Mark Dever’s Imaginative and prescient for Pastoral Ministry in 4 Phrases

On the lookout for Management

When Mark Dever first acquired to Capitol Hill Baptist Church in 1994, the deacons had been speaking about closing the church down. They’d been going by way of a extremely laborious time. The church had gone by way of a tough cut up when a pastor left and took a whole lot of younger households with him out to the suburbs, leaving the older era behind questioning who was going to steer them.

A brand new pastor got here to the church who was extremely gifted, however his godliness didn’t replicate his giftings. His ministry ended after only a few brief years in scandal, as he disqualified himself in a horrendous approach. The church was reeling. The church was questioning if they need to simply divide up the belongings and provides the cash to missions. Round that point, Carl F. H. Henry, the founding father of Christianity As we speak and longtime member of the church for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, wrote a letter to Mark Dever.

He had recognized Dever for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, when Dever was a grasp’s scholar at Southern Seminary. Carl Henry took an curiosity in Mark, Al Mohler, and different college students on the seminary who he noticed as leaders of evangelicalism in America for the long run.

It was when Dever was over in Cambridge, England, ending up his PhD, Carl Henry stored him apprised of the occasions within the church, and he wrote to him after the earlier pastor disqualified himself, questioning if Mark would think about coming and attempting out preaching in view of a name at Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

The church was not on Mark’s radar. He had his sight set on educating church historical past, and but he had respect for Carl Henry. He was prepared to come back and preach. And when he did, the Lord remarkably turned his coronary heart towards this seemingly dying church on Capitol Hill. It had an extended, trustworthy historical past, however was severely declined in quantity, and but he thought the Lord may be main him there.

A Dedication

When Dever got here because the official candidate to the church, they requested him what his imaginative and prescient for the church was. What was his plan for turning the church round? He stated that in his quiet time, he had simply 4 phrases: preach, pray, love, and keep.

These had been the 4 issues he was dedicated to. He wasn’t positive that it was going to work. He wasn’t positive that the church was going to have the ability to flip round. He wasn’t positive that the church would develop once more. However he was dedicated to preaching the phrase, to main the church, to praying and counting on God, to loving discipling relationships with each other, and he was dedicated to staying.

He and his spouse, Connie, talked about shopping for cemetery plots, so to talk—simply placing down roots and saying, “We’ll keep right here so long as it takes.” And within the years which have adopted, the Lord has remarkably blessed these strange technique of grace. Simply the dedication to preaching the phrase, to loving the saints, to praying, and to staying.

There have been occasions when the church was rising so shortly that the elders had been desirous about including a number of providers and even going multi-site. And but as they considered this, Dever was insistent, and he stated, “Our job is to not make our affect as giant as attainable however to make sure that the gospel is faithfully stewarded for generations to come back.”

They usually thought one of the best ways to try this was to boost up leaders throughout the church, practice pastors, and ship them out to plant and revitalize church buildings. He famously referred to as this in a memo, “doing nothing and planting church buildings.”

He stated he was desirous about Luther’s well-known line from the place he says “I did nothing. The phrase did the work.” That that was the imaginative and prescient. Let’s preach the gospel. Let’s see leaders raised up. Let’s plant church buildings. And let’s ensure that the gospel isn’t depending on a single individual or a single church in Washington, DC.

Over the previous many years, dozens of church buildings have been planted. Pastors have been educated, geared up, and despatched out. I feel the imaginative and prescient has labored. Really, the gospel isn’t depending on a single individual or a single church. Christ has promised that he’ll construct his church. We will belief him to do it.

Caleb Morell is the writer of A Mild on the Hill: The Stunning Story of How a Native Church within the Nation’s Capital Influenced Evangelicalism.

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