What is not mentioned is that in the late 1800s you could also be excommunicated from your Southern Baptist church for arguing that slavery was evil, marrying someone of a different race, and various other things we would now find to be "in error." So, churches can be "healthy" in a Nine Marks sense but also be in error in the eyes of others. But Baptists distinctively have independence to come to their own conclusions about these issues.


Another weakness, however, is that Dever does not define what happens during excommunication. Is the ostracized allowed to attend services? What efforts are made to contact the ex-member and to evangelize? Some real-life examples from "healthy" churches would have been useful here.


Mark Eight: A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
Dever is primarily talking about spiritual growth. Believers corporately sharpening one another, correcting one another, loving one another, toward greater grace and less sin. This mark requires an understanding of the previous eight marks. Discipline, for example, aids spiritual growth by confronting the root of sin.

One strength of the book is Dever's commitment to meet with every member on a regular basis, along with elder elders. To ask key questions like "how have you progressed since our last meeting?" The larger your church is, the harder this obviously is for a senior pastor. Is it necessary for health, or can the congregation be divided up among the elders and deacons? I was reminded of a pastor I know who resigned from his large church in part because he did not like the fact that people were calling him "my pastor" when he scarcely knew them (he later started a house church).

Mark Nine: Biblical Church Leadership
This mark is probably the most famous as it has led to quite the reformation among Southern Baptist churches. Scripturally, congregations should be led by a plurality of elders and not a pastor buffeted by a deacon board.

Dever does a poor job giving the historicity of this outside of 1800s Southern Baptist life. (Southern Baptists appear to have dropped elder rule in the late 1800s, probably as a result of rapid expansion and seemingly inadequate time to wait for elders to emerge.)

Presbyterians have had this figured out for centuries, and the early church of the first few centuries teach us so much about the importance of elder-led congregations; this goes unmentioned in the book. Dever would also seem to want to put more power in the hands of a senior pastor, like himself, over the elder body.

Dever concludes the book with advice for pastors who are wanting to transition their church into an elder-led Nine Marks model.

"I had thought of writing a book for pastors called ‘How to Get Fired…And Fast!’ I could sum up the basic idea of this unwritten book in one sentence of Pauline proportions: A pastor could go into a church members’ meeting questioning the salvation of some of the members, refusing to baptize children, advocating a priority of congregational singing over performed music, asking to remove the Christian and national flags and to stop any kind of altar calls, replace committees with elders, ignore the secular rotation of Mother's Day, Father's Day...the Fourth of July, begin practicing church discipline, remove women from elder-like positions in the church, and state that he had theological opposition to multiple services on Sunday morning…Such a pastor might not get much farther than his next members’ meeting."

He advocates a lot of prayer, patience, and good communication with everyone in the church.

I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. It has obviously held up over time, but it could be better. In fairness, the 3rd edition as well as various articles and blog posts written by Dever over the years may have

[Ben Peltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I was disappointed with this book for the majority of the way through. It was solid enough, theologically, and biblically Dever is good at backing up his points, but much of what he said was pretty standard evangelical fare. The importance of preaching from the Bible, the importance of conversion and evangelism, and the need to practice church discipline was all the kind of thing you would expect to find in a book by a baptist minister.

But the book redeemed itself at the end, oddly enough in Mark 8, Discipleship and Spiritual Growth. I don't know why Dever did not place this at the front of the book, instead of sticking it in the obscure 8th slot, but the truth is that Discipleship and Growth is the glue that holds the rest of this book together. Dever admits that this is the first concern that led him to write this book, and he systematically goes through every other mark and identifies how each of them builds a healthier, growing community.

This book would have been a lot more cohesive if Dever had identified right at the beginning that the thing that makes a church healthy is not its growth numerically, but its growth spiritually. Then he could have moved into expository preaching and shown how every other form of spiritual growth flows from being faithfully immersed in and exposed to the Word, and from there all of the other marks would fit into the overall theme of developing a healthy church. Once I read Mark 8, I was able to go back and recognize the overall theme of the book much better, whereas prior to that the book felt like a collection of typical evangelical thoughts.

