What is a healthy church?

In this shorter version of his “9 marks” book, Mark Dever gives an introduction to what we should look for in a church. The book is split into three sections:

Part 1: What is a healthy church. Deals with what church is all about at its core and how Christians and the church relate to each other.

Part 2: Essential marks of a healthy church. Three things that a church simply cannot do without: expositional preaching, biblical theology and a biblical understasnding of the gospel.

Part 3: Important marks of a healthy church. Six things churches should have, but which are of seconday importance: A biblical understanding of conversion, evangelism and membership, a right understanding of church discipline, discipleship and growth, and biblical church leadership.

Dever comes from a more ‘traditional’ church yet his principles aren’t tied down to a particular style at all. Rather they are soaked in scripture and thankfulness for the cross. Not bad at all!

Get one here

The Shack

The Shack has been a popular seller for a few months now, and the opinions of both Christians and non-Christians are hugely varied. I must admit I haven’t read this yet, although I intend to. Mark Driscoll Shares his thoughts below:

Jonathan Edwards free online

I saw this post recently on Adrian Warnock’s blog and it’s pretty good stuff. The complete works of Jonathan Edwards are now available online, free, to read, search etc. >>>here

A few good books

I’d like to recommend three books for you to read. I’ve read others this year which have been equally good, but these ones stick out as being particularly helpful and accessible.

Firstly, Battling Unbelief – Defeating sin with superior pleasure by John Piper shows how what God has in store for us is so much better than anthing the immediate pleasures of sin can offer. Piper encourages us to fight sin ruthlessly with the magnificent promises of God which will last for eternity.

Worship Matters: Leading others to encounter the glory of God is simply brilliant. Bob Kauflin gives both a comprehensive theology of worship and a practical guide to serving the congregation in bringing glory to God. Read this one, and then give it to someone else. It’s that good!

Finally, Christian Beliefs – 20 things every Christian should know is the second shrinkage based on Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, and while it can be very brief in places, it give a helpful overview of the big themes of God and his gospel.