Nine Ma Rks of A He A Lthy Church: Mark E. Dever

9
Ni ne
Marks
of a
Healthy
Church
Mark E. Dever
F O U R T H E D I T I O N
525 A Street NE Washington, DC 20002
Phone (202) 543-1224, FAX (202) 543-6113
www.9marks.org
2005 Mark E. Dever
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
3
9Marks Ministries
Our Mission
God intends to display the glory of his beauty, perfection, and
love through the church.
Imagine what this would look like in our local congregations:
Gods name exalted in song and sermon.
Relationships tied together by love and service.
Marriages and families built for endurance.
Christs sacrice pictured in the lives of sinful but
repenting people!
At 9Marks, we believe that there is no better evangelistic tool,
missions strategy, or counseling program than the image of
God displayed through his gathering of imperfect but trans-
forming people. As we learn more about him, we look more and
more like him.
Neighborhoods and nations will look with wonder. As will the
heavenly host!
Church leaders do not need another innovative method or
engaging metaphor for growing their churches. They need to
(get to!) embrace the biblical theology and priorities that God
himself designed for cultivating health and holiness in the local
congregation. Scripture actually teaches church leaders how to
build churches that display Gods glory.
At 9Marks, we seek to answer the how-to questions and
cast a biblical vision for Christs church.
Media: downloadable web resources, audio inter-
views, e-newletters, educational curriculum
Study: training weekends, conferences, internships,
think tanks
Publishing: books, pamphlets, papers
Outreach: On-site visits, phone conversations.
To learn more, visit to www.9marks.org or call (888) 543-1030
RELATED WORKS BY THE AUTHOR
The Deliberate Church
(Crossway, 2005)
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
(Crossway, 2000)
Richard Sibbes:
Puritanism and Calvinism in Late Elizabethan and Early Stuart England
(Mercer University Press, 2000)
Polity: Biblical Arguments for How to Conduct Church Life:
A Collection of Historic Baptist Documents
(Center for Church Reform, 2001)
A Display of Gods Glory: Basics of Church Structure:
Deacons, Elders, Congregationalism, and Membership
(Center for Church Reform, 2001)
"The Priesthood of all Believers: Reconsidering Every Member Ministry"
in The Compromised Church, ed. John Armstrong
(Crossway, 1998)
"Reections on Providence"
in Christianity in a Changing World, ed. Michael Schluter
(Marshall Pickering, 2000)
"Communicating Sin in a Postmodern World"
in Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, ed. D. A. Carson
(Zondervan, 2000)
"Why I am a Baptist"
in Why I am a Baptist, ed. Tom Nettles and Russ Moore
(Broadman & Holman, 2001)
"John L. Dagg"
in Theologians of the Baptist Tradition, ed. Timothy George and David S. Dockery
(Broadman & Holman, 2001)
"Do the Work of an Evangelist"
in Reforming Pastoral Ministry, ed. John Armstrong
(Crossway, 2001)
"Why We Disciplined Half Our Church"
in Leadership Journal
(Fall, 2000)
"Church Discipline"
in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
(Winter, 2000)
Contents
Introduction 7
1. Expositional Preaching 1 1
2. Biblical Theology 1 7
3. A Biblical Understanding of the Good News 23
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion 27
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism 3 1
6. A Biblical Understanding of
Church Membership 35
7. Biblical Church Discipline 43
8. A Concern for Promoting Christian
Discipleship and Growth 49
9. Biblical Church Leadership 55
Conclusion 61
Appendix
A Typical Covenant of a Healthy Church 62
Scripture Index 64
6
Introduction
God, in His goodness and love, has not called us to be
Christians alone. Though we individually sin, and are
called out of the world individually, we are also called to
come together in a local assembly. This assembly is called,
in the New Testament, a church.
Today many books on the market and speakers on the
circuit are asserting that almost every conceivable attribute,
worship style, computer program, book, sound system,
seminar, ministry, education, program, group, philosophy,
methodology, doctrine, virtue, spiritual encounter, parking
lot design or management structure is the key to a success-
ful church. Who is right? How can you tell if a church is
healthy? How can you tell if your church is healthy? What
can you do to encourage biblical, sustainable, God-glorify-
ing growth?
This little book is a tool to change churches. In it I sug-
gest nine distinguishing marks of a healthy church. These
are not the only attributes of a healthy church. They are not
everything one would want to say about a church. They are
not even necessarily the most important things about a
church. For example, baptism and communion are essen-
tial aspects of a biblical church, yet they are not directly dis-
cussed here. That is because virtually every church at least
intends to practice them. The nine attributes discussed here
are marks that may set a church apart, that may distinguish
a sound, healthy, biblical church from many of its more
sickly sisters. The nine marks discussed here are found too
rarely today, and are therefore in special need of being
brought to our attention and cultivated in our churches.
Of course, just as there are no perfect Christians in this
life, so there are no perfect churches. Even the best church-
es fall far short of the ideal. Neither correct polity nor
7
courageous preaching, neither sacricial giving nor doctri-
nal orthodoxy can ensure that a church will ourish.
Nevertheless, any church can be healthier than it is. In our
own lives, we never see complete victory over sin, but as true
children of God we do not therefore give up the struggle.
Churches must not give up the struggle either. Christians,
particularly pastors and church leaders, desire and labor to
see healthier churches. The goal of this booklet is to
encourage just this health. To that end I write, and to that
end you read, both so that God may be gloried in His peo-
ple.
Our American addiction to pragmatism, particularly to
obvious success, must be replaced by a humble, trusting
reliance on faithfulness to God, particularly in following
His commands regardless of the immediate response. We
must have categories to recognize and encourage the labors
not only of a church planter in demographically growing
areas, or in the midst of revival, but also of faithful pastors
in demographically settled or declining cities or rural areas.
We must be able to encourage the work of God as it was
seen in the labors of William Carey or Adoniram Judson,
not just in crusades or missions with large numbers of
immediate responders.
One cautionary note: on this re-calibration of our
churches aims and practices, we must not rely on seminar-
ies as the agents of change and biblical reform. Seminaries
(whether denominational or otherwise) are institutions
which have their own stewardships from their constituen-
cies, and they must be faithful to them, or perish. This is as
it should be. We must, therefore, work for a longer, slower,
deeper change, as we work to change our churches.
Again, even the best churches fall far short of the ideal,
but we must not, therefore, cease to work. We are united in
our desire for healthier churches, where God will be glori-
ed in His people. May this book be used to that end.
8
9
1
Exposi ti onal Preachi ng
I. Denition of Expositional Preaching
II. Expositional Preaching Not Fundamentally a Style
III. Submission to the Word of God, Not a Preachers
Own Knowledge
IV. God Has Always Created His People By His Word
V. Centrality of the Preached Word of God
VI. Questions for Reection
10
1
Exposi ti onal Preachi ng
The place to begin is Gods beginning with us--His
speaking to us. That is how our own spiritual health has
come, and that is how our churches health will come, too.
Especially important for anyone in leadership in a church,
but particularly for the pastor of the church, is a commit-
ment to expositional preaching, one of the oldest methods
of preaching. This is preaching whose object is to expound
what is said in a particular passage of Scripture, carefully
explaining its meaning and applying it to the congregation
(see Nehemiah 8:8). There are, of course, many other types
of preaching. Topical sermons, for example, gather up all of
Scriptures teaching on a single subject, like prayer or giving.
Biographical preaching takes the life of someone in the
Bible and portrays it as a display of Gods grace and as an
example of hope and faithfulness. But expositional preach-
ing is something else--an explanation and application of a
particular portion of Gods Word.
Expositional preaching presumes a belief in the author-
ity of Scripture, but it is something more. A commitment
to expositional preaching is a commitment to hear God's
Word. Even as Old Testament prophets and New
Testament apostles were given not just a commission to go
and speak, but a particular message, so Christian preachers
today have authority to speak from God only so long as they
speak His words. Thus the expositional preachers authori-
ty begins and ends with Scripture. Sometimes people may
confuse expositional preaching with the style of a favorite
expositional preacher, but it is not fundamentally a matter
of style. As others have observed, expositional preaching is
nally not so much about how we say what we say, but
Denition of
Expositional
Preaching
Expositional
Preaching Not
Fundamentally
a Style
11
about how we decide what to say. It is not marked by a par-
ticular form, but by a Biblical content.
