The Deliberate Church
After many people read “The Nine Marks of the Healthy Church,” they asked, if we realize that our church is unhealthy, what can be do concretely to become a healthy church? In his sequel, Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church, makes a point that everything that we do in the church should be done deliberately, hence the title.
Chapter 1: The Four P’s
1) Preaching (expositional preaching)
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. ~Dever, p .35
2) Praying
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 1:9012; 2 Thess 1:11-12)? ~Dever, p. 35
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. ~Dever, p. 36
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. ~Dever, p. 36
3) 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 are regularly meeting with a few people one-on-one to do them good spiritually. ~Dever, p. 37
It’s good for the one who disciples as well, whether you are a paid pastor or a non-staff members, because it encourages you to think about discipling not as something that only super-Christians do, but as something that is part and parcel of your own discipleship to Christ. ~Dever, p. 37
4) Patience
Most of us think only about five or ten years down the road (if that). But patience in the pastorate requires thinking in terms of twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years of ministry. ~Dever, p. 39
It seems ironic at first, but trading in size for faithfulness as the yardstick for success is often the path to legitimate numerical growth. God is happiest to entrust His flock to those shepherds who do things His way. ~Dever, p. 40
Chapter 2: Beginning the Work
Let the content of the Gospel do the work… Illustrations from personal experience are often subtly self-serving. People love them because they tell them about you, but this is precisely what the true Gospel minister wants to be careful about in the pulpit — not because he doesn’t want to be “authentic,” but because such illustrations usually attract more attention to ourselves than to the Gospel. ~Dever, p. 44
Biblically, if a member shows prolonged negligence in gathering with God’s people, how can he say he loves them? And if he doesn’t love them, how can he say he loves God (1 John 4:20-21)? Pastorally, if a member who could attend continually neglects to meet with the people of God, curch leaders simply are no longer in a position to externally witness the fruit of his life, and for that reason can no longer externally affirm his conversion by uninterrupted membership. Evangelistically, meaningless membership damages the corporate evangelistic witness of the church in the surrounding community. Members usually go AWOL to cover up more serious sin; but they are committing that sin as people who are still likely to be known by others in your community as members of your church! In other words, they are sinning in ways that make your church look hypocritical to the unbelievers in your community. ~Dever, p. 47
Most seriously of all, when we allow prolonged non-attenders to keep their names on the membership rolls, we actually help deceive them into thinking they are saved when their behavior is in fact calling their salvation into question. If membership is the church’s public affirmation of a person’s conversion, then to leave a non-attender on the rolls could very well be damningly deceptive. What’s more, if you are the pastor of your local church, then God will hold you in some sense accountable for the spiritual well-being of every member of your church (Heb 13:17). ~Dever, p. 47-48
Cleaning the rolls is one way you can clarify for people what is means to be a Christian. It’s a way of clarifying the implications of the Gospel. ~Dever, p. 47
When I first came to Capital Hill Baptist Church, I committed myself to conducting membership interview with every potential new member of the church. I did this primarily to fulfill my pastoral responsibility of ensuring that each person we take into membership understands the Gospel, has repented from his or her sins, has believed in Jesus, and has lived differently from the world as a result. ~Dever, p. 48
In these interviews, I ask, among other things, for a brief testimony, and during that time try to listen for evidence of whether or not the person has been known by his or her friends and associates as a Christian. I also ask all members and potential members to state the Gospel in sixty second or less, looking for a clear understanding of justification by faith alone and the requirements of repentance and belief. They don’t have to use those eact words — I’m just looking for an understanding and application of the concepts. ~Dever, p. 49
Chapter 3: Doing Responsible Evangelism
The two responses that seem to be most commonly confused with genuine repentance and belief today are praying a prayer with someone and coming forward at a church service… Yet praying a prayer is never offered in Scripture as a ground of assurance, nor is sincerity Jesus tells us not to look at prayers and sincerity for assurance, but our actions — the fruit of our lives (Matt 7:15-27; John 15:8; 2 Pet 1:5-12). The New Testament tells us to look at the holiness of our conduct, the love we have for others, and the soundess of our doctrine as the key indicators of our assurance (1 Thess 3:12-13; 1 John 4:8; Gal 1:6-9; 5:22-25; 1 Tim 6:3-5). ~Dever, p. 52-53
