Where Do We Go from Here?

09 Monday Feb 2026

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Christian Living, Methodist History, Ministry, United Methodism

Tags

Aaron Renn, Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church, Christian formation, Christian Smith, Christianity, demographics, John Wesley, Methodism, Negative World, Ryan Burge, Wesley

This is a question that is good and healthy for people and institutions to ask periodically.

This question became acute for churches that left their denominations of many years, often due to the presenting issue of same sex marriage. This has happened across mainline denominations. Perhaps the most public recent separation was within the UMC.

I am now on staff at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. Asbury was for years the largest United Methodist Church in its Annual Conference.

Since leaving the UMC, Asbury has been in a season of discernment about the future after leaving the United Methodist Church.

Where do we go from here?

The presenting issue for the era of disaffiliation from the UMC was the decades long denominational infighting over sexual ethics, particularly same sex marriage. The breaking point, however, was when it became clear that the bureaucracy of the UMC was willing to nullify the decisions of General Conference when it disagreed with them by simply ignoring them or refusing to enforce them. The decision of bishops and other UMC leaders to impose their judgment over that of General Conference shattered the polity of the UMC, which was the very mechanism that was designed to protect unity in the midst of deep disagreement.

Some orthodox United Methodists could live with the official teaching of the church being one thing on paper and another thing “in real life” happening with no consequence.

I was not one of them.

On the other side of disaffiliation, United Methodism swiftly changed its position on sexual ethics so that its actions are now consistent with its practice. This brought the advantage of consistency and coherence. But it came at the expense of faithfulness to the clear teaching of Scripture at the main pressure point of the present cultural moment.

Some orthodox United Methodist could live with this. I don’t understand how.

If you believe that same sex marriage is not a thing that the Triune God can bless, then I do not understand how you can be “in connection” with a denomination where clergy say that God does bless them and where they regularly occur. The idea that one can be United Methodist and unimpacted by this because it does not happen in your church is either foolish or intellectually dishonest. It is at best incoherent with the basic meaning and purpose of a denomination.

Where do we go from here?

I want to talk about a recent post from Ryan Burge that brings urgency to this question. In fact, it suggests that we don’t have much time left to decide where we are going. And though I will highlight data that relates to the United Methodist Church, the UMC is not the point of this post. I would guess that the Global Methodist Church, the denomination born out of the disaffiliations from the UMC earlier this decade, is probably in a similar position as the UMC is. (Burge does not include date for the GMC in his piece.)

Most importantly, for my focus, Burge’s data is relevant to my own church. We generally fit the picture he shows.

If you are not already familiar with Ryan Burge’s work, you should be. Burge is professor of practice at the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University.

He is one of the very few positive examples I can think of where a person has gained a significant platform on social media by delivering consistently thoughtful and nuanced content, particularly regarding the contemporary church. Burge’s work is focused on demographic data, analyzing trends, and pointing to implications for the church.

His recent post “When Are Half Your Members Going to be Dead?” has given urgency to the question: Where do we go from here?

Are we presuming we have a future, despite all evidence to the contrary?

The heart of Burge’s post is showing how top heavy in terms of age most Protestant denominations are.

I’ll use the UMC to illustrate, but you can see the details of other denominations in the two images I’ve included.

Look how few members in any of these denominations are young. Not one of the 20 denominations listed has more than 50% of its members under 44 years old. In the UMC, only 16% are 18-44.

Burge emphasizes this age range in his article because this is the age range of fertility, broadly speaking. That is, the rest of the folks in the group are not going to be adding to membership by giving birth to children.

He does not unpack this in his post, but another angle of this is the theology, views and values around life itself, and starting families (how soon and how big). The more progressive the denomination, the more likely it is that the fertility rate will be lower even within the age range of fertility.

21% of the membership of the UMC is between 45-59, which is more than 18-44 combined. And, at 43%, there are more than double the number of people who are 60-74 than 45-59. (And there are 8x as many 60-74 year olds as 18-29 year olds.) 63% of the UMC is 60 years and up.

This represents a demographic crisis.

I want to pause here. I doubt very many United Methodists read my work anymore. I suspect there are a lot of people who read this who are not fond of the UMC. And I think this kind of data brings a tremendous temptation to self-congratulation.

“See, this is why we left?”

And I suspect for most people reading this, you would be completely missing the point.

Is your tribe different?

Self-congratulations, posturing, or denial won’t accomplish anything positive.