Someone may happily accept the authority of God's
Word and even profess to believe in the inerrancy of the
Bible; yet if that person in practice (whether intending to or
not) does not preach expositionally, he will never preach
more than he already knows. A preacher can take a piece of
Scripture and exhort the congregation on a topic that is
important without really preaching the point of the passage.
When that happens, the preacher and the congregation only
hear in Scripture what they already knew.
By contrast, when we preach a passage of Scripture in
context, expositionally--taking the point of the passage as
the point of the message--we hear from God things we did
not intend to hear when we began. From the initial call to
repentance to the area of our lives the Spirit has most
recently convicted us about, our whole salvation consists in
hearing God in ways which we, before we heard Him,
would never have guessed. This very practical submission
to the Word of God must be evident in a preachers min-
istry. Make no mistake here: it is nally the congregations
responsibility to ensure that this is so. (Witness the respon-
sibility that Jesus assumes for the congregation in Matthew
18, or Paul does in II Timothy 4.) A church must never
charge a person with the spiritual oversight of the ock who
does not in practice show a commitment to hear and to
teach God's Word. To do so is inevitably to hamper the
growth of the church, practically encouraging it to grow
only to the level of the pastor. In such a case, the church
will slowly be conformed to his mind, rather than to God's
mind.
Gods people have always been created by Gods Word.
From creation in Genesis 1 to the call of Abram in Genesis
12, from the vision of the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel
37 to the coming of the living Word, God has always creat-
Submission to
the Word of
God, Not a
Preachers
Own
Knowledge
God Has
Always
Created His
People By His
Word
12
ed His people by His Word. As Paul wrote to the Romans,
faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is
heard through the word of Christ, (10:17). Or, as Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, Since in the wisdom of God the
world through its wisdom did not know him, God was
pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to
save those who believe, (I Cor. 1:21).
Sound expositional preaching is often the fountainhead
of growth in a church. In Martin Luthers experience, such
careful attention to Gods Word was the beginning of refor-
mation. We, too, must be committed to being churches
that are always being reformed according to the Word of
God.
Once, when I was teaching a day-long seminar on puri-
tanism at a church in London, I mentioned that puritan ser-
mons were sometimes two hours long. At this, one person
gasped audibly, and asked, What time did that leave for
worship? The assumption was that hearing Gods word
preached did not constitute worship. I replied that many
English Protestant Christians would have considered hear-
ing Gods word in their own language and responding to it
in their lives the essential part of their worship. Whether
they had time to sing together would have been of compar-
atively little concern.
Our churches must recover the centrality of the Word
to our worship. Hearing Gods Word and responding to it
may include praise and thanks, confession and proclama-
tion, and any of these may be in song, but none of them
need be. A church built on music--of whatever style--is a
church built on shifting sands. Preaching is the fundamen-
tal component of pastoring. Pray for your pastor, that he
will commit himself to study Scripture rigorously, carefully
and earnestly, and that God will lead him in his under-
standing of the Word, in his application of it in his own life,
and in his application of it to the church (see Luke 24:27;
Centrality of
the Preached
Word of God
13
Acts 6:4; Eph. 6:19-20). If you are a pastor, pray these
things for yourself. Pray also for others who preach and
teach God's Word. Finally, pray that our churches would
have a commitment to hearing God's Word preached expo-
sitionally, so that the agenda of each church will be increas-
ingly shaped by God's agenda in Scripture. Commitment
to expositional preaching is a mark of a healthy church.
Questi ons for Reflecti on
1. Read Nehemiah 8:7-8. What does the Bible say that
the Levites did for the people as they read the Book of the
Law to them? In verse 12, it is recorded that after the
assembly, the people went away celebrating with great joy.
According to the passage, why were they celebrating?
2. The author denes expositional preaching as "an
explanation and application of a particular portion of Gods
Word." Restate that denition in your own words. What
distinguishes expositional preaching from other types of
preaching, like topical and biographical?
3. In Acts 20:27, Paul tells the Ephesians that he has
labored to preach to them "the whole will of God."
Recognizing that our job as church leaders is to do the same
for our people, how can expositional preaching benet us in
our own labor of presenting the whole counsel of God to
our people? What is the danger if we do not "take the point
of the passage as the point of our message?"
4. From Genesis 1 to the New Testament, God has
always created His people by His Word. Read Romans
10:17 and I Corinthians 1:21. What does God use to bring
His people to saving faith in Christ? What does this tell us
14
about the esteem in which we should hold the Word of God
in our churches? How should that esteem practically show
itself in our preaching?
15
2
Bi bli cal Theology
I. "Sound Doctrine"
II. Unity, Diversity, and Charity
III. Dealing with Complex or Controversial Doctrines
IV. Resistance to Gods Sovereignty
V. Leaders Should Embrace Gods Sovereignty
16
Sound
Doctrine"
2
Bi bli cal Theology
Expository preaching is important for the health of a
church. Yet every method, however good, is open to abuse,
and therefore must be open to being tested. In our church-
es, our concern should be not only with how we are taught,
but with what we are taught. We should cherish soundness,
particularly in our understanding of the God of the Bible
and His ways with us.
"Soundness" is an old-fashioned word. In Paul's pas-
toral writings to Timothy and Titus, "sound" means reli-
able, accurate or faithful. At root, it is an image from the
medical world meaning whole or healthy. We read in I
Timothy 1 that sound doctrine is shaped by the gospel and
that it is opposed to ungodliness and sin. Even more clear-
ly, in I Timothy 6:3, Paul contrasts "false doctrines" with
"the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and . . .
godly teaching." So in his second letter to Timothy, Paul
exhorts Timothy to "keep what you heard from me as the
pattern of sound teaching" (II Timothy 1:13). Paul warns
Timothy that "the time will come when men will not put
up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to
say what their itching ears want to hear" (II Timothy 4:3).
When Paul wrote to another young pastor, Titus, he
had similar concerns. Anyone whom Titus would appoint
as an elder, says Paul, "must hold rmly to the trustworthy
message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage oth-
ers by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it"
(Titus 1:9). Paul urges Titus to rebuke false teachers "so
that they will be sound in the faith" (Titus 1:13). Paul
charges Titus saying, "You must teach what is in accord with
17
sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1).
If we were to lay out everything that constitutes sound
teaching, we would reproduce the whole Bible. But in prac-
tice, every church decides the matters in which there needs
to be complete agreement, can be limited disagreement, and
can be complete liberty.
In the church I serve in Washington, DC, we require
each person who would be a member to believe in salvation
through the work of Jesus Christ alone. We also confess the
same (or very similar) understandings of believer's baptism
and of church polity. Uniformity on these second two
points is not essential for salvation, but agreement on them
is both helpful practically and healthy for the life of the
church.
We can allow some disagreement over matters that seem
necessary neither for salvation, nor for the practical life of
the church. So, for instance, though we all agree that Christ
will return, we are not surprised that there is disagreement
among us about the timing of His return. We can enjoy
entire liberty on matters still less central or clear, such as the
rightness of armed resistance, or the authorship of Hebrews.
In all of this, the principle should be plain: the closer
we get to the heart of our faith, the more we expect to see
our unity expressed in a shared understanding of the faith.
The early church put it this way: in essentials unity, in non-
essentials diversity, in all things charity.
Sound teaching includes a clear commitment to doc-
trines often neglected yet clearly biblical. If we are to learn
the sound doctrine of the Bible, we must come to terms
with doctrines that may be difcult, or even potentially
divisive, but that are foundational for understanding Gods
work among us. For example, the biblical doctrine of elec-
tion is often avoided as too complex, or too confusing. Be
that as it may, it is undeniable that this doctrine is biblical,
and that it is important. While it may have implications we
Unity,
Diversity, and
Charity
Dealing with
Complex or
Controversial
Doctrines
18
Resistance to
Gods
Sovereignty
Leaders Should
Embrace Gods
Sovereignty
do not fully understand, it is no small matter that our sal-
vation ultimately issues from God rather than from our-
selves. Other important questions which the Bible answers
have also been neglected:
Are people basically bad or good? Do they merely
need encouragement and enhanced self-esteem, or do
they need forgiveness and new life?
What did Jesus Christ do by dying on the cross? Did
He make possible an option, or was He our substitute?
What happens when someone becomes a Christian?
If we are Christians, can we be sure that God will
continue to care for us? If so, is His continuing care
based on our faithfulness, or on His?