Often a person will come forward after a sermon, indicate a “decision for Christ,” and then be accepted into membership right on the spot! No confirming evidence of fruit is able to be discerned, yet it is assumed (often wrongly) that the person has genuinely repented and believed because he has expressed an abundance of emotion, walked an aisle, or prayed a sincere prayer… The product of this kind of “no evidence required” assurance is that pepole are taught to look at a prayer prayed twenty years ago as the reason to think they are saved, with no thought of the contradiction between their lifestyle and profession now… The only external evidence that the Bible tells us to use in discerning whether or not a person is converted is the fruit of obedience (Matt 7:15-27; John 15:8; James 2:14-26; 1 John 2:3). ~Dever, p. 53
Churches are most healthy when the Gospel is most clear; and the Gospel is most clear when our evangelistic methods are most plain. ~Dever, p. 55
Chapter 4: Taking in New Members
The discipline case in 1 Cor 5 assumes public knowledge of who’s in the church and who’s not. “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked man from among you'” (vv. 12-13). Expelling makes sense only in the context of visible belonging. ~Dever, p. 60
Church membership, then, is a means by which we demarcate the boundaries of the church. This is logically implied by the negative sanction of corrective church discipline. ~Dever, p. 60
Implementing a church covenant helps to correct the misperception that members can live in either isolated individualism or unrepented sin and still be members in good standing… Clarifying the commitments of membership promotes the health of the local church because it keeps nominalism at bay and keeps us accountable to growing in real Christian piety. ~Dever, p. 62
Prospective membership interview (Dever, p. 64-65):
– Ask them to explain the Gospel
– Ask what their previous church was and why they left
– Are they baptized? What was the mode of their baptism?
– Have they ever been disciplined by a church? If so, ask why.
– Ask for their personal testimony. I usually ask about the home they were brought up in, when and how they were converted, and their lifestyle since then, looking for particularly for evidences of repentance after conversion.
Chapter 5: Doing Church Discipline
Actually, in a healthy church, private corrective discipline is happening all the time. People in the church sin. But growing Christians welcome other Christians into their lives for the purposes of confessing their sins to one another (James 5:16; 1 John 1:5-10). That is, in large part, how spiritual growth happens — by accepting biblical correction. You need to be modeling this kind of humble accountability as a pastor and encouraging it in other members. ~Dever, p. 68
To help people understand what is happening in a public corrective discipline case, teach them beforehand to understand excommunication as the removal of a member from the membership rolls and, more fundamentally, the exclusion of the person from taking communion. Also, make sure that members know that they are to treat the disciplined member as an unbeliever, based on that person’s unrepentant attitude and behavior. This doesn’t mean that the person is not welcome to attend church. We definitely want such a person to attend the weekly preaching of the Word, just as we would want any unbeliever to do so. Not does it mean we should not try to persuade the excommunicated person to repent. It does mean, however, that we as members are to avoid eating meals, hanging out, or even casually chatting with such people in a way that would suggest they’ve done nothing wrong (1 Cor 5:9-13). ~Dever, p. 71
Chapter 6: Understanding the Regulative Principle
Briefly, the Regulative Principle states that everything we do in a corporate worship gatheirng must be clearly warranted by Scripture. Clear warrant can either take the form of an explicit biblical command, or a good and necessary implication of a biblical text. The Regulative Principle has historically competed with the Normative Principle, crystallized by the Anglican minister Richard Hooker. Hooker argued, along with Martin Luther before him, that as long as a practice is not biblically forbidden, a church is free to use it to order its corporate life and worship. In short, the Regulative Principle forbids anything not commanded by Scripture, whereas the Normative Principle allows anything not forbidden by Scripture. [see Exodus 3-10, 32; John 4:19-24; 1 Cor 14] ~Dever, p. 77
Chapter 7: Applying the Regulative Principle
Scripture is powerful — even when the person reading it doesn’t try to explain it (Jer 23:29; 1 Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 3:16; Heb 4:12)! Carving out time in our Sunday morning services to read Scripture aloud, without comment, every week, makes a statement about the value we place on God’s Word. It says we are eager to hear the Word of the Lord — we desire it. ~Dever, p. 81
Jesus said that all Scripture is ultimately about Him (Luke 24:27, 45-47). He has given both the permission and the mandate to read the whole Bible with Gospel-colored glasses — and then to preach the Gospel as we preach the point of the passage, addressing both believers and unbelievers with its truth, power, and implications. ~Dever, p. 82
Scripture teachs us how to pray. Praying God’s Word back to Him in the corporate assembly communicates that we want to approach Him on His terms, not ours, and according to who He has revealed Himself to be, not who we would prefer Him to be. ~Dever, p. 83
The best of the hymns and the best of the more modern worship choruses are those that direct our focus away from ourselves and onto the character and Gospel of God. ~Dever, p. 85
