Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
by Mark Dever


Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2000. pp. 255.
Reviewed by Michael J. Vlach

In his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark
Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist
Church in Washington D.C., sets forth what he
believes to be the marks of a healthy church. The
book, itself, is based on a series of sermons that
Dever, a Southern Baptist minister, preached to
his church.

Summary

As the title of his book indicates, Dever's work
is about the church. The book, however, "is not a
full ecclesiology" (10). Dever does not intend to
give a purely doctrinal explanation of the church.
Instead, his stated purpose is to "speak to some
marks that set off healthy churches from true but
more sickly ones" (10). His work, then, is more
prescriptive than descriptive in regard to the
church.

According to Dever, many churches today are
unhealthy. They are in a sickly state because they
have been influenced by cultural factors such as
neopaganism, secularization, and pragmatism (12).
In addition, he believes that most Protestant
churches, whether liberal, seeker-sensitive, or
traditional, have accepted secular standards of
success, including the exaltation of numbers and
the emphasis on techniques (10).

In light of these dismal conditions that
characterize many churches, Dever presents what he
believes to be a biblical plan for establishing
and sustaining healthy churches. Though lacking an
exact title for his paradigm, Dever explains what
he believes churches need to be:

Simply put, we need churches that are
self-consciously distinct from the culture. We
need churches in which the key indicator of
success is not evident results but persevering
faithfulness. We need churches that help us
recover those aspects of Christianity that are
distinct from the world, and that unite us (14).
What, then, are the characteristics that Dever
believes are necessary for a healthy church? He
gives nine marks. Mark one of a healthy church is
expositional preaching. According to Dever,
expositional preaching is "that preaching which
takes for the point of a sermon the point of a
particular passage of Scripture" (26). Dever
believes that expositional preaching is "far and
away the most important" of all the marks (25). In
fact, he asserts that if churches would get this
first mark right, all of the other marks he
mentions would naturally follow.

According to Dever, the second mark of a healthy
church is a commitment to a biblical theology that
seeks to understand God's character and His ways
(46). Dever says that the main story line of the
Bible that must be taught in our churches includes
five elements. They are: (1) God is creating; (2)
God is holy; (3) God is faithful; (4) God is
loving; and (5) God is sovereign.

The third mark is the Gospel, which is the message
of salvation based on Jesus Christ. The Gospel
message, according to Dever, must be understood in
the contexts of man's sin, God's holiness, and the
person and work of Jesus Christ. The Gospel
message is not simply that we are all okay, nor is
it only that God is love. To Dever, salvation
occurs when a person realizes that his sin has
offended a holy God and he casts himself upon the
mercy of God and believes in Jesus Christ. This is
no 'easy-believism' or mere 'mental assent.'
Saving faith, according to Dever, consists of
repentance and faith, which Dever considers to be
two sides of the same coin (78).

With his fourth mark, Dever discusses the
necessity of conversion. All men are totally lost
in sin, he says, but true change is possible (88).
True change is not found in secular methods or
self-effort. True inner change takes place when a
person places his faith in Jesus Christ and is
born again. Jesus gives the person who believes in
Him a new heart and He brings radical change to
that person's life. This conversion, though, does
not mean sinless perfection according to Dever.
Though we are converted, we still struggle with
sin. Nevertheless, a great change has taken place
for the true believer.

Dever's fifth mark is evangelism. Here, he calls
on all who rightly name the name of Christ to
share the good news of salvation that is found in
Christ. He states that evangelism is not the act
of converting people but is simply telling them
the saving message of Christ (123). Where there is
a faithful and accurate presentation of the
Gospel, evangelism has taken place. This
obligation to evangelize is not optional but
mandatory. Neither does it ultimately matter that
our culture frowns on those who promote their
views as superior to the views of others.
According to Dever, evangelism is a charge that
all Christians are commanded to keep no matter
what the political or social climate may be.

The sixth mark of a healthy church is active
membership in a local church. Dever asserts that
church membership must be more than simply being
on a church member list or just attending worship
services. Dever believes that many professing
Christians have adopted a lone-ranger,
individualistic mindset that is resistant to
serious commitment. He counters this trend toward
individualism by calling on church members to sign
a church covenant and to commit to regular church
meetings and services along with regular giving
and praying. He wants Christians to "join" and
commit to a church, not just "attend" a church.

Biblical church discipline is Dever's seventh,
and, perhaps, most controversial and least
followed mark. Dever asserts, with strong
scriptural support, that churches must enforce
church discipline to keep the purity of the body
and hopefully restore confessing Christians who
are involved in unrepentant, sinful behavior. He
believes that for the good of the churches, "we
need to make it harder to join and we need to be
better at excluding people" (156). In his section
on church discipline, Dever, himself, appeals
directly to Baptist churches of the past. He notes
that, "disciplinary actions were a substantial
part of the business at member's meetings of
Baptist churches in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries" (164). Dever also points to a statistic
showing that Southern Baptist churches, in
pre-Civil War days, excommunicated nearly two
percent of their members every year (165).

Dever's eighth mark is a concern for discipleship
and spiritual growth. Here, he refers to more than
just numerical growth, but spiritual growth. Dever
is convinced that if the previous seven marks are
operating fully, a church will see spiritual
growth in its congregation.

Biblical church leadership is Dever's ninth and
final mark. He asserts that there are five aspects
of church leadership: (1) its congregational
context; (2) its biblical qualifications; (3) its
charismatic nature (i.e. spiritual gifts); (4) its
Christlikeness; and (5) its relationship to God's
nature and character. One interesting part of
Dever's chapter on church leadership is his
discussion about elders. Though not espousing a
formal "elder rule" form of government, Dever
believes there are benefits of having recognized
elders in the congregation and notes that, "there
is a growing trend to go back to this biblical
office" (215). He also notes that, "Elders could
be found in the Baptist churches in America
throughout the eighteenth and into the nineteenth
century" (214).

At the end of the book, Dever offers three
appendices. In the first, he gives four
characteristics that pastors should cultivate to
help bring change to their churches. These four
characteristics include being truthful, trustful,
positive, and particular. Appendix two gives a
list of what other Christian leaders have
suggested as remedies to the problems of the local
church. In appendix three, Dever gives a list of
helpful books that complement the nine marks that
he mentions in his book.
Overall Evaluation

Dever's book is an excellent work that would
benefit every Christian-pastor and layperson
alike. He rightly points out that the church, as a
whole, has capitulated to the culture in many
areas. Dever's call for expository preaching,
active church membership, and church discipline,
is especially needed today.

Dever is thoroughly biblical in his assertions and
practical in his examples. The fact that this book
is based on sermons he preached at his church adds
to the practical nature of the book. We highly
recommend it.