All of these questions are not simply matters for book-
ish theologians or young seminary students. They are
important to every Christian. Those of us who are pastors
know how differently we would shepherd our people if our
answer to any one of these questions changed. Faithfulness
to Scripture demands that we speak about these issues, with
clarity and authority.
Our understanding of what the Bible teaches about
God is crucial. The Biblical God is Creator and Lord; and
yet His sovereignty is sometimes denied, even within the
church. For confessing Christians to resist the idea of God's
sovereignty in creation or salvation is really to play with
pious paganism. Many Christians will have honest ques-
tions about Gods sovereignty, but a sustained, tenacious
denial of Gods sovereignty should concern us. To baptize
such a person may be to baptize a heart that is in some ways
still unbelieving. To admit such a person into membership
may be to treat them as if they were trusting God, when in
fact they are not.
As dangerous as such resistance is in any Christian, it is
more dangerous in the leader of a congregation. To appoint
19
a person as a leader who doubts God's sovereignty or who
seriously misunderstands biblical teaching on these matters
is to set up as an example a person who may be deeply
unwilling to trust God. Such an appointment is bound to
hinder the church.
Too often today our culture encourages us to turn evan-
gelism into advertising and explains the Spirit's work in
terms of marketing. God Himself is sometimes made over
in the image of man. In such times, a healthy church must
be especially careful to pray for leaders who have a biblical
and an experiential grasp of the sovereignty of God and a
commitment to sound doctrine, in its full, biblical glory. A
healthy church is marked by expository preaching and by a
biblical theology.
1. Read I Timothy 6:3-5. How does Paul describe a
person who teaches "false doctrine?" Why do you think it
was so important to Paul that Timothy give his people
"sound instruction" and "godly teaching?"
2. The author mentions several doctrines that a person
must believe in order to become a member of the church
where he serves. He also lists several issues in which the
members enjoy considerable liberty of belief. What does a
person need to believe in order to become a member of your
church? How do those beliefs distinguish your church from
others in your area? On what issues does your church allow
a measure of liberty?
3. Some doctrines that are unmistakably present in
Scripture are often ignored or neglected because they have
proven to be difcult, controversial, or even divisive. Is
20
potential controversy a good reason for us to avoid conver-
sation and instruction about these doctrines in our church-
es? Why or why not?
4. The author lists four questions on page 19 that have
often not received the attention that they deserve. How do
you think the Bible answers these questions? Give scriptur-
al references for your answers.
5. Paul writes in Titus 1:9 that the leader of a congrega-
tion "must hold rmly to the trustworthy message as it has
been taught." Do you think that it is important for a pas-
tor or elder to understand and embrace Gods sovereignty in
salvation? What is the danger of a church leader who
doubts Gods sovereignty in this area or who misunder-
stands biblical teaching on this matter?
21
3
A Bi bli cal Understandi ng
of The Good News
I. The Gospel is the Heart of Christianity
II. God, Man, Christ, Response
III. The Gospel is a Radical Offer of Salvation
IV. Questions for Reection
22
The Gospel is
the Heart of
Christianity
God, Man,
Christ,
Response
The Gospel is
a Radical
Offer of
Salvation
3
of The Good News
It is particularly important to have a biblical theology in
one special area of a church's life--our understanding of the
good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel. The gospel is the
heart of Christianity, and so it should be the heart of our
faith. All of us as Christians should pray that we would care
more about the wonderful good news of salvation through
Christ than we do about anything else in the church's life.
A healthy church is lled with people who have a heart for
the gospel, and having a heart for the gospel means having
a heart for the truth--for God's presentation of Himself, of
our need, of Christ's provision, and of our responsibility.
When I present the gospel to someone, I try to remem-
ber four points--God, man, Christ, response. Have I shared
with this person the truth about our Holy God and
Sovereign Creator? Have I made it clear that we as humans
are a strange mixture, creatures made in the image of God
and yet fallen, sinful and separated from Him? Does the
person Im talking with understand who Christ is--the God-
man, the only mediator between God and man, our substi-
tute and resurrected Lord? And nally, even if I've shared
all this with him, does he understand that he must respond
to the gospel, that he must believe this message and so turn
from his life of self-centeredness and sin?
To present the gospel as an additive to give non-
Christians something they naturally want (joy, peace, hap-
piness, fulllment, self-esteem, love) is partially true, but
only partially true. As J. I. Packer says, "a half truth mas-
23
querading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth."
Fundamentally, everyone needs forgiveness. We need spiri-
tual life. To present the gospel less radically than this is to
ask for false conversions and increasingly meaningless
church membership, both of which make the evangelization
of the world around us all the more difcult.
Our church members scattered in our homes, ofces
and neighborhoods will, this very day, see far more non-
Christians, for far longer, than they will ever spend with
Christians on a Sunday. Each of us has tremendous news of
salvation in Christ. Let's not barter it for something else.
And let's share it today! George W. Truett, great Christian
leader of the past generation and pastor of First Baptist
Church, Dallas, Texas, said:
The supreme indictment that you can bring
against a church . . . is that such a church lacks in
passion and compassion for human souls. A
church is nothing better than an ethical club if its
sympathies for lost souls do not overow, and if it
does not go out to seek to point lost souls to the
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
A healthy church knows the gospel, and a healthy
church shares it.
1. The author believes that we as Christians should care
more about the good news of salvation through Christ than
we do about anything else in the churchs life. Do you
agree? Read I Corinthians 2:2. Why is the message of Jesus
Christ so important?
2. To have a biblical understanding of the gospel, what
does a person need to understand about God? What does a
24
person need to understand about man and his state under
sin? What must a person understand about Christ?
According to Jesus in Mark 1:15, what should be mans
response to the good news? What is involved in each of the
two main parts of that response?
3. The author writes that "to present the gospel less rad-
ically than this is to ask for false conversions and increas-
ingly meaningless church membership." What is this
"radical" message of the gospel? How does that differ from
the way the gospel is sometimes presented as a way for non-
Christians to be happier and to feel better about themselves?
4. How does your church measure up to George W.
Truetts challenge on page 24? How passionate is your
church to share the good news of salvation through Christ
with lost people?
25
4
of Conversi on
I. Repentance and Faith
II. Conversion is Gods Work in Us
III. "Youre Not One of the Lords!"
IV. "Reverse Witness" of the Church
V. Conversion Evidenced by its Fruits
26
Repentance
and Faith
Conversion is
Gods Work in
Us
4
of Conversi on
At our churchs rst meeting, back in 1878, we adopted
a statement of faith. It was a strengthened version of the
1833 New Hampshire Confession of Faith. This confession
became the basis for the Baptist Faith and Message, adopt-
ed by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1925 and again,
in a revised and weakened version, in 1963. In our state-
ment of faith, Article VIII reads:
We believe that Repentance and Faith are sacred
duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our
souls by the regenerating Spirit of God; whereby being
deeply convinced of our guilt, danger and helpless-
ness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to
God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and sup-
plication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King,
and relying on Him alone as the only and all sufcient
Saviour.
Notice what this statement says about our conversion,
our turning. We turn because we are "deeply convinced of
our guilt, danger and helplessness, and of the way of salva-
tion by Christ." And how does that turning--which is com-
posed of repentance and faith--happen? It is "wrought in
our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God." The
Statement then cites two Scriptures to support this idea:
Acts 11:18, "When they heard this, they had no further
objections and praised God, saying, 'So then, God has even
granted the Gentiles repentance unto life'" and Ephesians
27
2:8, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
If our conversion is basically understood to be some-
thing we do ourselves instead of something God does in us,
then we misunderstand it. Conversion certainly includes
our action--we must make a sincere commitment, a self-
conscious decision. Even so, conversion is much more than
that. Scripture is clear in teaching that we are not all jour-
neying to God, some having found the way, while others are
still looking. Instead, it presents us as needing to have our
hearts replaced, our minds transformed, our spirits given
life. None of this we can do. We can make a commitment,
but we must be saved. The change each human needs,
regardless of how we may outwardly appear, is so radical, so
near the root of us, that only God can do it. We need God
to convert us.
I'm reminded of Spurgeon's story of how he was walk-
ing in London when a drunken man came up to him,
leaned on the lamp-post near him and said, "Hey, Mr.
Spurgeon, I'm one of your converts!" To which Spurgeon
responded, "You must be one of mine--you're certainly not
one of the Lord's!"