The ordinances are the dramatic presentations of the Gospel. They are the moving pictures that represent the spiritual realities of the Gospel, written and directed by Jesus Himself. The bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper portray Christ’s body and blood broken and poured out for the remission of our sins, a visual reminder of Christ’s Cross-work on our behalf (Luke 22:19-20). In the same way, baptism portrays our spiritual death to sin, our symbolic burial with Christ, and our resurrection with Him to new life (Rom 6:3-4). The ordinances, then, are where we see the Gospel enacted, and our participation in it dramatized. They are where the word of God’s promise is spoken to us in tangible form — we touch and taste the bread and wine; we feel the waters of baptism. They are means of grace instituted by Jesus that God uses to assure His people of the trustworthiness of His Gospel and the reality of our participation in it. ~Dever, p. 85
The ordinances are the visible signs and seals of participation in the New Covenant. After the right preaching of the Word, the right administration of the sacraments is what most visibly marks out the church from the world… Faithfulness here also implies that we are exercising church discipline when necessary — ultimately protecting people from taking the Lord’s Supper if they are currently involved in scandalous, unrepented Lord’s Supper if they are currently involved in scandalous, unrepented sin, or if they are reasonably suspected of hiding unrepented sin by prolonged neglect of church attendance. Such sins call into question the genuineness of a member’s profession. The conscientious pastor will, by protectively barring that member from the Table, warn such a person that a person “eats and drink judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly” (1 Cor 11:29). ~Dever, p. 85-86
Chapter 8: The Role of the Pastor
The most important and fundamental role of the pastor is to preach the Gospel clearly. ~Dever, p. 89
Rightly administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper is crucial to pastoral faithfulness. This is because, broadly speaking, baptism tends the front door of the church, while the Lord’s Supper tends the back door. Properly administered baptism (i.e. baptism of believers only upon a credible profession of faith) helps to ensure that only genuine believers are admitted into the membership of the church. Properly administered communion (i.e. communion given only to members in good standing) helps to ensure that those who are under church discipline for unrepented sin do not scandalize the church or eat and drink judgment to themselves by partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:29). ~Dever, p. 90
Preach sermons that submit themselves to the main point that the passage is making so that they model responsible Bible study and application. Let the main theological theme of the passage being preached be present in the songs that are sung and even in some of the prayers that are prayed. What this will mean for your ministry is that you will periodically need to devote time on your calendar to planning services ahead of time — maybe three of four months of services at a time. This will be hard work at first, but it will free you up to create whole services that display thematic continuity, and will also free you up from the pressure pf planning services week by week as they come. ~Dever, p. 91
Chapter 9: The Roles of Different Gatherings
Adult Education Hour – main equipping time
Sunday Morning Service – main feeding time
Sunday Evening Service – main family time
Wednesday Evening Service – main study time, study an epistle – inductive method
Member’s Meeting – main administrative times
One of the most important things that happens in a members’ meeting at our church is the introduction of prospective members… Some of the other things that should be addressed in members’ meetings might be a finance report since the last meeting, ministry reports from different departments, an elders’ report regarding the nomination of new elders or deacons, updates on missionaries, updates on physical facilities issues, seeing out those who have removed their membership, or taking corporate action on discipline cases. ~Dever, p. 104
Chapter 10: The Role of Ordinances
According to the Bible, baptism is fundamentally a physical sign of a spiritual reality. Matthew 29:18-20 indicates that it is for believers only, the initial step of obedience in our new life of discipleship to Christ. Romans 6:1-4 is even more specific, indicating that baptism symbolizes our death and burial with Christ as our representative head, and our spiritual resurrection with Him from the symbolic grave. Colossians 2:11-13 indicates even more specifically still that baptism is the physical representation of the spiritual circumcision of our hearts. As such, it functions as something of an identity marker, initially identifying us as members of the New Covenant — those who have received new hearts from God (Ezek 36:26-27). In other words, baptism identifies us as members of the community called the people of God — the church. Baptism, then, is the ordinance that guards the front door of the local church. ~Dever, p. 105
I first introduce the candidate to the congregation and then ask them to give a brief (three minute) testimony of how they were converted and why they want to be baptized as believers. I then ask them two questions:
1) Do you make profession of repentance toward God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
2) Do you promise, by God’s grace, to follow Him forever in the fellowship of His church?
