You don't need to listen long to find someone -- be it an author, a speaker, a pastor, or a professional consultant -- with a ten-point plan for increasing effectiveness and growth within your church. Unfortunately, the purpose of too many churches has fallen from glorifying God to growing larger. Recognizing this problem, Pastor Mark Dever challenges you to recover what the church is meant to be by suggesting nine marks that distinguish a healthy, biblical church from its less healthy sisters. These characteristics do not include everything one would want to say about a church; instead, they focus on certain crucial aspects that have grown rare. Whether you are a pastor, lay leader, or involved member of a congregation, you can help cultivate these biblical qualities in your church, bringing it new life and health for God's glory. And as you work to reclaim the true purpose of the church, you will see and be a part of all that God intended the body of Christ to be. - Back cover.