Have you ever stopped and wondered, “Am I in a good church?” Not “good” in the sense of how it interests or pleases you, but “good” in that it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing (according to the Bible). There is an abundance of churches and denominations today, but what makes a church “good”? We chat this week with Jonathan Leeman, the editorial director of the parachurch ministry called 9Marks. He helps guide us through what we should be looking for in a church, spending some time on the issue of “church discipline” as well. I think we can only benefit from listening to this conversation.

 

Who’s Our Guest?

Jonathan Leeman edits the 9Marks series of books as well as the 9Marks Journal. He is also the author of several books on the church. Since his call to ministry, Jonathan has earned a master of divinity from Southern Seminary, a Ph.D. in Ecclesiology from the University of Wales, and has worked as an interim pastor. He lives with his wife and four daughters in Cheverly, Maryland.

Episode Links

Jonathan’s latest book (published this year) is called Word Centered Church.

Also, the ministry Jonathan serves on is called 9Marks. You should definitely check out their site. They have tons of free resources to build up the church.

Read It

*Below is an edited transcription of the audio conversation.

With me today is author and editor Jonathan Leeman. Jonathan is the editorial director for 9Marks. It’s a ministry for the church, really. We’ll get into more about what 9Marks is in just a moment. First of all, thanks for being here today, Jonathan.

Thank you, Isaac.

Do you mind first sharing about how you became a Christian?

Yeah, sure. I grew up in a Christian home with faithful Christian parents who brought me to church and taught me the gospel. I would say, though, it was in my early 20s where I repented and believed. It was actually as a member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC in the late ’90s. I had joined the church because I understood the gospel, but it was as a member here that I think I truly began to understand repentance and faith in a way that the Spirit applied to my life, and to my heart, and to my understanding.

My life before that point had been characterized by living for the world in pursuit of pleasure. It was in those years, probably my early to mid-20s, working as a magazine editor here in town that my life changed and changed dramatically in the way that we think of as typifying conversion.

What does your kind of average day look like right now, because you’re this editorial director for this ministry, so what do you do?

Yeah. 9Marks exists to equip church leaders with a biblical vision and practical resources for building healthy churches. That means our primary audience is church leaders and pastors. We also, though, have a lot of resources for just regular church members as well, so they’re not completely outside of our purview, but primarily, we’re trying to reach church leaders.

My typical day is going to be spent either writing or editing. Occasionally, it’s traveling around and speaking, not too much though, that last bit, on different matters related to church life. Lately, I’ve been doing a monthly column in the Tabletalk Magazine and writing articles for that,