I am thinking about this because this has been a topic of conversation among the staff at Asbury Church, where I serve.

So, to be as clear as I can be about the point of this post: This is not a post to celebrate the seeming demise of others.

The point is to be in touch with reality so we can ask the question I started with:

Where do we go from here?

Let’s start by stating the obvious:

If the denominations Burge lists do not figure out how to grow younger, they don’t have a future.

That is a descriptive statement, not a moral argument.

We are all mortal. I will die someday. And if no one comes behind me, the thing that I am part of will not exist anymore.

I am worried that older people will be offended by what I write. Please understand me. Age is not a moral issue. It is not immoral to grow old. It is just what happens.

But if an institution consists of primarily senior citizens and is no longer able to reach young people, then it is dying.

This is all the more difficult to talk about in a healthy way because our culture idolizes youth in ways that are damaging to young people and can invalidate the worth and value of older people. The older we are, the more likely we are to experience acutely the limitations of our bodies.

As we age, moving our bodies becomes more painful.

To young people who do not experience significant pain:

Take time to notice the literal physical pain some of the older members at your church endure to simply come to church. There are people who show heroic courage, strength, and grit by showing up. This will humble you and help you not take your own body for granted. Perhaps it will even encourage you to not take gathering with the faithful for worship for granted.

To older people:

I say to you with love, I know that talking about this can be uncomfortable. It is not at all my intent to signal that you are unimportant or lacking in value. Not at all! You are the reason we are here! My hope for you is that if you turn your hearts towards reaching the next generation (and many of you already have!), you will gain peace and joy knowing that reinforcements are coming and the mission you have given your life to will continue after your death.

This applies to me.

We are all moving towards the grave. We all ought to humble ourselves and learn from those who have gone before us. And we should all do all that we can to build up, strengthen, encourage, and bless those who are coming after us.

One of the reasons work like what Ryan Burge is doing is helpful and interesting is because it provides a more neutral way to talk about the future. It is hard to ignore or deny that a problem is coming when you look at the second image from Burge’s article.

There is, however, at least one obvious sign of hope for the future. Did you notice that there is one major exception? Look at the Church of Christ.

21% of the Church is 18-29. 27% are 30-44. This means that 48% of the Church of Christ is in the peak fertility range! It also means that the largest percentage in any one of the five age ranges is a tie for 30-44 and 60-74. So, there is a significant generational balance. It gets better. The third largest group is the youngest. Look at the Church of Christ in the second graph. You don’t want a long thin tail, as so many of the denominations included have.

You want, at a minimum, the people coming behind to be able to replace the people and resources of those who are ahead.

It took a lot of spadework to get to this point. Now, I want to share a few thoughts about this information. Fair warning, it may feel more discouraging before there is hope. But I am writing this post because I do feel hope for the future. I believe the Lord has already given us the way forward, if we would have the courage to take it.

My first thought comes from reading Aaron Renn’s Life in the Negative World and Christian Smith’s Why Religion Went Obsolete. These books are both crucial for thinking about evangelism and discipleship in the contemporary church.

I’ve mentioned Renn’s work here before. Renn argues that we live in “Negative World,” where elite culture is opposed to the core claims and commitments of the gospel. I think he is right. (I wrote a review of Life in the Negative World here.)

Rev. Andrew Forrest, the Senior Pastor at Asbury Church where I work, has written a book that show how to avoid being passive and victims in Negative World and move forward. Hint: Forrest gives away the core concept in his book’s brilliant title: Love Goes First. (I wrote a review of Love Goes First here.)

You should read all three of these books. The church desperately needs leaders who are doing the deep work to think about the times in which we live and who refuse to settle for running plays that worked in the 1950s but simply do not work today.

Here is how reading and thinking about these things came through in reading Ryan Burge’s post:

The work before the church is going to be extremely, nearly impossibly, difficult.

There is so much that could be said here. I’ll say three quick things to illustrate how hard this is going to be.

First, the Baby Boomer Generation is literally a one-of-a-kind event. The really wide parts of the second image represent this generation. There are just less people at each age behind the Baby Boomers. So that is the first demographic reality that makes this extremely difficult.

Second, over the past thirty years the dominant culture has shifted dramatically. In the years immediately following World War II, there was cultural pressure to be a member of a Christian church in the United States. Sometime in the 1990s that shifted to neutral, neither positive nor negative. And in the mid-2010s that shifted further to negative cultural pressure. So, when the Baby Boomer Generation was around my age, there were cultural incentives, or social pressures on people to go to church. Today, with this major loss of members coming in the next 10-15 years, there are negative incentives, negative social pressure on people becoming followers of Jesus.

