Nine Marks of a Healthy Church [Fourth Edition]

Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Connie, and they have two adult children.

Endorsements:

"Here are the timeless biblical truths that inform what the church is, how God creates and nurtures it, and how its pastors and members participate in that work. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church has helped me as a young pastor see through the fog of church growth models to the essential architecture of ecclesiology. This book is far and away the clearest and most biblical account of what the church is that I've come across. Most importantly, the vision of the church displayed here is so God-centered that it places the magnificent responsibility of sustaining and leading it back on the right shoulders, namely, his."
--Samuel D. Ferguson, Rector, The Falls Church Anglican

"I was an ambitious Capitol Hill staffer when I was first handed this book twenty years ago. In retrospect, it was this moment that totally upended my estimation of the local church and changed the trajectory of my life toward ministry in it. The personal ambitions I had been aiming for began to seem insignificant compared to the growing desire for God's glory to be displayed through the local church. After now a decade of cross-cultural ministry in the Arab world, my understanding of a healthy church is continually shaped and sharpened by the principles of this book. Reader beware: this book could totally transform the way you see the seemingly ordinary local church."
--Jenny Manley, pastor's wife, United Arab Emirates; author, The Good Portion: Christ

"The nine marks are as relevant and important for today's church as they've ever been. Whereas a combination of pragmatism, tradition, and cultural influences shape so much of modern Christianity, Dever refreshingly points us back to the foundational truths of the Bible that ought to drive all of our practices in the church. While the nine marks are so straightforwardly Scriptural that no faithful reader of the Bible could deny their significance, to actually implement them in our churches is to swim against the cultural current. To that end, this book is an invaluable resource for any pastor or congregant who desires to see God's glory more clearly manifest through Christ-centered, gospel-preaching, biblically sound churches."
--Harry Fujiwara, Pastor, The First Baptist Church in the City of New York

"It is astonishing that the apostle Paul describes the local gathering of Christians as 'the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood' (Acts 20:28). That raises the stakes of church life and health and mission about as high as it can be. We are dealing with a blood-bought body of people. I do not want human ideas. I want God's word about the church. I turn with hope and confidence to Mark Dever's radically biblical commitment. Few people today have thought more or better about what makes a church biblical and healthy. I thank God for the book and for 9Marks ministries."
--John Piper, Founder and Teacher, desiringGod.org; Chancellor, Bethlehem College & Seminary; author, Desiring God

"The future of biblical Christianity in the Western world is inextricably bound to the future of the local church. Mark Dever knows this, and his Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is a biblical prescription for faithfulness."
--Ligon Duncan, Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary