How to Build a Healthy Church (Second Edition)

A Practical Guide for Deliberate Leadership

Mark Dever, Paul Alexander

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781433575778
• eBook ISBN: 9781433575808
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

A Newly Updated and Rebranded Edition of  The Deliberate Church

If churches are the dwelling place of God's Spirit, why are so many built around the strategies of man? Eager for church growth, leaders can be lured by entertaining new schemes, forgetting to keep doctrinal truth as their driving force. Churches must find a way out of the maze of programs and methods and humbly lean on the sufficiency of God's Word.

How to Build a Healthy Church, a revised and expanded edition of  The Deliberate Church, challenges leaders to evaluate their motivations for ministry and provides practical examples of healthy, deliberate leadership. Written as a companion handbook for  Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, it covers important topics including membership, worship, responsible evangelism, and church roles. This is more than a step-by-step plan to mimic; it's a biblical blueprint for pastors, elders, and anyone committed to the church's vitality.

Section 1

Gathering the Church

1

The Four P’s

When I1 was interviewing with Capitol Hill Baptist Church before they called me to be their pastor, someone asked me if I had a program or plan to implement for growth. Perhaps to this person’s surprise (and perhaps to yours, too!), I responded that I didn’t really have any great plans or programs to implement. I was just armed with four P’s—I would preach, pray, develop personal discipling relationships, and be patient.

Preaching

Maybe even more surprising to some, I said that I was happy to see every aspect of my public ministry fail if it needed to—except for the preaching of God’s Word. Now what kind of a thing is that for a pastoral candidate to say to a church? What I wanted to get across was that there’s only one thing that’s biblically necessary for building the church, and that’s the preached Word of God. Others could do every other duty, but only I was responsible and set apart by the congregation for the public teaching of God’s Word. This would be the fountain of our spiritual life, both as individuals and as a congregation.

God’s Word has always been his chosen instrument to create, convict, convert, and conform his people. From his very first announcement of the gospel in Genesis 3:15, to his initial word of promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3, to his regulation of that promise by his Word in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20), God gives life and health and holiness to his people through the agency of his Word. From the reforms under Josiah in 2 Kings 22–23, to the revival of God’s work under Nehemiah and Ezra in Nehemiah 8–9, to that great vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1–14, where God breathes the life of his Spirit into his dead people through the preaching of his Word, God always sends his Word when he wants to renew life in his people and assemble them for his glory. God works through the agency of his Word. He even says as much in Isaiah 55:10–11:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

The New Testament witness to the primacy of God’s Word in his method is just as conspicuous. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). The Word sustains us. “In the beginning was the Word, and . . . in Him was life. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 4, 14). Jesus, the Word made flesh, is ultimate life incarnate. “The word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (Acts 19:20; cf. 6:7; 12:20–24). The Word grows and fights. “And now I commend you to . . . the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (20:32). The Word is what builds us up and preserves us. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16; cf. 1 Cor. 1:18). The gospel, God’s clearest expression of his Word, is his effective power for salvation.2 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). God’s Word is that which creates faith. “[W]hen you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). The Word performs God’s work in believers. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). God’s Word convicts. “In the exercise of His will he brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18). God’s Word gives us new birth. James advises a little later, “in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (v. 21). The Word saves us. Peter also claims regenerating power for God’s Word: “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. . . . And this is the word which was preached to you” (1 Pet. 1:23, 25).

There is creating, conforming, life-giving power in God’s Word! The gospel is God’s way of giving life to dead sinners—and to dead churches (Ezek. 37:1–14). He doesn’t have another way. If we want to work for renewed life and health and holiness in our churches, then we must work for it according to God’s revealed mode of operation. Otherwise we risk running in vain. God’s Word is his supernatural power for accomplishing his supernatural work. That’s why our eloquence, innovations, and programs are so much less important than we think; that’s why we as pastors must give ourselves to preaching, not programs; and that’s why we need to be teaching our congregations to value God’s Word over programs. Preaching the content and intent of God’s Word is what unleashes the power of God on the people of God, because God’s power for building his people is in his Word, particularly as we find it in the gospel (Rom. 1:16). God’s Word builds his church. So preaching his gospel is primary.3

Praying

Many men, especially in the global West, are addicted to work. It’s understandable— productivity offers a cleaner high than any drug, and without the hangover. This can be equally (even especially) true for pastors, because we are rightly careful about not being lazy or unfruitful in ministry. We want to prove ourselves hard workers in the Lord’s vineyard, so that we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Prayer, though, doesn’t always feel as productive to us as chaining ourselves to the computer, leading a board meeting, counseling a troubled member, reading a good book with an aspiring pastor, or getting out there and doing the work of an evangelist.