All in all, upon concluding the book, I am satisfied at having come away with a better understanding of how to build a healthy Christian community. It just would have been nice if I had felt that way 3/4 of the way into the book, rather than discovering the primary thesis tucked away at the end!

[Jon Pentecost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, pastoral, biblical.

The revisions in the fourth edition have greatly strengthened the book. I found it more readable, better illustrated, and clarified on some important points.

If you want to better understand the important role of the church in the Christian life, and consider some central aspects of faithfulness that will help a church become a blessing in your life, take up and read

[Ryan Cable · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and what it had to say. Long story short, just preach expositionally and everything will come after it. Mark Dever has a lot of good insight and Im looking forward to reading more Dever.

[Ryan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and really changed my view of evangelism, church membership, and church discipline. Great book for young believers or believers looking for a good church. There were a couple things that I’m not sure I agree with or not but it definitely challenged me. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants to think critically about their church and examine areas that it can grow in!

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

While very familiar with Nine Marks Ministries, it was good to finally get around to this foundational book. I read it as I preached a series of sermons on the nine marks. (I used a more recent edition -- one that adds the marks of "prayer" and "missions".)

An excellent resource for understanding what biblically healthy churches should look like.

...that God might be glorified and that God might be made known!

[L. R. Bouligny Bouligny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The number of books in the evangelical world that are focused on how to “do church” number in the thousands. Most today are committed to church growth, and are filled with a myriad of ways on how one can turn his small congregation into a flourishing mega-church. To counter this obsession in America where congregations are being given over to man-centered techniques to draw in a large crowd, which almost always results in compromising the truth, Mark Dever has written this book to redirect the focus of the pastor (and church member) to see what the Bible says regarding God’s intention for the church.
Dever has developed a litmus-test of sorts for the person who is seeking a solid biblical church. He has developed 9 marks, or things to look for, when evaluating one’s church experience. The question looms throughout for the reader, Is my church practicing this? Dever doesn’t pull any punches, as he gets right into the meat of the book. He begins with possibly the greatest deficiency in the Body today, expository preaching. It’s no secret why this is the first chapter, as all of the other Marks will naturally flow from this one discipline. While the majority of today’s churches are captivated with a topical sermon model, Dever points to the verse by verse exposition as the biblical way to teach the Bible. His insights are helpful and informative. I could hardly contain my enthusiasm as I read through this guide to a biblical church model.
The author continues with important subject matter such as Theology, the Gospel, Conversion, and other important topics. The reason is clear—the church of today has gone astray, and in place of good sound biblical exegesis, is chasing after all sorts of man-centered marketing schemes. The average church member (or should I say “attender,” as Dever also delves into why church membership is important), is spoon-fed a diet of weak doctrinal teaching that leaves people in a state of immaturity and retarded spiritual growth. Dever not only points to these deviations as unbiblical, but points out that true conversion is a work that God does, so the idea of abandoning the gospel as the only means of salvation results in a church full of tares.
One of the most important chapters in the book is the one on Church Discipline. This is a practice that is not consistent with a church growth model, and has been abandoned so as not to make people feel uncomfortable or stifle the interest of unbelievers. However, since this is a clear biblical mandate (Matt 18; 1 Cor 5), it must be practiced, and Dever does a fantastic job of pointing out the need for churches to return to the biblical model. I wonder how many Christians read this and thought, “Do churches really practice this type of discipline?” I was excited to read of a man who is more committed to obeying God and His word than the passing fads of Christendom. His chapters on Biblical Leadership and Discipleship were extremely helpful as well. I got through with the book and have used this scale of 9 Marks to evaluate some of the churches I used to be associated with. A few of them did not rank so well.
I truly believe that 9 Marks of a Healthy Church should be required reading for any new Christian. The straightforwardness of the book is easy enough for baby Christians to understand, while at the same time meaty enough to give to a seasoned Christian as a reminder of what the Bible says about the church. Wherever the Lord intends to use me, I plan on buying this book in large quantity and giving it to those whom I disciple, and especially at membership classes, so the people can have a clear understanding of what is expected of the leadership, but also what is expected of the members. I plan on referring to this book again and again