One result of misunderstanding the Bible's teaching of
conversion may well be that evangelical churches are full of
people who have made sincere commitments at one point
in their lives, but who evidently have not experienced the
radical change which the Bible presents as conversion.
According to one recent study by the Southern Baptist
Convention, Southern Baptists (my own denomination)
have a divorce rate actually above the national average in
America. The cause of such a "reverse witness" among the
reputed followers of Christ must be, at least in part, unbib-
lical preaching about conversion.
Certainly conversion need not be an emotionally heat-
ed experience, but it must evidence itself by its fruit if it is
"Youre Not
One of the
Lords!"
"Reverse
Witness" of
the Church
Conversion
Evidenced by
its Fruits
28
to be what the Bible regards as true conversion.
Understanding the Bible's presentation of conversion is one
of the marks of a healthy church.
1. Read Acts 11:18. What does this passage teach about
the ultimate origin of repentance? Is repentance ultimately
a result of mans unilateral decision to turn to God, or is it
a result of Gods regenerating work on the human heart?
2. Read Genesis 6:5 and Romans 8:7. Describe the
state of the human heart under sin. How does the Bible
represent mans ability to please God or to decide on his
own to turn to him?
3. Read Ephesians 2:1-10. God effects a great change
in our hearts upon conversion. How does this passage rep-
resent that change? Is this something that man could, by
great effort, produce in himself?
4. Recent polls report that professing evangelical
Christians in America today have a divorce rate that is high-
er than the national average. What could be one reason for
this? What does the Bible teach are some of the evidences,
or "fruits," of a regenerating work of the Spirit of God in a
persons life?
5. In previous centuries, believers were baptized more
normally as they began adulthood (e.g., ages 17-20). What
might account for the drop of that age among baptistic
Christians in this last century? Why would that be signi-
cant?
29
5
of Evangeli sm
I. Consequences of Neglect
II. Evangelism Shaped by Understanding of
Conversion
III. Denition of Evangelism
IV. It is God Who Converts People
V. When Membership Outstrips Attendance
VI. Three Truths to Convey
VII. Resources
VIII. Questions for Reection
30
Consequences
of Neglect
Evangelism
Shaped by
Understanding
of Conversion
Denition of
Evangelism
5
of Evangeli sm
To review, we have so far considered among the marks
that set a healthy church apart: expositional preaching, bib-
lical theology, and a biblical understanding of the gospel
and conversion. One way we can tell how important these
are is by considering the consequences for congregations
that lose them. Sermons can too easily become trite repeti-
tions of truths already known. Christianity can become
indistinguishable from the surrounding secular culture.
The gospel can be recast as little more than spiritual self-
help. Conversion can degenerate from an act of God to
mere human resolve. But such congregations--with shallow
preaching, secular thinking, and a self-centered gospel that
encourages little more than one-time verbal confessions of
Christ (often by misapplying Romans 10:9)--cannot well
herald the tremendous news of salvation in Christ.
For all members of the church, but particularly for lead-
ers who have the privilege and responsibility of teaching, a
biblical understanding of evangelism is crucial. How some-
one shares the gospel is, of course, closely related to how
someone understands the gospel. If your mind has been
shaped by the Bible on God and the gospel, on human need
and conversion, then a right understanding of evangelism
will naturally follow. We should be more concerned to
know and teach the gospel itself, than simply trying to teach
people methods and strategies to share it.
Biblically, evangelism is presenting the good news freely
and trusting God to convert people (see Acts 16:14).
Salvation comes from the Lord (Jonah 2:9; cf. John 1:12-
31
13). Any way in which we try to force spiritual births will
be as effective as Ezekiel trying to stitch the dry bones
together, or Nicodemus trying to give himself the new
birth. And the result will be similar.
If conversion is understood as merely a sincere commit-
ment made once, then we need to get everyone to that point
of verbal confession and commitment any way we can.
Biblically, though, while we are to care, to plead, and to per-
suade, our rst duty is to be faithful to the obligation we
have from God, which is to present the same Good News
that He's given to us. God will bring conversions from our
presenting this Good News (see John 1:13; Acts 18:9-10).
It is heartening how new Christians often seem innate-
ly aware of the gracious nature of their salvation. Probably
you have heard testimonies, even in the last few weeks or
months, which remind you that conversion is the work of
God. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-
-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by
works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
If a churchs membership is markedly larger than its
attendance, the question should be asked: does that church
have a biblical understanding of conversion? Furthermore,
we should ask what kind of evangelism has been practiced
that would result in such a large number of people who are
uninvolved in the life of the church, and yet consider their
membership in good standing an evidence of their own sal-
vation? Has the church objected in any way, or has it
seemed to condone this situation by silence? Biblical
church discipline is part of the churchs evangelism.
In my own evangelism, I want to convey three things to
people about the decision they must make about the
Gospel:
rst, the decision is costly (and therefore must be
carefully considered, see Luke 9:62);
second, the decision is urgent (and therefore must be
It is God Who
Converts
People
When
Membership
Outstrips
Attendance
Three Truths
to Convey
32
made, see John 3:18, 36);
third, the decision is worth it (and therefore should
be made, see John 10:10).
Thats the balance we should strive for in our evange-
lism among our family and friends. Thats the balance we
should strive for in our evangelism as a whole church.
There are some excellent resources in print about evan-
gelism. For considering the close connection between our
understanding of the gospel and the evangelistic methods
we use, I recommend Will Metzgers Tell the Truth (Inter-
Varsity Press), and Iain Murrays The Invitation System and
Revival and Revivalism (Banner of Truth Trust).
Another mark of a healthy church, then, is a biblical
understanding and practice of evangelism. The only true
growth is the growth that comes from God.
1. The author denes evangelism as "presenting the
good news freely and trusting God to convert people." How
is our evangelism affected by an understanding that it is God
who does the work of conversion? What can happen to our
evangelism if we convince ourselves that it is ultimately nec-
essary for man to make the choice to convert himself?
2. Is your churchs membership much larger than its
attendance? If so, what do you think could be the reasons?
Does your churchs evangelism present the gospel in a bal-
anced, healthy way? What could be done to improve balance?
3. What does the author mean when he says that the
decision to follow Christ is "costly?" What does he mean
when he says that it is "urgent?" What does he mean when
he says that it is "worth it?" What are some scriptural pas-
sages that teach these three truths?
Resources
33
6
of Church Membershi p
I. Membership in the Bible
II. Membership is Commitment
III. Big Gap Between Membership and Involvement
IV. Membership is a Responsibility
V. Membership is a Corporate Testimony to Salvation
VI. Meaningful Membership
VII. Questions for Reection
34
Membership
in the Bible
Membership is
Commitment
6
of Church Membershi p
In one sense what we know today as "church member-
ship" is not biblical. We have no record of rst-century
Christians who lived, say, in central Jerusalem deciding to
become involved in one particular assembly of Christians
rather than another. From what we can tell, there was no
church shopping because there was only one church in a
community. In that sense, we know of no list of church
members in the New Testament. But there are lists of peo-
ple connected with the church in the New Testament. These
are either widows supported by the church (I Timothy 5) or
the names in the Lamb's Book of Life (Philippians 4:3;
Revelation 21:27). And there are passages in the New
Testament which imply denition and clear boundaries to a
churchs membership. Churches knew those who com-
posed their membership. For example, Pauls letters to the
Corinthian church show that some individuals were to be
excluded (e.g., I Cor. 5) and that some were to be included
(e.g., II Cor. 2). In this latter example, Paul even mentions
a "majority" of people (II Cor. 2:6) who were referred to as
having "inicted the punishment" of exclusion from the
church. This "majority" could only be referring to a major-
ity of the group of people who were recognized as the
churchs members.
The practice among Christians of church membership
has developed as an attempt to help us grasp hold of each
other in responsibility and love. By identifying ourselves
with a particular church, we let the pastors and other mem-
bers of that local church know that we intend to be com-
35
Big Gap
Between
Membership
and
Involvement
Membership is
a Responsibility
mitted in attendance, giving, prayer and service. We
increase others expectations of us in these areas, and we
make it known that we are the responsibility of this local
church. We assure the church of our commitment to Christ
in serving with them, and we call for their commitment to
serve us in love and to encourage us in our discipleship.
