What is a Healthy Church?

Does your church need a checkup? In What Is a Healthy Church? Mark Dever shares key traits of a healthy church to develop within the local body. It offers a clear, logical, and deeply compelling framework for what makes a church truly healthy.

Biblically Faithful

Written in a warm, conversational tone, the book feels like a personal meeting with a wise mentor. Dever brings a wealth of theological knowledge and pastoral experience to his writing. At the heart of his book are two essential marks of a healthy church: expositional preaching and gospel doctrine. Dever summarizes the Bible’s core teachings about God and the gospel in five foundational truths: God is the Creator, God is holy, God is faithful, God is loving, and God is sovereign. These truths lay the groundwork for a biblically faithful church and serve as the lens through which all other marks of a healthy church should be viewed.

The book continues by unpacking a comprehensive vision for a healthy church, addressing topics such as conversion, evangelism, membership, church discipline, discipleship and spiritual growth, leadership, prayer, and missions. Each of these areas is examined through a biblical lens, and Dever offers practical guidance on how to implement them in the life of a church.

Growing Together

Dever places particular emphasis on church leadership. He writes that recognizing godly, discerning laypeople as elders is a vital mark of a healthy church, helping to share the pastoral load and build a more sustainable, gospel-centered leadership structure. He also highlights the importance of eldership in alleviating some of the burdens on pastors, enabling them to focus more on their preaching and pastoral care. As Dever notes, “If implemented in our churches, [eldership] could help pastors immensely by removing weight from their shoulders, and even removing their own pettiness from their churches" and “indeed, the practice of recognizing godly, discerning, trusted laymen as elders is another mark of a healthy church.”

As the new year approaches, I find myself reflecting on how I can be a more effective and faithful leader in my own church, and Dever’s insights are both convicting and motivating. I desire to take a closer look at the health of my own church and do everything I can to foster a stronger, more vibrant church community. Whether you’re a pastor, elder, or lay leader, this book offers invaluable wisdom and practical insight for anyone who wants to see a church body that grows together in health, unity, and faithfulness to God and the gospel.

I received a media copy of What is a Healthy Church? and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.