[Aron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high expectations of this book and was excited to pick it up and read it. Unfortunately, when I was done I found it quite disappointing... Yes, the nine marks are Biblical and yes, I agree that we should practice them. But still, I found Dever, chapter after chapter, simply too narrow in his approach.

My main objection is that the church that Dever envisions might be doing everything "biblically" but will ultimately be a "healthy Pharisee church," where the sinners, the doubters and the sufferers are not qualified to join/remain and will thus leave through the "backdoor" (which needs to be wide open according to Dever).

Again, even though I agree with his assessment of the various marks and agree that we should practice these nine marks as churches, I can't help but think of Jesus, coming to this world as a doctor. Not for the healthy, but for the sick... The former do not need a doctor while the latter do so very much. Dever seems to be envisioning a church consisting of "the healthy" only. As a patient, that's a hard pill to swallow...

[Mike Conroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In general, when I listen to or read Mark Dever, I am encouraged and inspired to follow the Bible in ministry. This book in particular does that for my soul! I first read a yellowish booklet called, "9 Marks of a Healthy Church" in 2003 or 2004, it had a shaping influence on me back then. I need frequent encouragement to follow the clear teaching in Scrupture related to leading God's people. This book also gives me confidence in God's plan to save, grow, and mature His people.

I like the 4th addition. The new chapters on prayer and missions were helpful. I might have a slight difference on a few things in this book, but I will keep coming back to it, handing it out, and reading it with others.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that is well worth reading not only for church leaders, but also for church members like myself. This book addresses the simple but foundational question: What does a healthy church look like? How do I know if my church or the church I want to join is healthy? This is not a theological study on orthodoxy, but rather a practical study on things like church governance, preaching, membership, and emphasis.

[David Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may be out on a limb here - because this book comes highly recommended by the like of John Piper , Don Carson and I have heard many good things about it. But overall I found it disappointing. The best chapters are the ones on evangelism and church membership. I think that some of my difficulties are that it is too American and it assumes congregationalism. I'm sure that people could profit from reading this - but it is not a book I would use with my church members.

[Philip Mcduffie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because of usefulness. I will go to this book time and time again for guidance. I will give this book away time and time again because of importance. I will implement the teachings in this book because of biblical accuracy. Very good book to read as a pastor and church member!

[Sierra Cusson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book has helped put words to some things that I have long known are part of a healthy church, but probably couldn't have articulated it very well. I enjoy having content organized for me, as it is easier to follow and more memorable, so having 9 marks to follow through was a lovely systematic way to share this book. "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church" is an extremely helpful resource for people in my situation who can know point to 'marks' that define what they see and want in a church; and I am positive it would be helpful for those who are new to all of this, and have never heard the word 'expository,' know nothing of what it means to be a church member, or know anything of church discipline. It would probably shake them to their core, actually. Some will realize that this is what they've been longing for in a church, and some will hate it.
The two most convicting chapters for me (and the ones that I know less about), would be the last two - the chapters on prayer and missions. There was so much good content in there: about the importance of prayer in a believer's life (both personal are corporate), why prayer must saturate our worship services, what a biblical vision of missions should be, how to incorporate missionary-awareness in the congregation, and why church members must be dedicated to prayer and the work of evangelism.
Being a pastor's wife, and knowing the time, effort, and patience that it takes for elders to bring their congregation to places of health like this, I appreciated Dever's appendix that reminded pastors to be in it for the long-haul, that brining your church to health like this doesn't happen in one member's meeting (unless you want to get fired, lol).
Although I agree that all of these 9 marks are important, I do feel that some are more important than others, especially when it comes to knowing when to join a church and when to keep looking. In other words, some of these marks are hills to die on, and some are not. Things like gospel doctrine, a biblical understanding of conversion, and a biblical understanding of authority are all things of prime importance and must be in a church for it to be on the path to health. I would not encourage someone to join a church if it did not have those things. Other marks such as prayer, missions, discipline, discipleship are of less importance, they are the ones that take time to foster and will even benefit from having mature Christians join that church to help them grow in those areas.