After they answer in the affirmative, the candidate and I prepare to enter the baptistery as the congregation sings a hymn. Once we’re in the water, I say, “John, upon your profession of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” ~Dever, p. 106-107
According to Paul in 1 Cor 11:17-34, the Lord’s Supper is several things all wrapped into one. It is first an opportunity to express the unity of the church (vv. 18-19, 33). It is therefore, second, a fellowship of God’s people (vv. 20-21, 33). Third, it is intended as a symbolic remembrance of Christ’s sinless life and atoning death on our behalf (vv. 24-25). Fourth, it is intended as a proclamation of Christ’s death, resurrection, and return (v. 26). And fifth, it is a built-in opportunity for self-examination (vv. 28-29). Taking the Lord’s Supper, then, is a participation in the unity of the church’s fellowship around the remembrance of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of His saving person and work through the symbols of bread and wine. ~Dever, p. 107
At our church, we being the observation of the Lord’s Supper by silently reflection on the Church Covenant as a means by which to examine our own hearts. We then renew our covenant by standing and reading it aloud together, after which we distribute the elements. We take the bread individually to symbolize our individual discipleship to Christ, and we hold the cup until all have been served in order to take it together as a symbol of our corporate unity in Christ. As baptism guards the front door of the church, the Lord’s Supper takes its post at the back door. Communion is a symbol of the unity and fellowship of the church. The prerequisites for participation in that symbol are continued repentance and belief. It follows, then, that those who do not meet the prerequisites of unity with the church shuold be excluded from participation in the symbol of that unity. In barring an unrepentant member from the Lord’s Table, we are treating him as an unbelieving outsider. That is, we are barring him from the primary symbol of church unity and fellowship, and thereby clarifying the boundary between the church and the world. ~Dever, p. 107-108
Chapter 11: Loving Each Other
The first aspect of any local church community is that it is covenantal. That is, it is a community of believers who have become part of the New Covenant in Christ’s blood and, as a result, have covenanted together to help each other run the Christian race with integrity, godliness, and grace. ~Dever, p. 110
The nature of Christian life is corporate, because the body of Christ is a corporate entity. While our individual walks are crucial, we are impoverished in our personal pursuit of God if we do not avail ourselves of the help that is available through mutually edifying relationships in our covenant church family (Eph 4:15-16; Heb 10:24-25). ~Dever, p. 111
Cross-cultural. The local church is for everyone. That’s why it is difficult to defend the practice of targeting a church to a particular demographic based on any factor other than language. Targeted churches can have the unintended effect of obscuring the trans-cultural, unifying power of the Gospel. ~Dever, p. 111
Chapter 12: Music
We want to sing songs that raise our view of God, that present Him in all His glory and grace. We want to sing songs that put the details of Christ’s person and work front and center. We want to sing theologically textured songs that make us think about the depths of God’s character, the contours of His grace, and the implications of His Gospel… Negatively, we want to avoid songs that encourage us to reflect on our own subjective emotional experience more than on objective truths of God’s character and implications of the cross. ~Dever, p. 118
Chapter 13: The Importance of Elders
D.A. Casron has observed that all the qualities Paul lays out for elders are elsewhere in the New Testament enjoined on all Christians — every quality except the ability to teach. Right away, then, we see that elders are different from deacons in that teaching is pivotal to the elder’s responsibility, while the deacon’s tasks lie elsewhere… The seven chosen men (in Acts) “deaconed” (served) tables, which released the apostles for “deaconing” the Word. Deacons, then, serve to care for the physical and financial needs of the church, and they do so in a way that heals divisions, brings unity under the Word, and supports the leadership of the elders. Without this practical service of the deacons, the elders will not be free to devote themselves to praying and service the Word to people. Elders need deacons to serve practically, and deacons need elders to lead spiritually. ~Dever, p. 132
Chapter 14: Looking for a Few Good Men
A biblical elder is not a female… Teaching is an authoritative act, and women are forbidden to exercise authority over men in the church (1 Tim 2:9-15). Paul roots that prohibition in the order of creation in Genesis 1 and 2: Adam was created before Eve, revealing Adam’s God-given place of headship over her. Both are equally created in the image of God, but God has given them different yet complementary roles to fill both in the home and in the church… Ad elder is simply a man of exemplary, Christlike character who is able to lead God’s people by teaching them God’s Word in a way that profits them spiritually. ~Dever, p. 140
