The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel

This is a great handbook for any preacher. It is seriously a handbook for the church. It gives great reminders and ideas for those that have been in a church for years and for those who have either just planted a church or that have taken over the reigns as lead pastor. Some of the greatest advice in the book focuses not only on the theological implications of the different methodologies in the church but in exactly how to implement different things in churches so that you don't scare off the sheep.This book is amazing in its practical instruction on certain issues, even the particulars of how to run an elders meeting. So, it is truly designed for use throughout one's ministry and to be used almost as an encyclopedia of sorts of a "how to" for the local church. The book is broken up into four parts:Part I: Gathering the ChurchIn general this section focuses on expository preaching, prayer, missions, membership and disciplinePart II: When the Church GathersThis section focuses on worship and the regulative principle of worship, the ordinances, the role of the pastor, etc.Part III: Gathering EldersThis section focuses on things such as the biblical mandate for elders, the searching for those men, staffing, etc.Part IV: When the Elders GatherThis section is very practical and walks through how Dever's church handles elder meetings and the role of the lead pastor in those meetings. Very practical.All in all this is a great book. I do not agree with every aspect of it, but those that I don't agree with I never felt as though Dever was "pushing his convictions" but was just putting them forth. This is great to see a man of God just showing the way their church do things without purporting it as the ONLY way, but A way. Very encouraging to see and more understanding of why Dever has been so successful in starting and maintaining the ministry of "Together for the Gospel" with others that don't see eye to eye with him on every aspect of the non-essentials.I would very much like to see this book on the top of every list of books that pastors are ready and wanting to read. Very much needed book when the next great "how to grow your church no matter what" is probably just around another corner.

I’m going through this book for my college course, literally summarizing every chapter. I enjoy the book a lot for my own personal ideas and thoughts. They can be a little pointed as far as elder led congregations the current local body i serve/partner with is a singular pastor model. I haven’t finished the book but so far my favourite part is definitely the church discipline so far. It’s hard to carry out because i know so many churches don’t implement it on the necessary hints but it’s a lost art that i hold to that God has ordained for keeping the local body (elders included) focused on the main and only reason we should gather, the glory of God and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

With countless artificially-minded church-growth infesting our modern Christian culture, this book is one of the few that actually treasures what we're supposed to treasure: the gospel.Since the Bible doesn't instruct us to rely on the latest church fad, growth strategy, ministry technique, or business mindset to build God's church, this book is unafraid to make that clear--getting right into the battle for the sake of gospel-centered ministries.The only reason I put 4 stars instead of 5 is because the book is geared more about being a pastor or an elder than the title may suggest. If you're just a committed church-goer who's seeking gospel-centered changes in a church leadership structure that's resistant to change, this book does not give you very many specifics on exactly what to do about that. It already assumes that you're in a position to give direction in a church.Nonetheless, it's still useful for anyone who wishes to know what makes up a true, biblically-minded church leader and why biblical church functions are essential. It's definitely a book I'd recommend to any church leader or just anyone who wishes to know more about what a gospel-centered church should look like.

The authors did a fantastic job of supporting the material while complementing each other without compromising the authority of scripture. This is a great read for pastors, elders and staff members along with non-staff members for the effectual working of ministry through the deliberateness of applying scripture as intended with definitive purpose. I would highly recommend Deliberate Church for the integration of doing ministry the biblical way. New church starts, plants and young pastors can avoid trouble and avail with triumph by having this resource in their lifelong library.Rev. M. J. Moss

Recently, several, straight-forward books which provide a superlative guide for evangelical (protestant) churches have been written and this is one of them. No ivory tower prof writes this short, every-day language set of essays. Pastor Mark Dever's authority comes not from his doctorate but from his fruit in his own church from which experiences this book is drawn. A must read, along with Rainer's Simple Church and Dever's A Healthy Church for all who would reform the local church to biblical orthodoxy for the glory of God and the joy of His children.

I read this book on a journey between Belfast and Pittenweem. Its a fantastic journey with alot of beautiful scenery (google map it) yet the whole time I was absorbed in this book, it is thought provoking, biblical and enjoyable to read! What more can I say? If you are a Pastor looking to reform your church after biblical patterns then take up and read!

I use it to complete my course in ministry, and to do outreach ministry.

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