I. Course Description
Unfortunately the purpose of many churches in our day "has fallen from glorifying God to growing larger." In this course students will learn about God’s purpose for the church and how to lead a church in a direction that will keep it healthy and thriving. Dr. Mark Dever serves as senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.
II. Course Mentor
This is a mentor led course. If you are taking this course as directed studies, you must have a mentor to successfully complete the course requirements. A list of available mentors for this course and their contact information is posted in the Student Area. If you have any difficulty arranging for a mentor, please contact the Study Center Director.
III. Attendance and Participation
This course meets for 10 sessions. Students will have 14 weeks to complete all the sessions (from October 13, 2008 to January 31, 2009).
Your participation in the course will be determined largely by your contact time with your mentor. You may work through the course material online at your own pace, but to fulfill the attendance requirement for the course, you must stay in contact with your mentor and log at least 10 meetings with your mentor (one for each session of the course). Your mentor may give you 2 credits for 1 meeting if you meet long enough to sufficiently cover two sessions. It will be up to your mentor to determine at the end of the course if you have fulfilled the attendance requirement and sufficiently covered the course material.
If extenuating circumstances arise and you will not be able to complete the course in the allotted time, please contact the Study Center Director.
IV. Required Texts
Three texts are required for this course:
• Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
• Three Priorities for a Strong Local Church by Ray Ortlund, Jr.
• Importance of the Local Church by Daniel Wray
Additional reading assignments will be provided online.
V. Outline of Sessions
The 10 sessions of this course are as follows:
1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. The Gospel
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Church Leadership
10. Leading the Church in a Healthy Direction
VI. Method of Instruction
Teaching methods will include:
• Listening to audio lectures with power point slides online
• Study Guides for each Session (covering the material from the reading and lecture)
• Discussion of course material with your mentor
• Feedback from your mentor on course assignments
VII. Course Assignments
All assignments for the course are outlined on the session pages and in the study guides.
Weekly Assignments:
Each session will include the following:
1) Reading Assignments
2) Discussion Questions over the Reading Assignment
3) Discussion Questions over the Lecture
Please complete all the readings for the session and print out a hard copy of your answers to the discussion questions so you are prepared for your meetings with your mentor. You will receive credit for doing your weekly assignments once you have met and covered the material with your mentor.
Major Projects:
Your course work will also include two major projects:
1. Church Inventory: Your first major project will be to take an inventory of the church where you currently minister or belong. Identify strengths and weaknesses. More detailed instructions on this project will be provided in Session 1.
2. The "Tenth" Mark: Your final project for the course will be to prepare a position paper. Dr. Dever concludes that these nine marks "do not include everything one would want to say about the church." If you were to add a tenth mark to what Dr. Dever has already identified as nine distinguishing characteristics of a healthy church, what would it be? Your paper should be minimum of three pages (not including title page), double-spaced, no larger than 12-point font (Times Roman or Arial), with 1 inch margins. More detailed instructions on this project will be provided in Session 8.
Your mentor will assign specific due dates for your projects. All course work must be complete to the satisfaction of your mentor by January 31, 2009.