How to Build a Healthy Church (Second Edition)
Description
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.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Connie, and they have two adult children.
Paul Alexander (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the pastor of Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Elgin, Illinois, where he lives with his wife, Laurie, and their six children.
Content
- Intro
- 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
