Pastors Talk - A podcast by 9Marks

Does church order really have anything to do with discipleship? Isn’t one polity—presbyterian, congregational, etc.—just as good as another?In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan Leeman sits down with Mark Dever to talk about these questions and more.

Does church order really have anything to do with discipleship? Isn’t one polity—presbyterian, congregational, etc.—just as good as another?In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan Leeman sits down with Mark Dever to talk about these questions and more.

Evangelicals are always in danger of losing the gospel because they don’t appreciate the role of the conscience and Christian freedom.The conscience is there to protect Christian freedom—and Christian freedom protects us from legalism. This is important because when legalism is indulged, it can actually threaten the gospel itself.

Evangelicals are always in danger of losing the gospel because they don’t appreciate the role of the conscience and Christian freedom.The conscience is there to protect Christian freedom—and Christian freedom protects us from legalism. This is important because when legalism is indulged, it can actually threaten the gospel itself.

Jonathan Leeman sits down with Mark Dever to talk about how local churches can more wisely support overseas work.

Jonathan Leeman sits down with Mark Dever to talk about how local churches can more wisely support overseas work.

In conjunction with the Fall 2017 Journal "The Reformation and Your Church," Jonathan Leeman interviews Mark Dever on the Reformation and its usefulness for Christians today.

In conjunction with the Fall 2017 Journal "The Reformation and Your Church," Jonathan Leeman interviews Mark Dever on the Reformation and its usefulness for Christians today.

We just released a Journal on church planting and church mergers. Because neither Mark nor Jonathan wrote an article for it, we devoted this episode of Pastors’ Talk to the topic.Also: this will be our last Pastors’ Talk until September, though we’ll be recording them all summer, so send us your ideas if you have them!SHOW NOTES:— Have you (Mark) ever been a church planter? (2:30)— Why are the topics of planting and mergers worth thinking through? (4:10)— Is there a different skill set for the church planter and someone leading a church merger? (8:00)— What’s some bad advice you often hear for church planters? (9:20)— Do some of the problems stem from a dependence on agencies as opposed to churches? What are agencies useful for? What should they not do that they tend to do? (11:00)— What common wisdom do you have to offer those involved in church mergers? (13:10)— When does the “church plant” become a church? (19:00)— Who should leave a church to go with a plant? (20:00)— Do you have elders first, and then members? Or the other way around? (22:20)

We just released a Journal on church planting and church mergers. Because neither Mark nor Jonathan wrote an article for it, we devoted this episode of Pastors’ Talk to the topic.Also: this will be our last Pastors’ Talk until September, though we’ll be recording them all summer, so send us your ideas if you have them!SHOW NOTES:— Have you (Mark) ever been a church planter? (2:30)— Why are the topics of planting and mergers worth thinking through? (4:10)— Is there a different skill set for the church planter and someone leading a church merger? (8:00)— What’s some bad advice you often hear for church planters? (9:20)— Do some of the problems stem from a dependence on agencies as opposed to churches? What are agencies useful for? What should they not do that they tend to do? (11:00)— What common wisdom do you have to offer those involved in church mergers? (13:10)— When does the “church plant” become a church? (19:00)— Who should leave a church to go with a plant? (20:00)— Do you have elders first, and then members? Or the other way around? (22:20)

In a few weeks, we’re releasing a new book, Conversion: How God Creates a People, in which Michael Lawrence makes the case that one’s doctrine of conversion has massive effects on one’s philosophy of ministry. In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Mark and Jonathan talk about this connection.SHOW NOTES:– What’s this new book Conversion about? Why is conversion one of the nine marks? (1:55)– How does conversion affect one’s philosophy of ministry and even preaching style? (5:30)– Do liberal Christians have a doctrine of conversion? Same-sex affirming churches? (7:10)– How does Genesis 3 inform our doctrine of conversion? (9:00)– Is the doctrine of conversion going to become more and more offensive? (14:40)– Biblically speaking, what is conversion? (15:40)– Does “belonging before believing” undermine a biblical doctrine of conversion? Open communion? Spontaneous baptisms? (17:20)– How does a biblical doctrine of conversion affect a pastor’s preaching? (20:00)– How is church discipline an implication of the doctrine of conversion? (23:00)

In a few weeks, we’re releasing a new book, Conversion: How God Creates a People, in which Michael Lawrence makes the case that one’s doctrine of conversion has massive effects on one’s philosophy of ministry. In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Mark and Jonathan talk about this connection.SHOW NOTES:– What’s this new book Conversion about? Why is conversion one of the nine marks? (1:55)– How does conversion affect one’s philosophy of ministry and even preaching style? (5:30)– Do liberal Christians have a doctrine of conversion? Same-sex affirming churches? (7:10)– How does Genesis 3 inform our doctrine of conversion? (9:00)– Is the doctrine of conversion going to become more and more offensive? (14:40)– Biblically speaking, what is conversion? (15:40)– Does “belonging before believing” undermine a biblical doctrine of conversion? Open communion? Spontaneous baptisms? (17:20)– How does a biblical doctrine of conversion affect a pastor’s preaching? (20:00)– How is church discipline an implication of the doctrine of conversion? (23:00)

One of the most important and time-consuming tasks for a church and its pastors involves receiving and releasing members, bringing them in and seeing them out. And yet, it's almost never talked about in books on the church or in seminary.To fill in this gap, Mark and Jonathan devoted this episode of Pastors' Talk to the one topic: receiving and releasing members.

One of the most important and time-consuming tasks for a church and its pastors involves receiving and releasing members, bringing them in and seeing them out. And yet, it's almost never talked about in books on the church or in seminary.To fill in this gap, Mark and Jonathan devoted this episode of Pastors' Talk to the one topic: receiving and releasing members.

In many evangelical churches, the public prayers are casual, short, and few. Is that a problem? How does this contemporary situation compare to the history of Protestant churches? How should pastors seek to reinvigorate their churches’ prayer practices?Jonathan sat down with Mark to discuss all these questions and more.SHOW NOTES:– In your experience, what does the public prayer look like in the average evangelical church? How does this compare historically? (:50)– Without impugning motives, why do churches play so little? (2:50)– Is there a pattern of corporate prayer in the Bible? (4:00)– Is a church being disobedient if they’re not giving ample time to corporate prayer? (5:25)– What does should the public prayer look like? What is a prayer of praise of confession? Should only men pray publicly? (6:30)– How should a pastor think through his “pastoral prayer” (14:00)?– This amount of prayer can be tough to get through for those not used to it. It slows people down and causes us to actively participate in a service. (21:00)– Why pray “we” not “I”? (24:45)– What about a Sunday evening prayer service? (25:15)