In this sense, church membership is a biblical idea. It
comes from, among other things, Paul's use of body
imagery about the local church. It comes from Christs sav-
ing us by His grace and placing us in churches to serve Him
in love as we serve others. It comes from our mutual oblig-
ations as spelled out in Scripture's "together" and "one
another" passages. All of these are encapsulated in the
covenant of a healthy church (see appendix).
It should come as no surprise that bringing our under-
standings of evangelism, conversion and the gospel more in
line with the Bible has implications for the way we conceive
of church membership. We will begin to view membership
less as a loose afliation useful only on occasion and more
as a regular responsibility involving us in one another's lives
for the purposes of the gospel.
It is not uncommon to nd a big gap between a churchs
membership and the number of those actively involved.
Imagine a church of 3,000 members with only 600 in reg-
ular attendance. I fear that many evangelical pastors today
would be more proud of the stated membership than dis-
tressed by the attendance. According to one recent
Southern Baptist Convention study, this is normal in
Southern Baptist churches. The typical Southern Baptist
church has 233 members and 70 at the Sunday morning
worship service. Is our giving any better? Which congre-
gations have budgets that equal--let alone exceed--10% of
the combined annual incomes of their members?
Except where physical limitations prevent attendance or
nancial burdens prevent giving, wouldn't this situation
36
Membership is
a Corporate
Testimony to
Salvation
suggest that membership has been presented as not neces-
sarily entailing involvement? Yet what do such numbers of
members mean? Written numbers can be idols as easily as
carved gures--perhaps more easily. But it is God who will
assess our lives, and He will weigh our work, I think, rather
than count our numbers. If the church is a building, then
we must be bricks in it; if the church is a body, then we are
its members; if the church is the household of faith, it pre-
sumes we are part of that household. Sheep are in a ock,
and branches on a vine. Biblically, if one is a Christian he
must be a member of a church. Leaving aside the concrete
particulars for a moment--whether membership lists are
kept on white cards or on computer disks--we must not for-
sake our regular assembling (Hebrews 10:25). This mem-
bership is not simply the record of a statement we once
made or of affection toward a familiar place. It must be the
reection of a living commitment, or it is worthless, and
worse than worthless, it is dangerous.
Uninvolved members confuse both real members and
non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian. And
active members do the voluntarily inactive members no
service when they allow them to remain members of the
church; for membership is the churchs corporate endorse-
ment of a persons salvation. Again, this must be clearly
understood: membership in a church is that churchs cor-
porate testimony to the individual members salvation. Yet
how can a congregation honestly testify that someone invis-
ible to it is faithfully running the race? If members have
left our company and have not gone to any other Bible-
believing church, what evidence do we give that they were
ever part of us? We do not necessarily know that such unin-
volved people are not Christians; we may simply be unable
to afrm that they are. We dont have to tell them that we
know theyre going to Hell, only that we cant tell them that
we know they are going to Heaven.
37
For a church to practice biblical church membership
requires not perfection, but honesty. It calls not for bare
decisions, but for real discipleship. It is made up not of
individual experiences alone, but of corporate afrmations
by those in covenant with God and with each other.
Personally, I hope to see the membership numbers of the
church I serve become more meaningful, as all who are
members in name become members in fact. For many, this
has meant having their names leave our rolls (though not
our hearts). For others, it has meant a renewed commit-
ment to the life of our church. New members are being
instructed in the faith and in the life of our church. Many
of our current members need similar instruction and
encouragement. As we have sought to become the healthy
Baptist church we were historically, our number in atten-
dance has once again exceeded the number of members.
Surely this should be your desire for your church as well.
A recovered practice of careful church membership will
have many benets. It will make our witness to non-
Christians more clear. It will make it more difcult for
weaker sheep to go straying from the fold, while still consid-
ering themselves sheep. It will help to give shape and focus
to the discipleship of more mature Christians. It will aid our
church leaders in knowing exactly who they are responsible
for. In all of this, God will be gloried.
Pray that church membership may come to mean some-
thing more than it currently does, so that we can better
know those for whom we're responsible, so that we can pray
for them, encourage them and challenge them. We should
not allow people to keep their membership in our churches
for sentimental reasons. Considered biblically, such mem-
bership is no membership at all. In our churchs covenant
we also pledge that We will, when we move from this
place, as soon as possible unite with some other church
where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the
Meaningful
Membership
38
principles of God's Word." This commitment is part of
healthy discipleship, particularly in our transient age.
Church membership means being incorporated in prac-
tical ways into the body of Christ. It means traveling
together as aliens and strangers in this world as we head to
our heavenly home. Certainly another mark of a healthy
church is a biblical understanding of church membership.
1. Does the Bible make explicit mention of member-
ship rolls in a local church? Where is it implicit? Read I
Corinthians 12:14-26. How can church membership help
us as Christians to live out these obligations we have to one
another as Christs body?
2. The author writes that we should view church mem-
bership "less as a loose afliation useful only on occasion
and more as a regular responsibility involving us in one
anothers lives for the purposes of the gospel." In light of
that statement, how do most of your members view their
membership? What are the responsibilities of a church
member? How can the fulllment of those responsibilities
contribute to the work of the gospel?
3. The author believes that church membership must be
the reection of a living commitment to Christ, or else it is
worthless and even dangerous. Why might that be true?
What does a living commitment to Christ and His church
look like?
4. Church membership, the author writes, is a churchs
corporate testimony to an individual members salvation.
Read Hebrew 13:17. The Bible teaches that church leaders
will be required to "give an account" for those under their
39
care. Do you think this "account" will simply be a state-
ment that a person once made a decision for Christ, or is it
a knowledgeable testimony that a person is faithfully bear-
ing fruit in the gospel? How does this affect our under-
standing of who should be on our membership rolls?
5. The author lists several benets of carefully guarding
our church membership rolls. How would a biblical under-
standing of church membership make our witness to non-
Christians clearer? How would it make it more difcult for
weaker Christians to stray while still considering themselves
Christians? How would it help to give shape and focus to
the discipleship of mature Christians?
40
41
7
Bi bli cal Church Di sci pli ne
I. God Demands Holiness
II. Judging
III. God Expects the Church to Judge
IV. Close Front Door, Open Back Door
V. Bringing in New Members
VI. Doing Discipline Responsibly
VII. Five Reasons for Corrective Discipline
VIII. Questions for Reection
42
7
Bi bli cal Church Di sci pli ne
The seventh mark of a healthy church is the regular
practice of church discipline. A biblical practice of church
discipline gives meaning to being a member of the church.
Though it has been commonly practiced by churches since
Christ, it has now faded out of regular, evangelical church
life in the last few generations.
We humans were originally made to bear Gods image,
to be witnesses of Gods character to His creation (Genesis
1:27). So it is no surprise that throughout the Old
Testament, as God fashioned a people for Himself, he
instructed them in holiness, that their character might bet-
ter approximate His own (see Leviticus 19:2; Proverbs 24:1,
25). This was the basis for correcting and even excluding
some from the community in the Old Testament (as in
Numbers 15:30-31), and it is the basis for shaping the New
Testament church as well (see II Corinthians 6:14-7:1;
13:2; I Timothy 6:3-5; II Timothy 3:1-5).
Yet this whole idea seems very negative to people today.
After all, didnt our Lord Jesus forbid judging in Matthew
7:1? Certainly Jesus did forbid judging in one sense in
Matthew 7:1; but in that same gospel, Jesus also very clear-
ly called us to rebuke others for sin, even to the extent of
rebuking them publicly (Matthew 18:15-17; cf. Luke 17:3).
So whatever Jesus meant by forbidding judging in Matthew
7:1, He certainly did not mean to rule out everything con-
veyed by the English word judging.
God Himself is a judge. He was in the Garden of Eden,
and we remain under His just judgment as long as we
remain in our sins. In the Old Testament, God judged both
43
God Demands
Holiness
Judging
nations and individuals, and in the New Testament we
Christians are warned that our works will be judged (see I
Corinthians 3). In love God disciplines His children, and
in wrath He will condemn the ungodly (see Hebrews 12).
Of course, on the nal day, God will reveal Himself as the
ultimate Judge (see Revelation 20). In all of this judging,
God is never wrong, He is always righteous (see Joshua 7;
Matthew 23; Luke 2; Acts 5; Romans 9).
It comes as a surprise to many today to learn that God
intends others to judge as well. The state is given responsi-
bility to judge (see Romans 13). We are told to judge our-
selves (see I Corinthians 11:28; Hebrews 4; II Peter 1:5).
