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We’re always told not to judge a book by its cover, but the fact is, you can learn a lot about a book before you ever crack the binding. Who is the author, how is the book being marketed, who is recommending it and why? These are all important things to know before diving into a book. My first thought after scanning the cover of The Deliberate Church was, “It will never live up”. It has glowing endorsements from several big name evangelicals, including D.A. Carson, Ligon Duncan, and Philip Ryken. The endorsements are good—too good, I thought. Greg Waybright says, “The is the most biblically directed and practically helpful discussion of ‘applied theology’ that I have ever read.” Quite frankly, I was sceptical. There are tons of books on ministry, each promoting a different 5 or 10 steps to building a healthy church (read: replicate the model employed by the book’s author). How could this book really be that different?

Well, quite simply, it does away with the principles, steps and diagrams, and focuses instead on the biblical data that drives ministry. In their forward the authors, Mark Dever and Paul Alexander, explain their objective for the book:

Deliberate, of course, means well thought through or careful. What we are trying to be careful about as church leaders, then, is building the church on and around the Gospel of Christ. More specifically, we are trying to be careful about building the church according to the pattern that God has given us in Scripture. At its best, the deliberate church is careful to trust the Word of God, wielded by Jesus Christ, to do the work of building the local church. [This book] is an attempt to put our money where our mouth is when we say that we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for the life, health, and growth of the local church. Our goal isn’t to see how innovative we can be. Our goal is to see how faithful we can be. (21)

Beginning with an objective like that, the worst a book could possibly do is ask some interesting questions. Fortunately for pastors and church leaders, The Deliberate Church also has some great answers.

The book’s chapters are grouped into four sections: 1) Gathering the Church, 2) When the Church Fathers, 3) Gathering Elders, and 4) When the Elders Gather. Each chapter focuses on a biblical/theological concept, but this should not imply that the book is impractical. Indeed, the book contains a huge number of “practical tips”. What sets this book apart from others is that the “tips” are the result of faithful reflection on what the Bible has to say about ministry, rather than the starting point in and of themselves.

A brief summary of the first chapter provides a good idea of the overall content of the book. Dever (where experience plays a part, the book focuses mostly on Dever’s experience as Senior Pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.) begins by stating that he doesn’t have a great program for church growth, rather he relies on four basic areas of pastoral responsibility: preaching, praying, personal discipling relationships, and patience.

Preaching is the primary responsibility for a pastor, and as such the Bible, which is the content of preaching, commands the utmost respect from the preacher. In a time when even churches which profess belief in the authority of Scripture are setting the Bible on the sidelines, Dever faithfully sums up why the God’s Word is so central to biblical ministry:

God’s Word is His supernatural power for accomplishing His supernatural work. That’s why our eloquence, innovations, and programs are so much less important that we thing; that’s why we need to be teaching our congregations to value God’s Word over programs. Preaching the content and intent of God’s Word is what unleashes the power of God on the people of God, because God’s power for building His people is in His Word… God’s Word builds His church. So preaching His gospel is primary. (35)

This section is an excellent defence of the sufficiency of the Bible, as opposed to the programs which take a central place in many churches. The only shortcoming of this section was the fact that the link between the Word of God and preaching was not made explicitly clear.

The section of prayer is great. All Christians know that prayer is important, and most feel that they are inadequate and less-than-capable in this regard. Additionally, for a variety of reasons, pastors face a real temptation towards prayerlessness. Dever does a great service by simply giving practical suggestions of what to pray for. 1) Pray Scripture. Use the Bible as a model for prayer. 2) Pray for the preaching of the gospel. 3) Pray for you congregation. 4) Pray for the conversion of nonChristians. 5) Pray for opportunities to share the gospel with others. Simple, and straight to the point.

The section on personal discipling is also very encouraging. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of pastoring, in the literal sense, being done in our churches today. Perhaps it seems a bit old fashioned. Or perhaps there are simply too many other demands on the pastor’s time. While not necessarily addressing the great need for shepherding, Dever gives a number of practical suggestions on how to do it. A couple of examples here: invite people to lunch or dinner, and ask them interesting/intelligent questions. Inquire about their spiritual life. It’s not brain surgery. Additionally, pastors would be wise to encourage other members of the congregation, and especially elders, to do the same. “Members nee to know that spiritual maturity is not simply about their quiet times, but about their love for other believers, and their concrete expressions of that love” (37-8).

Finally, the section on patience is very useful. We live in a culture that says instant gratification takes too long. Dever points out, however, that God doesn’t operate on our time schedule. “The key to displaying and actually having this kind of patience is to have a right perspective on time, eternity, and success” (39). A pastor who comes into a church expecting to see dramatic results in a short period of time is bound for disappointment and burnout. Pastors are not to use a church as a stepping stone to building a career; pastors must come into a church with a view to the next ten, twenty, thirty-plus years. God is working from the perspective of eternity, and when we look for results in days and weeks, we are likely to be disappointed. We must also be careful (and aware) of how we define success. The vast prevailing evangelical consensus seems to be that success is measured by numbers. It has long occurred to me that hundreds of thousands of people go to really bad movies every weekend, so maybe the numbers game isn’t all it’s made out to be. Dever observes, “if you define success in terms of faithfulness, then you are in a position to persevere, because you are released for the demand of immediately observable results, freeing you for faithfulness to the Gospel’s message and methods, leaving numbers to the Lord” (40).

The book continues in a similar fashion, combining biblical principles with practical advice. On the whole Dever and Alexander do an outstanding job of pointing pastors and church leaders to a biblical understanding of ministry. The book is not without its faults, of course. I differ with Dever’s typically baptistic view of church purity, but this does not make his chapters on church membership entirely unhelpful. This is a book that points the way to biblical ministry. It will be a breath of fresh air to those wearied by programs and techniques and will encourage pastors to strive towards faithful, deliberate, biblical ministry.

This entry was posted by Bryce on Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 at 6:02 pm. This entry was tagged with Book Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.