THE COMPELLING COMMUNITY

Where God’s Power Makes a Church Attractive

MARK DEVER & JAMIE DUNLOP

wheaton, illinois

The Compelling Community: Where God’s Power Makes a Church Attractive

Copyright © 2015 by Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Mark Davis

Cover image: Sideways Design/Shutterstock.com

First printing 2015

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4354-8

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4357-9

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4355-5

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4356-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dever, Mark.

The compelling community : where God’s power makes a church attractive / Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop.

pages cm. — (9Marks books)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Church. 2. Communities—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

BV600.3.D48 2015

253—dc23

2014028681

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To our church, with joy and gratitude

“For what thanksgiving can

we return to God for you,

for all the joy that we feel for

your sake before our God?”

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction

Part 1: A Vision for Community

1 Two Visions of Community

2 A Community Given by God

3 Community Runs Deep

4 Community Goes Broad

Part 2: Fostering Community

5 Preach to Equip Your Community

6 Pray Together as a Community

7 Build a Culture of Spiritually Intentional Relationships

8 Structural Obstacles to Biblical Community

Part 3: Protecting Community

9 Addressing Discontentment in the Church

10 Addressing Sin in the Church

Part 4: Community at Work

11 Evangelize as a Community

12 Fracture Your Community (for the Community of Heaven)

Conclusion

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

The 9Marks series of books is premised on two basic ideas. First, the local church is far more important to the Christian life than many Christians today perhaps realize. We at 9Marks believe that a healthy Christian is a healthy church member.

Second, local churches grow in life and vitality as they organize their lives around God’s Word. God speaks. Churches should listen and follow. It’s that simple. When a church listens and follows, it begins to look like the One it is following. ...