We are also told to judge one another in the church (though
not in the nal way God judges). Jesus words in Matthew
18, Pauls in I Corinthians 5-6, and many other passages
clearly show that the church is to exercise judgment within
itself and that this judgment is for redemptive, not revenge-
ful purposes (Romans 12:19). In the case of the adulterous
man in Corinth, and of the false teachers in Ephesus, Paul
said that they should be excluded from the church and
handed over to Satan so that they might be taught better
and so that their souls might be saved (see I Corinthians 5;
I Timothy 1).
Its not surprising that we should be instructed to judge.
After all, if we cannot say how a Christian does not live,
how can we say how he or she does live? One of my con-
cerns about many churches discipleship programs is that
they are like pouring water into leaking buckets--all the
attention is given to what is poured in, with no thought for
how it is received and kept.
One church growth writer has recently summed up his
advice on helping a church to grow: Open the front door
and close the back door. By this, he means that we should
work to make the church more accessible to people and do
a better job of follow-up. Both of these goals are good. Yet,
44
God Expects
the Church to
Judge
Close Front
Door, Open
Back Door
most pastors today already aspire to have churches with
such front doors open and back doors closed. Instead,
attempting to follow a biblical model should lead us to this
strategy: Close the front door and open the back door. In
other words, make it more difcult to join on the one hand,
and easier to be excluded on the other. Such actions will
help the church to recover its divinely intended, winsome
distinction from the world.
This discipline should be rst reected in the way we as
churches take in new members. Do we ask that those
becoming members be known to us to be living Christ-hon-
oring lives? Do we understand the seriousness of the com-
mitment that we are making to them and that they are
making to us? If we are more careful about how we recog-
nize and receive new members, we will have less occasion to
practice corrective church discipline later.
Of course, any kind of church discipline can be done
badly. In the New Testament, we are taught not to judge
others for the motives which we impute to them (see
Matthew 7:1), or to judge each other about matters which
are not essential (see Romans 14-15). This issue is fraught
with problems in pastoral application, but we must remem-
ber that the whole of the Christian life is difcult, and open
to abuse. Our difculties should not be used as an excuse
to leave either unpracticed. Each local church has a respon-
sibility to judge the life and teaching of its leaders, and even
of its members, particularly in so far as either could com-
promise the churchs witness to the gospel (see Acts 17; I
Corinthians 5; I Timothy 3; James 3:1; II Peter 3; II John).
Biblical church discipline is simple obedience to God
and a simple confession that we need help. Here are ve
positive reasons for such corrective church discipline. Its
purpose is positive (1) for the individual disciplined, (2) for
other Christians as they see the danger of sin, (3) for the
health of the church as a whole and (4) for the corporate
45
Bringing in
New
Members
Doing
Discipline
Responsibly
Five Reasons
for Corrective
Discipline
witness of the church. Most of all, (5) our holiness is to
reect the holiness of God. It should mean something to be
a member of the church, not for our prides sake, but for
Gods names sake. Biblical church discipline is another
mark of a healthy church.
1. Read John 5:27-30. To whom has the Father grant-
ed authority to judge? Now read Matthew 18:15-17. To
whom has Jesus delegated the authority to judge in this
world? Has the church faithfully administered this charge
that our Lord has given us?
2. Read I Corinthians 5:1-2. What action does Paul say
the Corinthian church should have taken regarding this sin-
ful church member? Now read verse 3-5. By whose author-
ity (in whose name) is the church to act? What is the
ultimate hope of such action? Do you think Paul thought
of church discipline as a heartless and cruel action, or a lov-
ing action that would benet a persons soul?
3. One writer has said that Christians should "Open the
front door of the church and close the back door." What
does that statement mean? The author says that instead we
should "Close the front door and open the back door."
Which do you think is the more biblical idea? Which idea
do you think would more readily tend toward a healthy
church membership?
4. Read Romans 14:1-4. What are some ways that
church discipline could be open to abuse? Spend some time
thinking about how your church could faithfully and care-
fully fulll our Lords charge in Matthew 18:15-17 while
guarding against abuses.
46
47
8
A Concern for Promoti ng
Chri sti an Di sci pleshi p and
Growth
I. Christian Growth
II. Holiness is Evidence of Growth
III. Neglect of Discipline Impedes Growth
IV. A Community Growing Together
V. Appearances of Growth
VI. God is Gloried in Growth
VII. Questions for Reection
48
8
A Concern for Promoti ng
Chri sti an Di sci pleshi p and
Growth
Another distinguishing mark of a healthy church is a
pervasive concern with church growth--not simply with
growing numbers, but with growing members. Some today
think that one can be a baby Christian for a whole life-
time. Growth is seen to be an optional extra for particular-
ly zealous disciples. But growth is a sign of life. Growing
trees are living trees, and growing animals are living animals.
Growth involves increase and advance. In many areas of
our experience, when something stops growing it dies.
Paul hoped the Corinthians would grow in their
Christian faith (II Corinthians 10:15). The Ephesians, he
hoped, would grow up into him who is the Head, that is
Christ (Ephesians 4:15; cf. Colossians 1:10; II
Thessalonians 1:3). Peter exhorted some early Christians
to, like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by
it you may grow up in your salvation (I Peter 2:2). It is
tempting for pastors to reduce their churches to manageable
statistics of attendance, baptisms, giving and membership,
where growth is tangible; however, such statistics fall far
short of the true growth which Paul describes and God
desires.
In his Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, Jonathan
Edwards suggested that true growth in Christian disciple-
ship is not nally mere excitement, increasing use of reli-
gious language, or growing knowledge of Scripture. It is not
even an evident increase in joy or in love or concern for the
church. Even increases in zeal and praise to God and con-
49
Christian
Growth
Holiness is
Evidence of
Growth
dence of ones own faith are not infallible evidences of true
Christian growth. What is? According to Edwards, while
all these may be evidences of true Christian growth, the
only certain observable sign is a life of increasing holiness,
rooted in Christian self-denial. The church should be
marked by a vital concern for this kind of increasing godli-
ness in the lives of its members.
As we saw in the seventh mark, one of the unintended
consequences of a churchs neglect of proper discipline is
increased difculty in growing disciples. In an undisci-
plined church, examples are unclear and models are con-
fused. No gardener sets out to plant weeds. Weeds are in
themselves undesirable, and they can have bad effects on the
plants around them. Gods plan for the local church does
not allow us to leave weeds unchecked.
Good inuences in a covenant community of believers
can be tools in Gods hand for growing His people. As
Gods people are built up and grow together in holiness and
self-giving love, they should improve their ability to admin-
ister discipline and to encourage discipleship. The church
has an obligation to be a means of Gods growing people in
grace. If instead they are places where only the pastors
thoughts are taught, where God is questioned more than
He is worshipped, where the gospel is diluted and evange-
lism perverted, where church membership is made mean-
ingless, and a worldly cult of personality is allowed to grow
up around the pastor, then one can hardly expect to nd a
community that is either cohesive or edifying. Such a
church certainly will not glorify God.
God is gloried by churches that are growing. That
growth can appear in many different ways: through grow-
ing numbers being called to missions; by older members
beginning to get a fresh sense of their responsibility in evan-
gelism; by funerals many of the younger members of the
congregation attend simply out of their love for the older
50
Neglect of
Discipline
Impedes
Growth
A Community
Growing
Together
Appearances
of Growth
members; by increased praying, and desire for increased
preaching; by church meetings characterized by genuinely
spiritual conversation; by increased giving, and by givers
giving more sacricially; by more members sharing the
gospel with others; by parents rediscovering their responsi-
bility to educate their children in the faith. These are just a
few examples of the kind of church growth Christians pray
and work for.
When we do see a church that is composed of members
growing in Christ-likeness, who gets the credit or glory?
God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who
waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow
(I Corinthians 3:6b-7; cf. Colossians 2:19). So Peters nal
benediction to those early Christians he wrote to was a
prayer couched in the imperative: Grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be
glory both now and forever! Amen (II Peter 3:18). We
might think that our growth would bring glory to ourselves.
But Peter knew better. Live such good lives among the
pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they
may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he vis-
its us (I Peter 2:12). He obviously remembered Jesus
words, Let your light shine before men, that they may see
your good deeds--and surely here we would think that it
would be only natural to fall into the trap of self-admira-
tion, but Jesus continued-- and praise your Father in heav-
en (Matthew 5:16). Working to promote Christian
discipleship and growth is another mark of a healthy
church.
