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Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good book. Mark Dever gives us nine different marks of a healthy church. This is not a full ecclesiology and there are more marks than these required to be a biblical church. However, the author states severally in the book that his design is not to write a full ecclesiology, nor does he mean to say these are the only marks of a healthy church.
Taking it for what it is, it is a good book that fills a gap in contemporary books on the church. The majority of books published on the church in the last couple of decades have been of the “church growth” variety. This book stands out in that crowd and that pushed it four stars for me.
The text is a mingling of doctrinal and practical issues concerning the church. The book does a good job provoking us to thought on these issues. The notes and appendices provide you enough additional reading sources to keep you busy for a long time. There are too many listed to comment about them except in a general way. The books listed are not of equal value and some I could not recommend at all. I hope you will exercise discernment in further reading. This book is not the only book on the church you should read, but I do recommend it to you.