A Display of God’s Glory by Mark Dever

 

In this book, Mark Dever presents a clear and scriptural understanding of church leadership and structure. He explains the biblical roles of deacons and elders, highlighting their distinct responsibilities within the church. The author also gives a vivid explanation of congregational authority and the importance of church membership. Each chapter builds on the New Testament model of how a local church should function. This book has helped me see a fuller picture of biblical church polity. It challenged and clarified my understanding of leadership, congregational authority, and the importance of church membership.

In the book, Mark Dever presents Pastor Gray’s insights on the aspects of the deacons’ ministry in Acts 6. First, deacons are called to care for the physical needs of the church, such as distributing food and helping the poor. Second, their role promotes unity in the church by addressing needs fairly. Third, deacons support the ministry of the Word by freeing pastors/elders to focus on teaching. As I read about the deacons’ role across history, which is briefly presented in the book, and reflect on it, I feel that throughout history, the deacons’ role has been the most misused in the church; some overexercise their power, and some are mistreated due to a lack of proper understanding of the role. Now, as I reflect on my own home church, the deacons’ role is completely misunderstood, and their authority is overemphasized. Deacon loves to preach, especially in my association churches. They are the main people to look for pastors and remove pastors, and they should be paid monthly by the church. And the sad truth is, I have failed to teach them the role of deacons in my former church that I pastored. And I regret not doing that. But to bring changes in the churches, especially in the Northeast churches' context, is going to be hard. However, if God has allowed starting a church, implementing the biblical role of a deacon will not be an issue. If this unhealthy church system of practice is not stopped in time, churches in the Northeast will surely lose their power and conform to this world. Grateful to the author for helping me to reflect deeply on the northeast churches in light of the scripture. This renews my passion for a healthy church. The author helped me to set boundaries for deacons and elders, too. In the future, when I start a church, this insight will help me a lot as I help the church’s future deacons navigate their role.

In the relationship of the elders and the church, Mark Dever mentions five characteristics of this relationship: recognition, trust, godliness, carefulness, and results. Among these characteristics, sincere carefulness stood out to me. When I read this, I tremble because I love the church, and I aspire to be a pastor of a healthy church. A question strikes me: Is my aspiration to be a pastor driven by mere love of office or Christ’s people? Mark Dever states, “The elders should be marked by a use of their authority that shows that they understand that the church belongs not to them, but to Christ. Christ has purchased the church with His own blood, and therefore it should be cherished, treated carefully and gently, and led faithfully and purely for the glory of God and the good of the church.” If my aspiration is driven by power hunger, I will not serve with sincere carefulness, which means I will not cherish, treat carefully and gently, lead faithfully and purely. This is a timely reminder for me that Christ has purchased the church with His own blood, and I, as an aspiring pastor, will give an account to Christ for my stewardship.

When the author talks about Congregationalism, his teaching is clearly scriptural, and I am very much convinced by what he has written. As I was reading, suddenly a thought came to me about the churches in my home state. The congregations there are mostly Bible illiterate. However, according to the scripture, the church’s final authority is in the hands of the congregation. Mark Dever says, “Congregationalism is simply the understanding that the last and final court of appeal in a matter of the life of the local church is not the bishop of Rome or Constantinople or Washington… It is not a group of elders inside the local church or the pastor. The last and final court of appeal in a matter of the life of the local church is, and should be, the local congregation itself.” When I read this, a question came to me: how can a church be healthy when a congregation is Bible illiterate? A congregation that is Bible illiterate will not know how to make final decisions. So, it is a must for the elders/pastors to serve with sincere carefulness and teach them sound doctrine so that the congregation will know how to make final decisions. This is why the scripture, in the qualifications of the elders, talks about being able to teach. The author later says about the congregation’s power being misused, “It is painfully clear from the history of the church, the centuries spent largely in darkness, and even by continuing error in the congregations of brothers and sisters in whom we recognize much Biblical wisdom. Individual examples of erroneous congregational judgment abound! In history, we can go to the congregation that fired Jonathan Edwards. They had every biblical right to have that kind of authority, but that was, I think you would agree, a very poor use of it.” I should be sincerely careful in teaching my congregation to know how to use their authority biblically. At the end of the day, a congregation misusing its power is as dangerous as a congregation without authority.

This book has deepened my understanding of the biblical role of deacons, elders, the congregation, and membership. I am reminded that leadership in the church is a sacred stewardship, not a pursuit of power. Both elders and deacons are different offices, and they must serve with humility and sincere carefulness, always pointing the church to Christ. A healthy church depends on sound teaching and a biblically informed congregation because the congregation has the key. Therefore, my future pastoral ministry must prioritize equipping the church through faithful teaching and Christlike service.