Put simply: It is harder to “make” a convert today than it was fifty years ago.

Third, the institutions that represent these groups are sick and dying. In other words, they are not in a place to lead a resurgence or a renewal. They might have been able to do that back when I was in seminary when professors at the mainline liberal seminary I attended talked about the coming “death tsunami” that was headed for the UMC.

One of the things we talk about all the time at Asbury Church is how hard it is going to be going forward. We are looking for others who share a sense of urgency about figuring out how to lead and move forward “for such a time as this.” Figuring out how to reach people my age and younger is urgent and has to be the top priority for every church or they will not have a future.

As I was looking at Burge’s charts in a staff meeting at Asbury, someone brought the focus back to the Church of Christ: “Why are they different?”

I don’t know much about the Church of Christ. But I do know that sociologists have found that there is something of a law of church growth in the United States. I first came across this in the fantastic book The Churching of America, 1776-2005 by Roger Finke and Rodney Stark.

Here is the law of church growth in the United States:

High expectation, high demand churches grow. Low expectation, low demand churches decline.

I am sure that the Church of Christ, especially compared to the other denominations Burge includes, is a high expectation and high demand church.

I spent a decade trying to get United Methodists to move away from sloppy nonsense like “open hearts, open minds, open doors.”

Methodism has grown when it has had clear expectations of its members and enforced them. It has declined when it has not.

The Methodist Episcopal Church grew from the smallest Protestant denomination in the U.S. to the largest by far from 1776 to 1850. (See The Churching of America for details.) And during this time, you were required to attend a weekly small group meeting to remain a member. If you missed more than three times in a quarter, you were removed from membership. There was a document that outlined the lifestyle expectations for members in terms of sins to be avoided, concrete actions that expressed love of neighbor, and insisted on a disciplined practice of the means of grace (practices like Bible reading, prayer, worship, holy communion, and fasting).

This is not the only way early Methodism was a high expectation, high demand church. Read my book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States for a detailed account.

Today, in many churches you can join a church by standing up for a few moments during a worship service and making a few vows. And you won’t be removed from membership even if you don’t keep any of the vows you made.

As I’ve thought about where we are and where we are going, it is just so obvious: This is going to be really difficult.

In Negative World, there are no longer any incentives for people to come to a church that is more a social club than a place that is focused on Jesus Christ and helping people meet him and give their lives to him as not only savior, but Lord of their lives.

There are a variety of ways you can miss the mark in terms of high expectation and high demand. Cults, for example, are high expectation and high demand. They provide a clear sense of belonging and identity. But they do not make disciples of Jesus Christ.

You can also miss the mark by jettisoning any attempt to be Christian and simply be an activist organization. Many college students and young adults are finding meaning and identity in protest and advocacy that is cult-like in terms of the demands it makes and the all-encompassing sense of belonging and identity it gives (or demands).

When Methodism was at its best, it was a high expectation and high demand church. It was focused on the gospel and was built to ensure that no one lost sight of growing in concrete practical discipleship to Jesus Christ.

You did not have to be a member of Methodism.

But you could not be a member of Methodism in name only.

John Wesley and those who carried on his work from one generation to the next into at least the mid-nineteenth century were marked by a commitment to basic doctrine, spirit, and discipline.

Here is how John Wesley put it in the last years of his life:

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out. (J. Wesley, “Thoughts Upon Methodism”)

I wrote a 400-page book about what this meant and how true it has been in the history of the Wesleyan tradition in the United States.

And I have never been more convinced that this is true than I am today.

One of the things that consistently amazes me about people at my church is their desire to grow. They want to be faithful. And they are eager to be led. It is so encouraging.

In Negative World, this will only become truer.

People who come to our churches will want to know if Jesus is real and if he can make a difference in their lives. When they come to faith, they will want to learn how to follow Jesus. Nominal Christianity doesn’t make sense anymore, especially to younger people.

So, where do we go from here?

We must become churches that are serious about discipleship and formation.

The bad news is: This will not be easy. In part because the truth is that many of our churches have not been most concerned about discipleship and formation. This means that in addition to the work of building, we also have work to reform, redirect, and change.

The good news is Jesus is real. Everyone knows the Great Commission from Matthew 28. We may need to especially remember the very last sentence of Matthew’s Gospel: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are not alone. We have never been alone.

