How to Build a Healthy Church

A Newly Updated and Rebranded Edition of The Deliberate Church

If churches are the dwelling place of God’s Spirit, why are so many built around the strategies of man? Eager for church growth, leaders can be lured by entertaining new schemes, forgetting to keep doctrinal truth as their driving force. Churches must find a way out of the maze of programs and methods and humbly lean on the sufficiency of God’s Word.

How to Build a Healthy Church, a revised and expanded edition of The Deliberate Church, challenges leaders to evaluate their motivations for ministry and provides practical examples of healthy, deliberate leadership. Written as a companion for Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, it covers important topics including membership, worship, responsible evangelism, and church roles. This is more than a step-by-step plan to mimic; it’s a biblical blueprint for pastors, elders, and anyone committed to the church’s vitality.

1. Opening Credits
2. Foreword
3. Introduction
4. Section 1: Gathering the Church
5. Chapter 1: The Four Ps
6. Chapter 2: Beginning the Work
7. Chapter 3: Doing Responsible Evangelism
8. Chapter 4: Taking in New Members
9. Chapter 5: Doing Church Discipline
10. Section 2: When the Church Gathers
11. Chapter 6: Understanding the Regulative Principle
12. Chapter 7: Applying the Regulative Principle
13. Chapter 8: The Role of the Pastor
14. Chapter 9: Evangelistic Exposition
15. Chapter 10: The Roles of Different Gatherings
16. Chapter 11: The Role of the Ordinances
17. Chapter 12: Loving Each Other
18. Chapter 13: Music
19. Section 3: Gathering Elders
20. Chapter 14: The Importance of Elders
21. Chapter 15: Looking for a Few Good Men
22. Chapter 16: Assessment
23. Chapter 17: Why Character Is Crucial
24. Chapter 18: Getting Started
25. Chapter 19: Staffing
26. Section 4: When the Elders Gather
27. Chapter 20: The Word and Prayer
28. Chapter 21: The Agenda | What to Talk About
29. Chapter 22: Decision Making | How to Talk about It
30. Conclusion
31. Closing Credits