Mark Dever and Paul Alexander wrote the book “The Deliberate Church” (Building your ministry on the Gospel) in 2005. It is divided into four sections:
- Section 1: Gathering the church
- Section 2: When the church gathers
- Section 3: Gathering elders
- Section 4: When the elders gather
I like Dever’s comments in the first chapter “The 4 P’s”,
When I was interviewing with Capitol Hill Baptist Church before they called me to be their pastor, someone asked me if I had a program or plan to implement for growth. Perhaps to this person’s surprise (and perhaps to yours too!), I responded that I didn’t really have any great plans or programs to implement. I was just armed with four P’s – I would preach, pray, develop personal discipling relationships, and be patient.
Michael McKinley posted this on the 9Marks blog recently, “The Four Keys to a Fruitful Pastorate,” that according to Mark Dever, the keys to an effective pastorate (normally) is “Preach and Pray, Love and Stay”.
Read reviews of the book below.
A Discerning Reader’s Review (Tim Challies)
Book Review (Adrian Warnock)
Book Review (Bryce Hales)
