Reexamining the Pastoral Shortage Problem

W. Jackson Watts In recent years Free Will Baptist leaders on the state and national levels have highlighted the need for more pastors. Their urgency is understandable. According to one article by Executive Secretary Eddie Moody, 124 Free Will Baptist churches presently need pastors. [1] That number is…

Multi-Site Church Polity: Congregational or Episcopal?

Matthew Pinson Recently my pastor and colleague at Welch College, Jesse Owens, texted me a tweet by the eminent Australian evangelical scholar Michael Bird, who tweeted the following about multi-site churches: “Thesis: Multi-site churches are not congregational, they are episcopally governed, the senior minister is a de facto…

Clergy Sexual Abuse and Church Polity

Matt Pinson Recently my colleague Dr. Darrell Holley sent me a link to an article in First Things by Dale Coulter entitled “Evangelical Apocalypse.” The article is primarily about clergy sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention reported by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. It might…