This was an audiobook listen.

[Graham Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this book, and got to read the book that started the 9Marks movement. This book is both refreshing and frustrating with how boldly Dever presents his ideas. Refreshing because I often qualify my words, and Dever doesn't do that much. He's just like, "This is the way it is." Frustrating because I think the world is more nuanced, and there were times when I think he could have brought out more of that nuance.

One thing I didn't like in the book was some of the anecdotes Dever chooses to tell. For instance, the Roman Catholic guy Dever calls ridiculous, the seminary classmate he rudely tells "Thanks for telling us about yourself, we're trying to learn about God," or him walking loudly out of a bad sermon.

I'm confident that Dever is more pastoral in real life, or at least I hope so, because after reading this book, I respect his views and contributions, but I wouldn't necessarily want to work with him. This wouldn't be the first time I've thought this about a 9Marks author.

Also, I wonder if these "marks of a healthy church" would work in any denominational context. Surely in Baptist churches, and I think most of the marks describe churches in other denominations, maybe except for the 9th mark. There are things in that chapter (Biblical Church Leadership) that I would guess people in other denominations would take issue with.

Overall, a helpful book for anyone to read, despite my qualms with it.

[Chase Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great and I thoroughly enjoyed reading what is the origin of the 9marks ministry. This book simply lays out 9 marks that would make up a healthy church. This is not a comprehensive nine marks, and Mark continually says that throughout the book. These nine marks though are what will contribute to having a healthy church. From a leadership perspective I find this book to be great for a pastor to see these marks laid out in the book and examine their own church. For a person looking for a church this book is also great to see what to look for in a church. The thing that I found most compelling about the whole book is what Mark considered to be one of most important marks. That is to faithfully handle the Word of God. From this flows everything else. If we are not led well by the preaching of the word then everything else will fail.

A thought that I gathered from outside the book though was that the nine marks “will” contribute to the building of a healthy church, but it is up to each and every individual person in that church to also contribute to its well-being i.e. find a church with a high view of church membership (one of the nine marks). I could ramble on and on about this book but it truly was a delight to read and to be edified through it. Mark has such a passion for the church and to see that it is built up in Christ. So praise God for that.

[Will Standridge, II · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading through the newest edition, and I think the new editions made the book even better. There is no doubt that many Baptist churches have lost sight of these marks and need to recover them for the sake of their own health, their pastors’ health, and the their members’ health. I wish every ministry leader, search committee, pastor, and deacon would read this book and put it into practice.

*The chapters on Expositional Preaching, Discipleship and Growth, and Leadership alone are worth the price of the book.

[Pig Rieke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Apostle Paul wrote instructions to the young Pastor Timothy in part so that he would “know how one ought to behave in the household of God” (1 Tim 3:15). These instructions weren’t rocket science. They were plain and clear. These teaching are at times relationally difficult to obey and require self-sacrifice; however, these commands are not intellectually incomprehensible. Yet, many churches and pastors today ignore these and other New Testament instructions in favor of the only philosophical system to originate in America, namely Pragmatism.

In this seminal work, Dever argues for 9 marks or characteristics that are necessary for any church to be healthy. While these marks aren’t sufficient, they are so basic that to go without any one of them requires a degree of disconformity to the Biblical norm. To those well versed in the Scriptures, these characteristics will seem so obvious that one might be surprised that anyone would have to argue for them at all. Yet to those well versed in evangelical churches, the need for a reminder of these qualities will seem evident.

