On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I attended a 9 Marks conference in Cedarville, Ohio. Not surprisingly, the conference was on “9 Marks of a Healthy Church.” For those of you who are not familiar with the 9 marks, they are as follows:

1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. A Biblical Understanding of the Gospel
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. A Biblical Understanding of Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. Biblical Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Church Leadership

Some of you might be thinking – these are obvious! But as pastor Mark Dever (president and founder of 9 Marks ministries) explained at the start of the conference, sometimes we need to challenge assumptions. He is right to say this. Today the gospel is largely assumed in the Christian world, but that does not necessarily mean it is largely understood. I am thankful for the good work 9 Marks ministries is doing to highlight the importance of building healthy local churches and it was a blessing to attend this conference. I would encourage you visit the www.9marks.org website. They have some great articles and resources that I think you will find helpful.