1. Read I Peter 2:1-3. What is Peters hope for these
Christians? What does he mean by "grow up" in salvation?
51
God is
Gloried in
Growth
2. Some people believe that "church growth" means
only growth in numbers. Read Acts 2:41. Why do you
think the number of converts was recorded? Now read the
rest of chapter 2. Would the great numbers of converts
have been glorifying to God if they had not also been grow-
ing in holiness? Why or why not?
3. The author writes that weeds can have bad effects on
the plants around them. In what ways can undisciplined,
sinful church members negatively affect the growth of
Christians around them? How can good inuences in a
church be tools in Gods hand for growing His people? Can
you think of some examples in your own church?
4. What are some ways that God is gloried by a spiri-
tually maturing church? How many of these things do you
see consistently in the life of your own church?
52
53
9
Bi bli cal Church Leadershi p
I. The Biblical Ofce of Elder
II. Brief History of Elders
III. The Congregation is the Final Authority
IV. All Elders are "Teaching Elders"
V. Plurality of Elders
VI. Distinct Role of the Pastor
VII. Benets of a Plurality of Elders
VIII. Confusion of Elders and Deacons
IX. Questions for Reection
54
9
Bi bli cal Church Leadershi p
What kind of leadership does a healthy church have? A
congregation, committed to Christ, gifted to serve? Yes.
Deacons who are models of service in the affairs of the
church? Yes. A pastor who is faithful in preaching the Word
of God? Yes. But biblically, there is something else as well
that is part of the leadership of a healthy church: elders.
As a pastor, I pray that Christ will place within our fel-
lowship men whose spiritual gifts and pastoral concern indi-
cate that God has called them to be elders or overseers (the
words are used interchangeably in the Bible; e.g., Acts 20).
I pray that God will grow and gift such disciples for the
work of the pastoral oversight of our congregation and its
teaching. If it becomes clear that God has so gifted a cer-
tain man in the church, and if, after prayer, the church rec-
ognizes his gifts, then he should be set apart as an elder.
All churches have had individuals who performed the
functions of elders, even if theyve called them by other
names. The two New Testament names for this ofce were
episcopos (overseer) and presbuteros (elder). When evangeli-
cals hear the word "elder," many immediately think
"Presbyterian," yet the rst Congregationalists back in the
sixteenth century taught that eldership was an ofce in a
New Testament church. Elders could be found in Baptist
churches in America throughout the 18th century and into
the 19th century. In fact, the rst president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, W. B. Johnson, wrote a treatise in
which he called for the practice of having a plurality of
elders to be recognized as biblical and to be followed in
more Baptist churches. Johnsons plea went unheeded.
Whether through inattention to Scripture, or the pressure
55
The Biblical
Ofce of Elder
Brief History
of Elders
of life on the frontier, where churches were springing up at
an amazing rate, the practice of cultivating such textured
leadership declined. But Baptist papers discussion of reviv-
ing this biblical ofce continued. As late as the early twen-
tieth century, Baptist publications were referring to leaders
by the title of "elder."
Baptists and Presbyterians have had two basic differ-
ences in their understandings of elders. First and most fun-
damentally, Baptists are congregationalists. That is, they
understand that the nal discernment on matters rests not
with the elders in a congregation (or beyond, as in the
Presbyterian model) but with the congregation as a whole.
Baptists, therefore, stress the consensual nature of church
action. So, in a Baptist church, elders and all other boards
and committees act in what is nally an advisory capacity to
the whole congregation.
A further note is in order about the authority of the
assembled congregation. Nothing other than the local,
assembled congregation is the nal court of appeal under
Christ. Again and again in the New Testament, we nd evi-
dence for what seemed to be an early form of congregation-
alism. In Matthew 18 when Jesus was teaching his disciples
about confronting the sinful brother, the nal court is not
the elders, nor a bishop or pope, nor a council or conven-
tion. The nal court is the congregation. In Acts 6, the
apostles gave the decision for the deacons over to the con-
gregation.
In Pauls letters, too, we nd evidence of this assump-
tion of the congregations final responsibility. In I
Corinthians 5, Paul blamed not the pastor, elders or dea-
cons, but the congregation for tolerating sin. In II
Corinthians 2, Paul referred to what a majority of them had
done in disciplining an erring member. In Galatians, Paul
called on the congregations to judge the teaching they had
been hearing. In II Timothy 4, Paul reproved not just the
56
The
Congregation
is the Final
Authority
false teachers, but also those who paid them to teach what
their itching ears wanted to hear. Elders lead, but they do
so, biblically and necessarily, within the bounds recognized
by the congregation.
The second disagreement is over elders roles and
responsibilities. Presbyterians have tended to stress Paul's
statement to Timothy in I Timothy 5:17, "The elders who
direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double
honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teach-
ing." The last phrase, some argued, clearly suggested that
there would be elders whose main job was not to preach or
teach, but rather to govern or rule. This is the origin of the
distinction between "ruling elders" (lay elders) and "teach-
ing elders" (ministers) among Presbyterians.
But especially is a questionable translation of the word
malista, which in this context is better rendered certainly
or particularly. Earlier in I Timothy 4:10, we read, We
have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of
all men, and especially (malista) of those who believe. Paul
seems to be saying that as many people will be saved with-
out believing as will direct the affairs of the church without
preaching and teaching: in other words, none.
Baptists have tended to stress the interchangeability of
the terms "elder," "overseer," and "pastor" in the New
Testament, and have pointed out that in I Timothy 3:2,
Paul clearly told Timothy that elders must be "apt to teach."
And he wrote to Titus that an elder "must hold rmly to the
trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can
encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who
oppose it" (Titus 1:9). Baptists, therefore, have often
denied the appropriateness of having elders who are not
capable of teaching Scripture.
What eighteenth-century Baptists and Presbyterians
often agreed upon, however, was that there should be a plu-
rality of elders in each local church. Though it never sug-
57
All Elders are
"Teaching
Elders"
Plurality of
Elders
gests a specic number of elders for a particular congrega-
tion, the New Testament clearly refers to "elders" in the
plural in local churches (e.g., Acts 14:23; 16:4; 20:17;
21:18; Titus 1:5; James 5:14). My own experience conrms
to me the usefulness of following the New Testament prac-
tice of having, where possible, more elders in a local church
than simply a lone pastor, and having them be people root-
ed in the congregation. This practice is unusual among
Baptist churches today, but there is a growing trend--and for
good reason. It was needed in New Testament churches,
and it is needed now.
This does not mean that the pastor has no distinctive
role. There are many references in the New Testament to
preaching and preachers that would not apply to all the
elders in a congregation. So in Corinth, Paul gave himself
exclusively to preaching in a way that lay elders in a church
could not (Acts 18:5; cf. I Corinthians 9:14; I Timothy
4:13; 5:17). Preachers seemed to move to an area expressly
to preach (Romans 10:14-15), whereas elders seemed to be
already part of the community (Titus 1:5). (For more on
this distinction, see A Display of Gods Glory, [CCR: 2001].)
We must, however, remember that the preacher, or pas-
tor, is also fundamentally one of the elders of his congrega-
tion. This means that decisions involving the church, yet
not requiring the attention of all the members, should fall
not to the pastor alone, but to the elders as a whole. While
this is sometimes cumbersome, it has the immense benets
of rounding out the pastor's gifts, making up for some of his
defects, supplementing his judgment, and creating support
in the congregation for decisions, leaving leaders less
exposed to unjust criticism. It also makes leadership more
rooted and permanent, and allows for more mature conti-
nuity. It encourages the church to take more responsibility
for its own spirituality and helps make the church less
dependent on its employees.
58
Distinct Role
of the Pastor
Benets of a
Plurality of
Elders
Many modern churches have tended to confuse elders
with either the church staff or the deacons. Deacons, too,
ll a New Testament ofce, one rooted in Acts 6. While any
absolute distinction between the two ofces is difcult, the
concerns of the deacons are the practical details of church
life: administration, maintenance, and the care of church
members with physical needs. In many churches today,
deacons have taken some spiritual role; but much has sim-
ply been left to the pastor. It would be to the benet of the
church to again distinguish the role of elder from that of
deacon.
