a healthy church: biblical preaching
 
How do you know a church is healthy? Are healthy churches big? Do they have large choirs, children’s programs, or youth groups? How do you measure the health of a church? We live in a time when people “church hop.” They attend one church for a time until they get bored, and then look for another. Perhaps some of you, also, are asking questions, and you wonder if our church is healthy. Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C., has written a wonderful book called What Is A Healthy Church? I encourage everyone to purchase and read this easy and quick-read. However, since I know that everyone cannot purchase the book, I would like to spend the next several newsletters sharing with you what Pastor Dever calls the “nine marks of a healthy church.“ Mark 1: Biblical Preaching A healthy church must have biblical preaching. This is not an option. It is a necessity. Sometimes we call biblical preaching by the name expository preaching because it simply exposes the Bible. Some preachers preach topics. They decide that they want to preach a series about marriage or depression or evangelism. They decide what they want to say and then they look for a verse or passage to back up what they already have decided to say. I hope that you realize that the preaching at Elk Lick is not this way. We work through sections of the Bible, like we did in Genesis 1-11 and are doing in James, because we believe that the Word tells us what to preach. I study a passage all week and try to find out what the main idea is that God is teaching in it, and then I set out to preach that main idea. God chooses the topic, not me. That is the essence of biblical (or expository) preaching. This way of preaching, unfortunately, is rare today. Many preachers pride themselves on preaching to the “felt needs” of their congregations. However, what we feel like we need is often miles apart from the needs that God knows we have. That is why Paul exhorted Timothy simply to “preach the Word.” Because Paul knew that it was the word of God that helps us and heals us, not the opinions of men (2 Tim 3-4). Preaching is the most important aspect of my role as a pastor. Preaching, and the listening to preaching, is the most important thing we do as a church. However, just preaching whatever we like is not the mark of a healthy church. Preaching the point the Word of God is making in the context in which it makes it as the point we need to hear is true, biblical preaching that breathes life into God’s people, the church. Bro. Josh Based on material from What Is A Healthy Church? by Mark Dever. More at 9marks.org http://www.9marks.orgshapeimage_1_link_0
Elk Lick News
February 2008