Church leaders, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Let’s get to it.

“His words have the disadvantage of not being true.”

30 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Christian Living

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Tags

Bible, Christianity, church, faith, Jesus

A sentence I read in a book has had me thinking about something I think should be a strong value for pastors (and all Christians).

We should have a basic concern for the truth.

We should not say things that obscure the truth.

I’ve been thinking about this as a result of reading Thomas G. Long’s Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral.

(Though this post is focused on something that is largely tangential to this book, I want to say that this is a really good book. I recommend it for thinking about death, funerals, and memorial services.)

I chuckled when I read this sentence:

“If that is what he meant, his words have the disadvantage of not being true.”

Here is the broader context for this quote:

The pastor’s affirmation that the deceased would “never be forgotten,” though commonly said at funerals, is also ambiguous. Probably he meant to offer comfort by implying that, even though the deceased is now dead and gone, not all is lost, because the memory of his life and good works will live among us always. If that is what he meant, his words have the disadvantage of not being true. Cemeteries are full of the graves of people no one remembers any longer. If the deceased are of value only if we the living can keep their memory alive, then we are to be pitied. As the psalmist truly says, “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more” (Ps. 103:15-16). [p. 97]

Long points out the way in which the sentence is not true either practically or theologically.

You don’t have to think very hard about the idea that someone who has just died will “never be forgotten” to realize it is untrue. People say it because they believe it will be comforting. But it isn’t true. And that is actually a big deal.

We should not try to comfort people by telling them things that are not true.

Though doubtless well-intentioned, the statement is also theologically problematic. Long continues:

“The gospel does not place the burden on the living to keep alive the spiritual flame of memory. Rather, it affirms that the deceased is now raised to new life and sings in the great choir of the communion of saints standing in the presence of God. Only in this way, only in the life of God, is the deceased “never forgotten.” [p. 98]

One of the most important roles of a pastor is a persistent determination to tell the truth and point people away from confusion, deception, and outright lies.

This is easy when we catch someone telling a lie to hide the truth in an intentional way. Most people still know that is wrong.

The more pressing challenge is to think more carefully about what we are saying about reality and ask if it is really true.

Too often, the things that are said by Christian leaders sound nice and there is a syrupy and superficial promise of bringing comfort.

But they have the disadvantage of not being true.

Pastors should be more like medical doctors in this regard.

If your doctor discovers that you have a serious illness, they will tell you even though they know it will make you feel bad. They don’t do this because they like it. They do it because it is their job to tell you the truth about the reality of your health.

Too often, especially in mainline Protestant contexts, pastors have acted as if their highest calling was to make people feel better.

But, again, this has the disadvantage of not being true.

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States.Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

The Best Book on How to Become a Disciple of Jesus

21 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Christian Living

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Bible, Christianity, Dallas Willard, discipleship, Divine Conspiracy, faith, Jesus, Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, Parable of the Treasure in the Field, Parables

When people come to my office, they often comment on the number of books I have.

I think the most common question I am asked is:

Have you actually read all of these?

The answer is a definite no.

As many times as I’ve been asked that question, there is a question a pastor asked me once that I remember vividly, I think because the question was so wise:

Of all of these books, if you could only recommend I read one, which one would it be?

What a great question! It was simple and profound.

I also had a bit of a “All of my children are my favorite moment” before realizing that books are not at all children.

I was surprised at how hard this question was for me to answer. I probably sat and thought about it for a full minute (which is really a long time when someone is standing in front of you waiting on your answer).

My final answer was Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. That question was asked and answered about five years ago.

As part of the Asbury Fellows Program, I lead a discussion of a book with the Fellows each month. And this week we discussed Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy, which gave me the chance to reread it for the first time in many years.

I am so thankful that this book, which I first read when I was in college, did not let me down when I returned to it nearly thirty years after it was first published.

Willard diagnosed some basic places where the American church had lost its way and worked to bring her back to health and wholeness.

I would say that The Divine Conspiracy is the best, and most demanding, book on discipleship to Jesus Christ I have ever read.

If you have not read this book, you should stop what you are doing and order it right now.

I may return to this book here over the coming weeks because there is so much here worthy of emphasis and reflection.

For now, I want to share one key piece that has stood out to me since reading it.

In the last third of the book, Willard describes something that really gets at the foundation of our faith. We really can’t move on, at least not in a productive and healthy way, until we really get this. Or, perhaps, we literally will not move forward until we do.

