Capitol Hill Baptist Church — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable Mark Dever (Senior Pastor)

Founded 1878

Denomination Southern Baptist Convention

Service Times Sunday 9:00 AM & 11:00 AM; Sunday Evening 6:00 PM

Men's Ministry Yes

Kids Ministry Yes

Website www.capitolhillbaptist.org

Pastor Credentials Mark Dever: PhD, Cambridge University; MDiv, Gordon-Conwell; ThM, Southern Seminary; founder of 9Marks ministry; author ('Nine Marks of a Healthy Church', 'The Gospel and Personal Evangelism')

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

Christ alone as the only way of salvation. Nicene orthodoxy without compromise.

Strong

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

Inerrancy affirmed. Dever's entire 9Marks ministry is built on the sufficiency and authority of Scripture for church life.

Strong

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

Strong small group and discipleship culture. Men discipling men is embedded in church practice.

Strong

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

Reformed soteriology. Justification by faith alone through grace alone. Clear gospel presentations.

Strong

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

Complementarian with strong male headship. Male-only elders and pastors. Dever has been a leading voice for complementarianism in the SBC.

Complementarian with strong male headship — male-only elders and pastors; Dever is a leading voice for complementarianism

Strong

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

Model church for healthy church polity. Elder-led, congregationally governed. 9Marks has trained thousands of pastors in biblical church structure.

Strong

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Homepage confirms Mark Dever as sermon contributor (April 2026 message 'Preaching to Magicians and Politicians'); relationship-driven ministry and Core Seminars adult education emphasized — consistent with 9Marks ecclesiology.

Strong

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

Church planting emphasis. The church has sent out dozens of church planters and pastors. Global missions focus.

Strong

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

No DEI/CRT accommodation. Dever focuses on gospel primacy and biblical fidelity without cultural compromise. | GREEN signal: *** INITIAL SIGNER (one of the founding 153) *** Pastor Mark Dever is a public signatory of "The Nashville Statement on Biblical Sexuality" (CBMW, 2017-08-25, cbmw.org/nashville-statement). The Nashville Statement is the post-2017 evangelical line on biblical anthropology, marriage, and sexual ethics — affirming creation order, one-man-one-woman marriage, and biblical sexuality. Signing places the pastor on the orthodox / non-affirming side of the 2017 evangelical fault line.

Strong

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

SBC affiliation, 9Marks ministry, complementarian male elders, Reformed soteriology, and expository preaching are all consistent with Dever's well-documented public ministry; homepage does not recap all doctrinal details but nothing contradicts prior GREEN assessment.

Strong

Assessment

Capitol Hill Baptist Church under Mark Dever is arguably the most influential model church in America for healthy church practices. The 9Marks ministry has shaped thousands of churches worldwide in areas of expository preaching, biblical theology, church membership, discipline, discipleship, and elder leadership. Dever holds a Cambridge PhD and combines rigorous scholarship with warm pastoral care. CHBC practices meaningful church membership, regular church discipline, and intentional discipleship. GREEN — this is a gold-standard church for MOOP's rubric.

#sbc#reformed#9marks#mark-dever#expository#church-health#washington-dc#complementarian#dc#capitol-hill#landmark#founding-1878#cambridge#nashville-statement-signer#nashville-statement-initial-signer#reviewed-2026-04-27

Pastor Signatures & Affiliations [Orthodox-aligned signatures]

Public statement signatures and organizational affiliations of this church's named pastors. "People is policy" — these are evidence-weighted signals about doctrinal trajectory, not the sole determinant of any rating.

Nashville Statement

Mark Dever

Source: cbmw.org — hover for details

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

Gold-standard SBC/9Marks. Stays green.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source capitolhillbaptist.org

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.