How Jesus Runs the Church

“For much of the contemporary evangelical world, the idea that our Lord established a visible church is either unknown or dismissed. Those of us, however, who continue to believe that when Jesus said “tell it to the church” he envisioned and intended the establishment of an organized institution will thank Dr. Waters for this thoughtful work.”

“In the nineteenth century practically every professor at a Presbyterian seminary wrote about pastoral theology and ecclesiology. Why seminary faculty no longer do so is a mystery but Guy Waters has attempted a remedy to this conundrum by drawing on the wealth of material that Presbyterian theologians crafted for the sake of their communions. They were not simply arguing for the importance of Presbyterian polity but were also looking to Scripture for instruction on how Christ wanted his church ordered. This is a timely book that should be read by all officers in the church (and those who aspire to office). It may even launch a twenty-first century recovery of the ecclesiology that Presbyterians defended and maintained as part of their effort to build churches that are Reformed according to the Word.”

“One of the Reformed community's finest contemporary biblical scholars. . . . I heartily recommend this book and hope that for many years it will strengthen our understanding and practice of biblical church government.”

“A compelling reminder that the health of the church is inescapably tied to its polity, and that submission to biblical church government is essential to the rightly ordered Christian life.”