This a long quote, but it is so good:

There are many people who would like to be the constant student and co-laborer with Jesus in all the details of their lives. Many of these are professing Christians; some are not. But in either case, living as an apprentice with Jesus in The Kingdom Among Us is usually not something that seems accessible to them. No wonder, then, that practical, experimental steps seem to be lacking. They do not really understand what discipleship to him is, and it therefore remains only a distant, if beautiful, ideal.

It is now generally acknowledged, as we have noted, that one can be a professing Christian and a church member in good standing without being a disciple. There is, apparently, no real connection between being a Christian and being a disciple of Jesus. And this is bound to be rather confusing to a person who would like to be a disciple. For what exactly would one do who didn’t intend to go into “full-time Christian service” but still wanted to be a disciple in something like the sense just outlined?

I believe we can identify definite steps that will prove effective. But before discussing them we need to be quite clear about our preliminary objective. Because, as we have seen, a disciple of Jesus is one who is with Jesus, learning to be like him, what, we must ask, is the state of soul that would bring us to choose that condition? What would be the thinking, the convictions about reality, that would lead someone to choose discipleship to him?

Obviously one would feel great admiration and love, would really believe that Jesus is the most magnificent person who has ever lived. One would be quite sure that to belong to him, to be taken into what he is doing throughout this world so that what he is doing becomes your life, is the greatest opportunity one will ever have. (291-2)

In the next section, Willard points to two of Jesus’s parables that “illustrate the condition of soul that leads to becoming a disciple.” These are the parable of the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price. They are found in Matthew 13:44 -46. Here they are:

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

These two very short parables contain a foundational truth about Christian discipleship. If you miss it and move forward, you will most likely build a form of Pharisaic works-righteousness rather than the kind of relationship with Jesus that he himself desires.

And this is where Willard is just stunningly excellent. Read this slowly:

These little stories perfectly express the condition of soul in one who chooses life in the kingdom with Jesus. The sense of the goodness to be achieved by that choice, of the opportunity that may be missed, the love for the value discovered, the excitement and joy over it all, is exactly the same as it was for those who were drawn to Jesus in those long-ago days when he first walked among us. It is also the condition of soul from which discipleship can be effectively chosen today. (292)

Like the parables of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price, the “deal” is so good you don’t even think about whether you want to take it. You immediately gather up everything you need to be sure you get the bargain.

It is that stunningly good.

It is entirely to your benefit.

It is a blessing.

It is a joy to receive.

It is like the most ridiculously good Christmas a child could ever imagine.

And the offer of life with Jesus is real!

And it is, indeed, entirely to our benefit.

If it seems otherwise, we have not yet fully understood, much less received, the full gospel. Jesus is not trying to pull one over on us. He is not trying to take good things from us that we must grit our teeth and give him anyway, because eternity is at stake.

Jesus offer us life and life abundant.

He is exceedingly good.

He is unimaginably generous.

This is wonderful news. But there is a tinge of sadness as I think about this. And that is because the good news of Jesus is so much better than many of his own followers have realized.

Underground Seminary: Love Goes First with Rev. Andrew Forrest

08 Wednesday Oct 2025

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Christian Living, Ministry, Underground Seminary

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church, Asbury Theological Seminary, Bible, Christianity, church, faith, Jesus, Love Goes First, Underground Seminary

Underground Seminary is back!

The first events we have done have been so fun! And I am more excited about this conversation than any that we’ve had yet. I can’t wait!

Francis Asbury statue at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK

What is Underground Seminary?

There are some things that don’t fit in courses I teach, or perhaps even in the seminary curriculum at all, that people preparing to lead in the local church need to wrestle with, think about, or just have someone tell them. There are also conversations that I want to have with people who are preparing to in the church that I think will be helpful to them and I don’t know where they would fit in specific classes.

In my role for Asbury Church, I’m still interested in shaping pastors. So, I have been working on optional, not-for-credit, opportunities that typically come alongside classes I am teaching for Asbury Theological Seminary. I’m calling these special events “Underground Seminary.”

Underground Seminary is for people preparing to lead in the church who are hungry to learn and grow. They want to gain as much wisdom and experience as they can from as many different places as possible as they are prepared and equipped to lead.

I’m most excited to work with people who know God has more for them and they are going after it. Underground Seminary is for these people.

Our next Underground Seminary meeting:

Rev. Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church’s senior pastor, will lead our next Underground Seminary on his new book Love Goes First.

