Assuming Too Much? Going Deeper on Church Membership
W. Jackson Watts When the Commission for Theological Integrity published an essay about church membership in its inaugural edition of De Doctrina, it wasn’t a random decision. It revealed a collective sense that the doctrine of the church (ecclesiology) has been too often neglected in the National Association…
More Insights on Feet Washing
Theological Commission In 2006, our Commission Chairman published what many of us have come to see as the go-to book on feet washing, The Washing of the Saints’ Feet (Randall House). A few years after its publication, Pinson was interviewed about this book by Robert Vaughn. Given the…
Why Membership Matters More Than Ever
W. Jackson Watts I’m often reluctant to speak of things “mattering more than ever.” These kinds of statements tend to ignore historical precedents and other factors that make our own times less unique than we imagine. Take pandemics as an example. Plague and pestilence were present in many…
15 Factors Contributing to the Pastoral Shortage Problem
by W. Jackson Watts This past March I published an article entitled “Reexamining the Pastoral Shortage Problem.” If social media and WordPress metrics are any indication, it struck a nerve. I view this as an affirmation that most readers agree that there is a shortage in available pastors,…
On C.S. Lewis and Denominational Survival
Matthew Pinson (This post originally appeared at matthewpinson.com) I recently read an address C. S. Lewis gave to a group of Anglican priests and youth leaders in 1945. It reminded me of what many of us in the Free Will Baptist Church have been thinking lately: Falling all…