Mark Dever Gives Up Power To Have Influence

 By Warren Cole Smith - Posted at MinistryWatch:

Published December 22, 2023

For a growing church to intentionally plant another church, which inevitably has the effect of reducing its own size and financial resources—at least temporarily—is an act of sacrifice and humility. I have come to believe that it is also essential for the spread of the Gospel.

I think that’s especially true in an era in which the institutional church is facing a crisis in confidence and the number of churches is in decline.

For the leadership of a church to make such a decision – to plant new churches – also sends a powerful message to the congregation and to the community that its goal is not the accumulation of power or wealth, but the enlarging of the kingdom of God. For the leadership of such a church, that decision also often translates to giving up income and political or denominational power.

But it is hard to imagine, if God’s Word about such matters is true, that such an intentional dying to self will not yield fruit. In 1 Corinthians 15:36, Paul explained that a seed will not germinate unless it first dies. The multiplying of the church appears to require a similar death, but it is a particular kind of death, the death of personal ambition, a relinquishing of what Friedrich Nietzsche called the “will to power.”

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