Yesterday was the official release date for Love Goes First. I believe in the message of this book and I am really excited for this book to be out in the world. (If you can’t make it to this event, you should still buy the book!)

I wrote a review of the book, last week. Here is an excerpt from my review:

Here is the unique challenge facing the American church today: For the first time ever, we are faced with reaching a culture that has been exposed to the gospel and is largely built on Christian foundations but is now post-Christian. As Forrest puts it, “It is certainly nothing new for the church to be hated… but it is unprecedented for the church to be hated by a culture that once used to honor and respect it.” (8-9)

And so, Love Goes First is “about how we, as American Christians, can reach the people who believe we are the problem, those who hate us and all we stand for.” (7)

Here is the big idea of the book:

“If you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.” (10)

Read the review here.

Andrew is a brilliant strategic thinker about the local church and its role in the world. He has boldness and courage that I admire. He is willing to do the deep work it takes to get to clarity about hard things and big ideas.

If you are a pastor or want to be a church leader, Andrew is someone you should learn from. He has a proven track record as a church planter, leader, and pastor.

To give just one example: In his first three years here at Asbury Church, in person attendance has increased by nearly 25%.

This Underground Seminary gives you the opportunity to hear from Andrew in a smaller more intimate setting than the places he typically speaks. I think this will be challenging, convicting, and fun.

How to join us:

This Underground Seminary will be Thursday November 6^th from 12:00 – 2:30pm here at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. Those who register will receive lunch and a copy of Love Goes First. Registration is $10. You can register by emailing amiller@asburytulsa.org. You will receive details on the exact location after you register. Deadline to RSVP is October 30^th.

This event is sponsored by Asbury Church. This should be obvious, but lunch and a copy of the book will cost the church more than $10 per person – the book itself is currently $18.78 on Amazon. The point of having a cost of registration is that when people have skin in the game, they tend to follow through and show up. In other words, you can get a copy of the book for basically half price and a free lunch! The church is not making money off of this event. Rather, we are investing in you because we are committed to raising up the next generation of leaders for the church.

There is a lot of mystery and chance in the world of publishing. It is very difficult to predict the success of a new publication. I don’t know if Love Goes First will get the kind of boost needed for it to become a spectacular commercial success. I do know it is the rare book that is worthy of a wide reading. Love Goes First is on the short list of the most important books I’ve read in my ministry career. I think this book is going to be a catalyst for bringing together a new network of Christian leaders who are willing to step into the unknown and risk everything for the Gospel for such a time as this.

Let’s go!

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

Love Goes First – A Prophetic Word for Such a Time as This

30 Tuesday Sep 2025

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Christian Living

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Andrew Forrest, Asbury Church, Book Review

The Rev. Andrew Forrest has written Love Goes First: Reaching Others in an Age of Anxiety and Division and it is easily one of the ten most important books I have read in the past decade.

Love Goes First offers penetrating cultural analysis. Andrew does the best job of anyone I’ve seen of providing a roadmap for the times in which we are living. I have read a fair amount of cultural analysis that leaves me feeling discouraged, pessimistic, and hopeless. Basically, the feeling I’m left with is: Why even try?

Almost as bad, may worse actually, is cultural analysis that is thin, overly optimistic, and obviously in denial about the seriousness of the challenges we are facing.

More importantly than offering an accurate diagnosis of where we are, Andrew points us to the way forward. On the one hand, Andrew is honest about the challenges facing the church, which can be sobering. On the other hand, he refuses to be a victim of circumstances beyond his control.

I have seen quite a bit of hand wringing about problems facing American Christians in our cultural moment. I have not seen nearly as much positive and proactive guidance on how to move forward that does not somehow involve putting our heads in the sand.

Here is the unique challenge facing the American church today: For the first time ever, we are faced with reaching a culture that has been exposed to the gospel and is largely built on Christian foundations but is now post-Christian. As Forrest puts it, “It is certainly nothing new for the church to be hated… but it is unprecedented for the church to be hated by a culture that once used to honor and respect it.” (8-9)

And so, Love Goes First is “about how we, as American Christians, can reach the people who believe we are the problem, those who hate us and all we stand for.” (7)

Here is the big idea of the book that Andrew unpacks over the following chapters:

“If you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.” (10)

Some people will miss just how profound that statement is because they will think they already know it. So many of the most important truths in life are obvious when they are stated, but their deep impact comes from the commitment to live according to reality.