[Eric Fults · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book! Great stuff in here that flies in the face of what American Christianity often considers a successful ministry. Presented with pastoral humility. I find it strange that many people I have encountered in strict 9 marks churches are often so uncharitable/hyper-dogmatic when the book is written with humility and a sense of charity.

[Levi Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhh yeah. This is the good stuff.

[Jeffrey McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Dever gives much food for thought.

[Jonathan Kidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The more we know God, the more he correctly consumes our vision, our hearts, and our whole lives. The God of all the world wants all of us and all of who we are. A sound local church shows our devotion to him by our complete devotion to his work.”

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book for gaining an outline of a few of the Biblical characteristics of a healthy church. Dever spends nine chapters unpacking these. This book is easy to read, Biblically supported, and practical.

Coming from the continental Reformed tradition, I found that this book was geared more towards a broadly evangelical audience/church growth strategy type of church. I also disagreed with Dever's critique of infant baptism as an unbiblical practice. Nonetheless, it was well worth the read, provoking carefully thinking and strategizing. A great book for both church leaders and church members to read.

[Joshua Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for pastors! Whether your church is in a revitalization period- or a healthy growth- this book highlights the basics for a healthy church.
(With the Bible as the standard)

[Anete Ābola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sermon compilation speaks about biblical principles for churches. Many of those principles can only rarely be found nowadays. Let's pray and work to get our churches more healthy!

[Tabitha Baum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a very good book for thinking through what should be biblically done and emphasized in the local church. I didn’t agree with everything he said, but for the most part he was faithful in explaining what a biblical local church looks like from God’s Word.

[Hannah Ethier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic resource for ANY church member. Every member of a gospel believing church should read this.

[Cole Ragsdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars because of Dever’s consistency, fairness, and biblical fidelity.

More of a theological treatise, than a how-to do church right—which was soooooo refreshing.

I walked away loving Christ, His Church, and the Word more from this read. I will keep this one close by.

While I don’t endorse every line of this book(though pretty close), Dever is a gift to the Church.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read portions of this at different times along with reading many of the colorful set of books by 9Marks over these same topics, so this book’s topics were not new to me. Nonetheless we decided to read this as elders and I was very blessed by it. Not only was each chapter clear, concise and most importantly scriptural. But each chapter had additional reading suggestions and the appendixes are dynamite too. This is a must have book for elders and pastors. Read it and return to it again and again. You will be blessed

[David Washington · Rating 2 out of 5]

9 Marks of Healthy Church is a solid primer on what it means to have a biblical church. There is some good insight in the book and it is one that I would recommend to anyone who is not sure what it is they should be looking for in a church. Most people look for a church in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. This takes some of the faux pas out of the process.

If the book did anything, it galvanized me in the direction that our church is going. It also made me want to grab a couple of books by Oz Guiness as some of his quotes that is cited in the book from him are profound.

If you're looking for something advanced, then I can safely say that you can pass this book up. All of this I already knew because Dever is very biblical in his approach to church culture as every church should be but isn't by a long shot. That is the big plus of this book—heavily grounded in a biblical model for church. No gimmicks. No surprises. This is the book you read if you want to understand what it means to have a biblically grounded church. It is rudimentary but worth the read if this is what you need.

[Nathaniel-katie]

A very good, non-technical book describing essential elements of biblically faithful church ministry. This is a must-read for 1) pastors seeking to be encouraged in maintaining a biblically focused ministry and 2) those seeking to find a church that espouses a biblical paradigm for ministry. Dever maintains that doing church God's way is counter-cultural in everything from the preaching (expository) to evangelism, conversion, membership, church discipline, and leadership. Throughout the book, Dever demonstrates an impressive grasp of theology, church history, pastoral experience, and practical applications. He does not deal with issues such as worship, missions, giving (though touched on) and other points that others might want. However, an explanation is provided for the approach taken and topics handled. Well worth the time invested for the read.