The overcorrection, then, is to neglect or shortchange supplication because we wrongly assume that prayer is somehow akin to procrastination—putting off the work. The truth is, prayer is a necessary part of the work. Prayer shows our dependence on God. It honors him as the source of all blessing, and it reminds us that converting individuals and growing churches are his works, not ours (1 Cor. 2:14–16; 3:6–7). Jesus reassures us that if we abide in him, and his words abide in us, we can ask anything according to his will and know that he will give it to us (John 15:10, 16). What a promise! I fear it is so familiar to many of us that we are in danger of hearing it as trite. Yet we must hear it as that which rouses us from our sleepy prayerlessness and drives us joyfully to our knees.

What then should we pray for as we begin to work for the health and holiness of the church? (1) What more appropriate prayers could a pastor pray for the church he serves than the prayers of Paul for the churches he planted (Eph. 1:15–23; 3:16–21; Phil. 1:9–11; Col. 1:9–12; 2 Thess. 1:11–12)? Allow these prayers to be a starting point for praying Scripture more broadly and consistently.4 This is another way you can unleash the transforming power of the gospel on the lives of church members. (2) Pray that your preaching of the gospel would be faithful, accurate, and clear. (3) Pray for the increasing maturity of the congregation, that your local church would grow in corporate love, holiness, and sound doctrine, such that the testimony of the church in the community would be distinctively pure and attractive to unbelievers. (4) Pray for sinners to be converted and the church to be built up through your preaching of the gospel. (5) Pray for opportunities for yourself and other church members to do personal evangelism.

One of the most practical things you can do for your own personal prayer life, and for the prayer lives of other church members, is to assemble a church membership directory (with pictures, if possible) so that everyone in the church can be praying through it a page a day. Our church’s membership directory has about twenty-seven people on a normal page. We also have sections for members in the area who are unable to attend and for members out of the area; one page for elders, deacons, deaconesses, officers, staff members, and interns; and sections that record the children of church members, supported seminarians, supported workers (like missionaries), and former staff members and interns. We usually encourage people to pray through the page number that corresponds to the current day of the month (e.g., June 1, page 1; June 2, page 2; etc.).

Model for your congregation faithfulness in praying through the directory in your own devotional times, and publicly encourage them to make praying through the directory a daily habit. Your prayers for people don’t have to be long—just biblical. Perhaps choose one or two phrases from Scripture to pray for them, and then pray a meaningful sentence or two from what you know is going on in their lives at present. Get to know the sheep in your flock well so that you can pray for them more particularly. And for those you don’t yet know well, simply pray for them what you see in your daily Bible reading. Modeling this kind of prayer for others, and encouraging the congregation to join you, can be a powerful influence for growth in the church. It encourages selflessness in people’s individual prayer lives, and one of the most important benefits is that it helps to cultivate a corporate culture of prayer that will gradually come to characterize your church as people faithfully pray.

Think Tank

1. Why is the preaching of the gospel so important for the life of the church?

2. What three Bible passages will you memorize for the purpose of praying for your church?

Personal Discipling Relationships

One of the most biblical and valuable uses of your time as a pastor will be to cultivate personal discipling relationships, in which you regularly meet with a few people one-on-one to do them good spiritually. One idea is to invite people after the Sunday service to call you in order to set up a lunch appointment. Those who express interest by calling and having lunch will often be open to getting together again. As you get to k...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Newsletter Signup
• Endorsements
• Other Crossway Books
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Mark’s Preface
• Paul’s Preface
• A Note to the Reader
• Introduction
• Section 1 Gathering the Church
• 1 The Four P’s
• 2 Beginning the Work
• 3 Doing Responsible Evangelism
• 4 Taking in New Members
• 5 Doing Church Discipline
• Section 2 When the Church Gathers
• 6 Understanding the Regulative Principle
• 7 Applying the Regulative Principle
• 8 The Role of the Pastor
• 9 Evangelistic Exposition
• 10 The Roles of the Different Gatherings
• 11 The Role of the Ordinances
• 12 Loving Each Other
• 13 Music
• Section 3 Gathering Elders
• 14 The Importance of Elders
• 15 Looking for a Few Good Men
• 16 Assessment
• 17 Why Character Is Crucial
• 18 Getting Started
• 19 Staffing
• Section 4 When the Elders Gather
• 20 The Word and Prayer
• 21 The Agenda: What to Talk About
• 22 Decision-Making: How to Talk about It
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Notes
• General Index
• Scripture Index