It is living according to the way things are that is difficult and potent.

“If you want to change the world, you have to go first, because love goes first.”

This requires willingness to be rejected. It requires willingness to be hurt emotionally, perhaps even physically.

Andrew is a wordsmith. And this book has so many truth bombs sprinkled throughout. Here are a few:

“Young people interviewed on the street might applaud our accommodationist values, but they would never come to our churches.” (48)

“Accommodation would mean a church without distinctiveness, judgment would mean a church without success, withdrawal would mean a church without purpose. What do we do now? Our only option is to move forward…. to go first.” (68)

“One of the great problems with contemporary higher education is that our young people are being permanently infantilized because we are teaching them to prioritize feelings above facts, a manner of instruction that will ultimately benefit neither them nor us.” (77)

“Going first as I use the phrase is not about you at all: It’s about the other.” (116)

“The Bible’s understanding of love is exactly opposite to that of the world.” (135)

“Going first comes with a cost. The love of God, though freely given, was indescribably costly to give. The same is true for us – yes, going first has the power to change the world, but it is going to cost us everything.” (179)

“If you decide to go first, you will get hurt. It will sting. You’ll be misunderstood.” (187)

These quotes give you a taste of the seriousness of this book. Andrew is not playing games. He is not tickling ears. This book is a product of years of leadership in the church and reflection on how fast things have changes over the past decade or so.

Love Goes First is the battle plan for how Christians can turn the tide in a time of increased hostility and even persecution in our day. The book does not offer wishful thinking for people who just want everything to get better without having any skin in the game or having to risk anything.

My prayer is that Love Goes First will serve as a wakeup call to the American Church. My experience in my own part of the American church has been so insular, petty, and obsessed with denominational fighting that I think the enemy has been using it to keep the church focused on itself and distracted from its central mission.

In all times and all places, the church is called to reach everyone, everywhere, and teach them everything Jesus has taught us. (This is how Andrew paraphrased the Great Commission [Matthew 28:16-20] in his sermon this weekend, the first in a sermon series on Love Goes First. It was fantastic. You should watch it.)

How are we doing with making disciples of Jesus Christ?

In my experience, every church in the United States knows that their mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. And yet, almost no churches know how to actually do this.

We need to recalibrate the activities that happen in the church and ask ourselves: Is this helping the people who participate take the next step in their faith in Jesus? Is this helping someone move from considering the claims of the gospel of Jesus Christ to faith in him? Is this helping someone with new faith in Jesus become closer to Jesus? Is this helping someone who is growing closer to Jesus learn to put Jesus at the very center of their lives and become a mature committed follower who is willing to risk everything for faithfulness to Christ?

Love Goes First is not a discipleship handbook. It is more like someone pulling the fire alarm. The building is on fire. We’ve been so numbed and complacent, we’ve fallen asleep. I believe the Lord is waking the American church from its slumber. And I think Forrest’s book is one of the ways he is doing that.

I’d like to offer a personal word about Andrew Forrest. I believe Andrew is the best preacher of his generation. He is a bold and courageous leader. He is an exceptional pastor. I’ve known Andrew for 17 years. We met during my first year in the PhD program at SMU when he was working on his MDiv. Our sons were born within a few weeks of each other while we were in Dallas. My wife and I were part of the launch team for the church Andrew and his wife led in East Dallas for more than a decade. Andrew and I were in an accountability group together for several years.

From 2011 to 2023, I moved 4 times. During those years, Andrew was a faithful friend. In August of 2022 Andrew became the senior pastor of the church my parents had been attending for more than a decade, Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. Andrew came to Asbury at a difficult time in my life. My mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the Fall of 2022 and she died in early 2023. Prior to my mom’s illness, I was in the midst of the most challenging season in work and ministry I have ever experienced. Andrew’s kindness and concern for me since we met in 2011 has been remarkable and consistent.

The generosity of Asbury Church made it possible for my family to move to Tulsa and begin work at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the seminary’s Tulsa Extension Site. Working for Andrew at Asbury Church has been so fun! I have learned so much.

By the way, Andrew writes regularly at his own website. You should check it out.

Love Goes First is an excellent book. It stands on its own. You don’t have to know the author to read it and benefit from it. However, it is a particular blessing to me to know the author of this book and be able to enthusiastically commend Andrew to you as much as the content of the book itself.