Chapter 15: Assessment
When it comes to assessing potential elders, this deliberateness takes the form of asking specific biblical questions about a man’s character and ability, not simply questions about personality, reputation in the business world, political savvy, or the like. ~Dever, p. 148
Chapter 16: Why Character is Crucial
Modeling. The examples set by the elders will be significant in helping shape the congregation’s idea of what spiritual maturity looks like… The examples set by elders will also be significant in developing the corporate witness of the church in the surrounding community. As church members follow the examples of their leaders, their behavior will usually become either more or less godly, depending on he examples being set. ~Dever, p. 150
Chapter 17: Getting Started
Upon being nominated and elected, it is advisable for the new elders to be installed during an upcoming Sunday morning service. Installation will simply consist of the pastor leading the new elders in taking vows appropriate to their office. A few of the other elders will then join the pastor in laying hands on the new elders and praying for them. [For list of vows, read p. 158-159.] ~Dever, p. 158
It cannot be emphasized enough that once a congregation votes a man in as an elder, they should cooperate with and submit to his leadership joyfully. ~Dever, p. 159
As a matter of prudence, our church has found it useful to appoint a man to the office of elder for three years. This particular amount of time has proven long enough for establishing continuity in leadership while building in a period of rest for each non-staff elder. Regular rotation gives an elder enough time to develop a healthy sense of owning the responsibilities of eldership while protecting him from an overdeveloped sense of territoriality. One of the most important benefits of regular rotation is that it motivates the congregation to see more leaders developed who can take the place of those who rotate out. This protects the congregation from overdependence on only a few non-staff leaders and promotes a healthy growth of leadership that is proportional to whatever numerical growth the Lord may be pleased to grant. According to our current practice, each non-staff elder may serve two consecutive terms, but must take a one-year sabbatical after two consecutive terms and must be renominated by the elders and reaffirmed by the congregation if he is to serve a third term. ~Dever, p. 160
Chapter 18: Staffing
The elders decide on the destination. The staff [full-time, paid] drive the bus. The deacons make sure we’ve got enough gas to get there. ~Dever, p. 169
Chapter 19: The Word and Prayer
A typical elders’ meeting starts with reading the Bible… Normally, the elders will read the passage that is to be preached on the following Sunday… Once the elders have read through the passage to be preached the next Sunday, they pray through it… Periodically an issue will raise in the congregation that requires some biblical study on the part of the elders. Don’t waste these opportunities! These can be some of the richest and most rewarding times in the life of an elder body. ~Dever, p. 174
After the Word has been read and prayed through, the elders will share with each other what’s going on in their lives… One of the most strategic times for elders to pray for other members is during elders’ meetings… Memorizing Paul’s prayers for the churches would be a great start for a group of elders. Encourage your elders over the coming weeks to memorize Eph 1:15-23; 3:16-19; Phil 1:9-11; Col 1:9-14; 1 Thess 3:11-13; 2 Thess 1:11-12. ~Dever, p. 177
Chapter 20: The Agenda – What to Talk About
As elders, one of the most important things we do is tend to the skin of the local body of Christ. In other words, we are constantly asking, “Who’s coming in?” and Who’s going out?” ~Dever, p. 180
We tend to the care list. The care list is simply an informal list of people whom the elders have recognized as needing special attention for a variety of resaons. Periodically a person is put on the care list because of a particularly extreme kind of trial. More often, though, the care list is used to keep track of those people whom the elders have noticed as being delinquent in attendance over the course of a few months or as being involved in scandalous sin that will require church discipline if not repented of quickly… Usually an elder has contacted (or has at least attempted to contact) the member in question, often more than once, to talk about the particular issue at hand… If those on the care list do not respond, they are removed from membership at the next members’ meeting (usually held every two months). ~Dever, p. 181
Chapter 21: Decision Making
Pastoral authority is like soap — the more you use it, the less you have left. What I’m recommending is a strong biblical leadership with a light hand. Lead with the Word, through the biblical fidelity of your expositional preaching and the biblical content of the songs you sing together in corporate worship. As the Word is placed front and center, it will begin to shape people without needing you to exercise your authority or weigh in heavily on every decision that’s made. ~Dever, p. 190