by Thabiti Anyabwile (Thu-BEE-tee On-ya-bwee-LAY-hee)
What Is a Healthy Church Member? is patterned after the book What is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever, and is the third book in the IXMark series. It gives us “one proposal for becoming a healthier member of your local church.”
The ten chapters in this little book (and it is little) are based around ten marks of a healthy church member. Each chapter ends with a few questions for deeper thinking on the topic of the chapter, and many chapters also include a short list of books for more reading on the topic. It’s all biblically grounded, theologically sound, and most of all, practical.
Here are the 10 marks of a healthy church member, otherwise known as the ten chapter titles:
- A Healthy Church Member Is an Expositional Listener
- A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Theologian
- A Healthy Church Member Is Gospel Saturated
- A Healthy Church Member Is Genuinely Converted
- A Healthy Church Member Is a Biblical Evangelist
- A Healthy Church Member Is a Committed Member
- A Healthy Church Member Seeks Discipline
- A Healthy Church Member Is a Growing Disciple
- A Healthy Church Member is a Humble Follower
- A Healthy Church Member Is a Prayer Warrior
There’s nothing earth shaking here, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t an exceptionally useful book. I’d call it a church member’s user manual, but that would make it seem too much like a to-do list and it is not that. It does have suggestions that the reader is encouraged to practice because they desire to become a healthy church member, but in the end, Thabiti Anyabwile brings us back to the gospel of Christ Jesus as the foundation for everything and the gracious work of the Spirit as the means by which these 10 marks are accomplished.
What Is a Healthy Church Member? would be well-suited for use in a new member’s class or other group study as well as for individual reading and study. Check out the online excerpt of this book at Crossway.com.