The Deliberate Church – A Book Review by Pastor Mark Franklin

The Deliberate Church – a book review

Dever, Mark and Alexander, Paul. The Deliberate Church. Wheaton, Illinois:

Crossway Books, 2005.

Mark Dever is Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and is the Executive Director of a ministry called 9Marks. The co-author of this book, Paul Alexander, serves as a contributing editor for their ministry. The reader needs to know that Mark is a Southern Baptist and would be viewed from that tradition. This reviewer will not visit the question as to whether or not there are Fundamentalists in the SBC.

The title of the book, The Deliberate Church, is explained by Dever when he wrote, “we wanted a title that might serve to throw us into the fray of the church methodology debates” (p. 22). He went on to comment that we have The Emerging Church, The Purpose Driven Church, The Connecting Church, The Disciple-Making Church and The Market Driven Church. A Deliberate Church is a church “driven and governed by the Gospel” (p. 23).

There are some big names associated with the book that will get the attention of Pastors and students. D.A. Carson writes the foreword, and R. Kent Hughes, J. Ligon Duncan, Greg Waybright, Philip Graham, and Al Mohler write endorsements. These endorsements reflect theologians, pastors, seminary professors; men from both Presbyterian and Baptist backgrounds. The four major sections of the book are [1] Gathering the Church [2] When the Church Gathers [3] Gathering Elders] [4] When Elders Gather.

The first half of the book is worth the read; profitable in many ways. This reviewer appreciated the fresh look at a few things we do in Church today. Getting the Gospel Right and Doing Responsible Evangelism were challenging chapters. Dever comments, “We are wiser to discontinue ambiguous evangelistic practices rather than allow them to continue confusing people as to what constitutes a saving response to the Gospel” (p. 53). At some point, we need to stop deceiving people into thinking that they are saved when there has never been a change in their lives. Dever comments that “these Christians eventually revert to lifestyles that simply cannot characterize a true Christian convert” (p. 54). To that many of us would say a hearty, “AMEN.” This review further appreciated Dever’s comments on congregational singing in his chapter on Music in the Church (116-120).

The second half of the book is really a defense of elder rule in the Church. The author comments, “Whether you call them elders or deacons is largely immaterial, as long as you have some spiritually mature people leading the church and conducting affairs” (p. 131). Dever states that moving his church to a plurality of elders has been “the single most helpful event to me in my pastoral ministry” (p. 135). In a discussion of the relationships between staff, deacons, and leaders Dever writes: “The church is to be elder-led, but staff-executed” (p. 168). Further, in simplistic terms “The elders decide on the destination. The staff drive the bus. The deacons make sure we’ve got enough gas to get there” (p. 169). This reviewer has not bought into the elder rule concept of polity. Dever, a Baptist with a Presbyterian polity, has once again set forth another argument for elder rule.

The Deliberate Church is worth the read; watch out for bones.

ü Reviewed by Mark Franklin, Pastor of Hardingville Bible Church Pastor@hardingville.com