Book Review: Healthy Plurality=Durable Church by Dave Harvey

Healthy Plurality=Durable Church

How To Build And Maintain A Healthy Plurality of Elders

by Dave Harvey

“The quality of your plurality determines the health of your church.” Dave Harvey

Dave Harvey is right: “A healthy plurality equals a healthy church.” Sadly, healthy pluralities are an endangered beauty. The more common reality is unhealthy (Or nonexistent) pluralities that have lead to unhealthy churches. When a church functions in an unbiblical way at the leadership level, the inevitable result will be a wake of confusion and pain for the members. I have consoled countless numbers of people, pastors and laypeople alike, who have been burned by bad church leadership. Pastors and church members need accessible resources that can clear up the muddy waters created by leadership gone bad. We need 1) definitions and 2) how to’s that are clear and Biblical. That is why I am so thankful for the Dave Harvey’s new book Healthy Plurality=Healthy Church.

Definitions

It is clear from the beginning of this book that Dave Harvey believes in the authority of the Bible. He does a fantastic job of defending and defining Biblical plurality. The reader is taken to the word. After all, we don’t need definitions of eldership from anywhere else! He says “The term “Plurality” simply reflects the scriptural evidence that the New Testament churches were lead by more than one leader.” He goes on to show 7 reasons why plurality is the foundational leadership model for the church.

But everything that has value also has its counterfeits. Chapter one concludes with a few examples of counterfeit pluralities and the confusion they cause. He says “Plurality is one of those words where teams can use the vocabulary but really don’t understand the language. This lack of clarity creates dangerous leadership cultures that praise the principle but misapply the practice.” Dave’s honesty about his personal journey and about these so-called versions of plurality will have the reader thinking “Yup! Been there! Seen that!” Harvey’s Biblical definitions are clarifying and helpful.

How To’s 

The next three chapters are titled 2)Principles 3)Process and 4) Practices of Plurality. For the sake of brevity, I want to combine these three chapters into one observation. Harvey lays out practical how to’s as opposed to highly pragmatic methods. It is difficult to write a how-to book that does not reek of arrogance.  Books on leadership practices can easily get bogged down by pragmatic overload filled with vain promises. That is not what this book is. With wit and wisdom, Dave Harvey gives us the nuts and bolts of building and maintaining healthy plurality for the sake of healthy churches that last. He covers topics like mutual submission, true accountability, soul care within the plurality, care for the congregation, what an elder meeting looks like, how first among equals really works, unity within the plurality, and so much more. It was clear to me, Dave agenda was to help pluralities and churches and not to promote his way of doing things. 

Who It’s For
I can’t recommend this book highly enough! Clearly, this book is for pastoral teams, but this book is not only for pastors. I will be recommending this book to those brothers and sisters I know who have been beat up by bad church leaders. It will do much good for them.

Compared With
This book is not intended to be a full study of Biblical Eldership like Alexander Strauch work. It is more comparable to Church Elders by Jeramie Rinne. Healthy Plurality=Durable Church is a small e-book put out by Sojourn Network that is more specifically geared toward the how to’s of Eldership.