Eldership is the biblical ofce I hold as a pastor: I am
the main preaching elder. But all the elders should work
together for the edication of the church, meeting regular-
ly to pray and to discuss, or to form recommendations for
the deacons or the church. Clearly, this is a biblical idea
that has practical value. If implemented in our churches, it
could help pastors immensely by removing weight from
their shoulders and even their own petty tyrannies from
their churches. Indeed, the practice of recognizing godly,
discerning, trusted laymen as elders is another mark of a
healthy church.
1. Read Matthew 18:15-17. Whom does Jesus recog-
nize as the nal court of appeal in the judgment of an
offending brother? Now read Acts 6:1-4. Whom do the
apostles charge with choosing the seven deacons? Read also
II Corinthians 2:6. By whom was the punishment of this
man inicted? What do these passages seem to imply about
where nal authority over church matters rests?
2. Read Titus 1:5. Understanding that nal authority
in the church rests with the assembled congregation, why
59
Confusion of
Elders and
Deacons
60
do you think Paul nevertheless thought it wise to have elders
in every church?
3. In I Timothy 3:1-6, Paul gives a list of the qualica-
tions for an elder. Spend some time thinking about why
those character traits are important in the leader of a
church. Who in your church ts these qualications?
4. Read Acts 6:1-4. What is the difference between the
role of a deacon and the role of one who oversees the affairs
of the church? Does your church recognize that difference
in its government?
5. From Acts 6 we learn that the task of the deacons was
to take care of the physical needs of the church, thus freeing
the overseers of the church (apostles, elders, pastors) to
attend to prayer and the ministry of the Word. What are
some of the ongoing physical needs of your church that
could be met by a deacon? What other roles might the dea-
cons play in preserving the unity of the church or support-
ing the ministers of the Word in your church?
Conclusi on
When we can rightly assume that those within a church
are regenerated, and that those who are regenerated are
committed to the church, then the New Testament images
of the church can be vividly illustrated in our congregations.
In His goodness, God has called us to live out the Christian
life together, as our mutual love and care reect the love and
care of God. Relationships imply commitment in the
world: surely they imply no less in the church.
In the third commandment (Exodus 20:7;
Deuteronomy 5:11), God warned His people not to take
His name in vain. Far from simply prohibiting profanity,
this command prohibited taking Gods name upon oneself
in vain, emptily, to no purpose, or to a wrong purpose.
This command is for us in the church. Many churches
today are sick. We mistake selsh gain for spiritual growth.
We mistake mere excitement for true worship. We treasure
worldly acceptance rather than live so as to incur worldly
opposition. Regardless of their statistical proles, too many
churches today seem unconcerned about the very biblical
marks that should distinguish a vital, growing church.
The health of the church should be the concern of all
Christians, particularly of those who are called to be leaders
in the church. Our churches are to display God and His
glorious Gospel to His creation. We are to bring Him glory
by our lives together. This burden of display is our awesome
responsibility and it is our tremendous privilege.
61
Having, as we trust, been brought by Divine Grace to
repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up
ourselves to Him, and having been baptized upon our pro-
fession of faith, in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, relying on His gracious
aid, solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each
other.
We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.
We will walk together in brotherly love, as becomes the
members of a Christian Church; exercise an affectionate
care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admon-
ish and entreat one another as occasion may require.
We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves togeth-
er, nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others.
We will endeavor to bring up such as may at any time
be under our care, in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord, and by a pure and loving example to seek the salva-
tion of our family and friends.
We will rejoice at each other's happiness, and endeavor
with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens
and sorrows.
We will seek, by Divine aid, to live carefully in the
world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remem-
bering that, as we have been voluntarily buried by baptism
and raised again from the symbolic grave, so there is on us
a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life.
We will work together for the continuance of a faithful
evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its wor-
62
A Typical Covenant of a
healthy church
Appendix
ship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. We will con-
tribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the min-
istry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and
the spread of the Gospel through all nations.
We will, when we move from this place, as soon as pos-
sible unite with some other church where we can carry out
the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Amen.
63
Philippians 4:3 . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Colossians 1:10 . . . . . . . . . . .49
Colossians 2:19 . . . . . . . . . . .51
II Thessalonians 1:3 . . . . . . . .49
I Timothy 1 . . . . . . . . . . .17, 44
I Timothy 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
I Timothy 3:1-6 . . . . . . . . . . .60
I Timothy 3:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
I Timothy 4:10 . . . . . . . . . . . .57
I Timothy 4:13 . . . . . . . . . . . .58
I Timothy 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
I Timothy 5:17 . . . . . . . . .57, 58
I Timothy 6:3 . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
I Timothy 6:3-5 . . . . . . . .20, 43
II Timothy 1:13 . . . . . . . . . . .17
II Timothy 3:1-5 . . . . . . . . . . .43
II Timothy 4 . . . . . . . . . . .12, 56
II Timothy 4:3 . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Titus 1:5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58, 59
Titus 1:9 . . . . . . . . . . .17, 21, 57
Titus 1:13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Titus 2:1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17-18
Hebrews 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Hebrews 10:25 . . . . . . . . . . .37
Hebrews 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Hebrews 13:17 . . . . . . . . . . .39
James 3:1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
James 5:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
I Peter 2:1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
I Peter 2:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
I Peter 2:12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
II Peter 1:5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
II Peter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
II Peter 3:18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
II John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Revelation 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Revelation 21:27 . . . . . . . . . .35
64
Genesis 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .12, 14
Genesis 1:27 . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Genesis 6:5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Genesis 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Exodus 20:7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Leviticus 19:2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Numbers 15:30-31 . . . . . . . .43
Deuteronomy 5:11 . . . . . . . .61
Joshua 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Nehemiah 8:7-8 . . . . . . . . . . .14
Nehemiah 8:8 . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Nehemiah 8:12 . . . . . . . . . . .14
Proverbs 24:1 . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Proverbs 24:25 . . . . . . . . . . .43
Ezekiel 37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Jonah 2:9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Matthew 5:16 . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Matthew 7:1 . . . . . . . . . .43, 45
Matthew 18 . . . . . . . .12, 44, 56
Matthew 18:15-17 . . . . . . . . . . .
43, 46, 59
Matthew 23. . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Mark 1:15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Luke 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Luke 9:62 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Luke 17:3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Luke 24:27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
John 1:12-13 . . . . . . . . . .31-32
John 1:13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
John 3:18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
John 3:36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
John 5:27-30 . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
John 10:10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Acts 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Acts 2:41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
SCRIPTURE INDEX
Acts 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Acts 6 . . . . . . . . . . . .56, 59, 60
Acts 6:1-4 . . . . . . . . . . . .59, 60
Acts 6:4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Acts 11:18 . . . . . . . . . . . .27, 29
Acts 14:23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Acts 16:4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Acts 16:14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Acts 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Acts 18:5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Acts 18:9-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Acts 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Acts 20:17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Acts 20:27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Acts 21:1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Romans 8:7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Romans 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Romans 10:9 . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Romans 10:14-15 . . . . . . . . .58
Romans 10:17 . . . . . . . . .13, 14
Romans 12:19 . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Romans 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Romans 14:1-4 . . . . . . . . . . .46
Romans 14-15 . . . . . . . . . . . .45
I Corinthians 1:21 . . . . . .13, 14
I Corinthians 2:2 . . . . . . . . . .24
I Corinthians 3 . . . . . . . . . . . .44
I Corinthians 3:6b-7 . . . . . . .51
I Corinthians 5 . .35, 44, 45, 56
I Corinthians 5:1-2 . . . . . . . . .46
I Corinthians 5:3-5 . . . . . . . . .46
I Corinthians 5-6 . . . . . . . . . .44
I Corinthians 9:14 . . . . . . . . .58
I Corinthians 11:28 . . . . . . . .44
I Corinthians 12:14-26 . . . . . .39
II Corinthians 2 . . . . . . . .35, 56
II Corinthians 2:6 . . . . . . .35, 59
II Corinthians 6:14-7:1 . . . . . .43
II Corinthians 10:15 . . . . . . . .49
II Corinthians 13:2 . . . . . . . . .43
Ephesians 2:1-10 . . . . . . . . . .29
Ephesians 2:8 . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Ephesians 2:8-9 . . . . . . . . . . .32
Ephesians 4:15 . . . . . . . . . . .49
Ephesians 6:19-20 . . . . . . . . .14

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