KANSAS CITY, Mo—Advancing its longstanding partnership with 9Marks ministries, Midwestern Seminary will launch a redesigned 9Marks at Midwestern Conference in April 2026.
The new conference will be held biannually in the spring and will explore the full scope of 9Marks’ teaching on ecclesiology to equip pastors and seminary students for healthy church leadership.
“I am grateful for the new format of our 9Marks at Midwestern Conference,” said President Jason Allen. “It has been a joy to host these annual 9Marks conferences, each on a particular ‘mark,’ for the past several years. However, because our students are only with us for two to three years, they were only exposed to two or three marks during their time studying on campus. With this new model, our students will be exposed to all nine marks every other year. Ecclesiology is incredibly important for what we do, and this new model helps us further strengthen and equip our students and regional pastors to be for the Church.”
Mark Dever, president of 9Marks and senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., shared his encouragement in the partnership. “Midwestern Seminary has been a great partner for 9Marks in promoting gospel work in the heart of America. I look forward to this partnership continuing and even growing in the years to come. This conference is a crucial part of that partnership. I hope that pastors will come and be equipped and encouraged.”
Jonathan Leeman, who serves as editorial director for 9Marks, shared, “9Marks loves partnering with Midwestern Seminary. We share a common cause in the gospel as well as for building healthy churches in that gospel.” Sharing his hopes for the new conference structure, Leeman added, “The goal always is to help pastors build healthy churches.”
Led by Dever, who authored Nine Marks of a Healthy Church in 2000, 9Marks provides churches with books, resources, and training on nine biblical “marks” of a healthy church: expositional preaching, gospel doctrine, conversion and evangelism, church membership, church discipline, discipleship, church leadership, prayer, and missions.
“We have a lot of admiration for how 9Marks does things and how they view and practice ecclesiology,” said Tim Adams, director of Student Life and Events at Midwestern Seminary.
From 2018 to 2024, Midwestern Seminary and 9Marks have partnered to host six conferences at Midwestern Seminary for current and future ministry leaders. Each of the previous conferences has focused on a specific mark of healthy churches, covering the topics of expository preaching, biblical theology, the gospel, conversion, evangelism, and church membership.
Adams commended 9Marks for its work to support pastors with biblical and practical wisdom for church leadership. He said, “9Marks thinks very critically about the ecclesiology of the church—how the church is structured and how it functions,” adding, “9Marks helps people think through the aspects of what it is to guide, shepherd, and protect the church body.”
While past conferences focused on individual marks of local church ministry and mission, each conference under the new structure will explore all nine marks.
“In the past, we would take a topic and look at it from six or seven different angles through the plenary sessions,” Adams said. “But with this shift, each session will be unique.”
Sharing the vision for the new structure, Adams highlighted Midwestern Seminary’s mission to prepare students for faithful ministry in the church. “9Marks has really key information that’s helpful to setting up future pastors—our students—for success when they step into the role.” He added, “This setup gives them a great opportunity to have the full exposure to 9Marks and begin pursuing their own partnership and relationship with the 9Marks material to go deeper on the specifics.”
Adams also noted the continuing value of the conference for current pastors and ministry leaders, as they lead churches facing various needs and challenges depending on their context. He said, “The new structure allows us to platform 9Marks in a way that reaches everybody.”
The next 9Marks conference, and the first under the new structure, will be held in April 2026 on Midwestern Seminary’s campus in Kansas City. As with previous 9Marks at Midwestern conferences, the two-day event will feature plenary sessions followed by Q&A panel discussions where attendees can deepen their application of session content. Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman will continue to participate in teaching at each conference.
To be notified when registration opens for the 9Marks at Midwestern Conference in 2026, subscribe to Midwestern Seminary’s newsletter here.
