Free What Is A Healthy Church? (IX Marks) (9 Marks Of A Healthy Church) Ebooks Online
What is an ideal church, and how can you tell? How does it look different from other churches? More importantly, how does it act differently, especially in society? Many of us aren't sure how to answer those questions, even though we probably have some preconceived idea. But with this book, you don't have to wonder any more. Author Mark Dever seeks to help believers recognize the key characteristics of a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a right understanding of the gospel. Dever then calls us to develop those characteristics in our own churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing church members from pastors to pew sitters, Dever challenges all believers to do their part in maintaining the local church. What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help each of us fulfill our God-given roles in the body of Christ.
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Crossway (June 19, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1581349378
ISBN-13: 978-1581349375
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 7.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #106,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #37 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Ecclesiology #87 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church Institutions & Organizations #147 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Ministry & Evangelism > Missions & Missionary Work
I spoke to Mark Dever just about a year ago and asked him if there were any new books in his future. At that time he mentioned that he'd soon have a book out dealing with personal evangelism but that he had nothing planned after that. It seems that his plans changed! The book on evangelism is due for release in just a few days (September 11). It has been preceded by What is a Healthy Church and will be followed by The Church and Her Challenges. What is a Healthy Church? is a shortened, introductory version of Dever's previous book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church written primarily for people in the pews rather than the men in the pulpits. After all, church health is not the sole responsibility of a local church's leadership. "If you call yourself a Christian but you think a book about healthy churches is a book for church leaders or maybe for those `theological types,' while you would rather read books about the church life, it may be time to stop and consider again exactly what the Bible says a Christian is." Said even more forcefully, "you and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors and other leaders--you." Despite this, we might rightly ask, How many Christians have ever read a book about church health?If you are familiar with Mark Dever's ministry you know that he can be provocative, though always in a sanctified way. This book is no exception. Consider this, a portion of a short anecdote he shares: "If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, I worry that you might be going to hell." Why would Dever extend such a warning and do so at the beginning of the book?
Mark Dever has written What is a Healthy Church? as a shorter, concise, companion piece to his larger volume Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. As such, this review will roughly encompass the merits of both, since the shorter book remains very true to the original. Healthy Church is written on the premise that there are nine “marks” that identify a healthy church. Dever is very clear in stating that these marks do not define a church, as he affirms the classical church doctrine that a church is a regular gathering of believers that teaches the Bible and administers sacraments. Healthy Church does not seek to uncover the most basic definition of a church or to codify the minimum requirements for a church to be a true church. Rather, this book seeks to enable the reader to evaluate his own church or others for their health, with the rationale that a believer should seek a healthy church – or seek to improve the health of his own church – since “a healthy church is a congregation that increasingly reflects God’s character as His character has been revealed in His Word.”Healthy Church is divided up into three sections. The first sets out to describe and identify a healthy church. It attempts to win readers to the understanding that a healthy church is vital to Christian life. The primary arguments center on the church’s role in God’s plan for spreading the gospel, the church’s unique ability to combat sin in its members, and the church’s representation of God’s character. In this section and throughout the book, Dever supports his premises with an incredible amount of scripture while still communicating integral truths in the terms of the layperson.
What Is a Healthy Church? (IX Marks) (9 Marks of a Healthy Church) Marks' Basic Medical Biochemistry (Lieberman, Marks's Basic Medical Biochemistry) Growing an Engaged Church: How to Stop "Doing Church" and Start Being the Church Again Who Runs the Church?: 4 Views on Church Government (Counterpoints: Church Life) Cooking Healthy with a Food Processor: A Healthy Exchanges Cookbook (Healthy Exchanges Cookbooks) Marks of Excellence: The Function and Variety of Trademarks Marks of Excellence: The Development and Taxonomy of Trademarks Revised and Expanded edition A5/07: Rolf Muller: Stories, Systems, Marks Kovels' Dictionary of Marks: Pottery And Porcelain, 1650 to 1850 Puppy Pirates #2: X Marks the Spot (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) Five Marks of a Methodist: The Fruit of a Living Faith (Wesley Discipleship Path Series) Five Marks of a Methodist: Participant Character Guide (Wesley Discipleship Path Series) Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, 1850 to the Present Miller's Pocket Fact File: Pottery & Porcelain Marks: Including a Comprehensive Guide to Artists, Makers, Factories and Forms Limoges Boxes: A Complete Guide- Contains More Than 400 Full-Color Photos, a Value Guide, and Manufacturers' Marks Identification Guide X Marks the Dress: A Registry Five Marks of a Man: The Simple Code that Separates Men from Boys De Havilland Mosquito: 1940 onwards (all marks) - An insight into developing, flying, servicing and restoring Britain's legendary 'Wooden Wonder' fighter-bomber (Owners' Workshop Manual) Marks' Basic Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach (Point (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins)) Handbook of marks on pottery and porcelain