You should buy a copy of Love Goes First now. Read it. Talk about it with your staff, your community, your family, and your friends. It officially releases on October 7^th, one week from today. Pre-order it now.

I don’t know what is going to happen in the American church. Only the Lord knows. But I am sure that we must follow the example of our Lord and go first in love to a world that is broken, hurting, and angry.

Even if it costs us everything.

Love Goes First is a prophetic word for such a time as this. I hope you will check it out!

[Full disclosure: Andrew is also my boss. He did not ask me to write this review. I am writing it solely because I believe this book will help you if you are a leader in the church or seeking to grow in your faith in Jesus.]

Kevin M. Watson is a Pastor and the Senior Director of Christian Formation at Asbury Church in Tulsa, OK. He is also on the faculty at Asbury Theological Seminary, anchoring the Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

The Shepherd (NKJV) by Humble Lamb: Innovation and Distinctive Design in a Premium Bible

12 Thursday Jun 2025

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Bible Review, Book Review

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Bible Review, Book Review, Humble Lamb, NKJV, premium Bibles

It has been nearly five years since I have reviewed a Bible here. I wrote my first review of a fine Bible in May, 2018. I reviewed an NIV Schuyler Quentel. Over the next two years, I really enjoyed having the chance to review a few dozen premium leather Bibles.

There are a handful of reasons I initially decided to write these reviews. The first and foremost is that I believe reading a physical copy of the Bible is superior to reading the Bible on a screen. You remember and retain what you read in a physical book more than a screen. But especially with the rise of smartphones, which are themselves beautifully designed and addictively enjoyable to interact with, I think there is a need for and value in Bibles that are themselves beautifully designed, a joy to hold, and designed thoughtfully for the reading experience. Fine Bibles are expensive. They are also built to be used and to last a lifetime. Simply put, I think premium Bibles are a worthy investment.

From 2018 through 2020, I reviewed Bibles by Cambridge, Crossway, Schuyler, Thomas Nelson, Trinitarian Bible Society, and Zondervan. These reviews gained the most interest and interaction from readers of about anything I’ve written, other than my “Wesley didn’t say it” series. I still get questions from people about Bibles. In fact, the most recent question from a reader was seeking advice about which NLT Bible she should purchase based on a handful of criteria. The highlight for me of those years reviewing fine Bibles was realizing that Cambridge featured my reviews in their yearly Bible catalogue. In fact, the current catalogue still has a quote from my review of the Pitt Minion (see p. 15).

I recently became aware of some significant new additions in the world of Bible publishing. This post is introducing a Bible from a publisher I did not know existed when I wrote my last post (though they officially started in 2017): Humble Lamb.

Humble Lamb currently has Bibles in four different translations: KJV, NKJV, NASB, and NLT. Each translation is a different layout. What is most interesting to me is that Humble Lamb seems to have thought through the range of options in the world of premium Bibles and intentionally created a space for themselves that is distinct but still works in the fine Bibles space. We will get into some of the differences, but they are really unique compared to any other Bible I have reviewed here. In fact, for me, they push the envelope so much that I wondered if I would like some of the choices that were made. Spoiler alert: I did!

Humble Lamb sent me a review copy of their NKJV Bible, the “Shepherd”. There are size colors available in the NKJV Shepherd. Humble Lamb sent me “Sahara Blue.”

Distinctive Design Choices

I want to start by talking about the choices Humble Lamb has made that cause their Bibles to really stand apart from the other options currently available in fine Bibles. I see five key choices that are different.

First, all Humble Lamb bibles have “The Word of God” stamped on the spine. Most premium Bibles have “Holy Bible,” the translation abbreviation, and the publisher. Humble Lamb has changed the phrase in a way that grabbed my attention and has kept it simple. It says “The Word of God” and nothing else. This is the case across all four translations. The inside cover contains the name of the Bible and translation “Shepherd, New King James Version.” I think this design decision was a good risk. I’ll say a bit more after going through the rest of the differences.

Second, most premium Bibles have gold page edges and when the Bible is opened there is a reddish color that is under the gold. I think this might be the most dramatic design change Humble Lamb has implemented. Rather than a simple subtle color change, Humble Lamb has introduced art on the fore-edge of the Bible. It is visible when the Bible is closed but subtle and would be easy to miss. But when the Bible is open, it is unmistakable and striking. The Shepherd has two different options for the fore-edge gilt art. Mine has Jesus holding a lamb surrounding by wolves. It is a great image of Jesus’s promises in John 10. I can easily imagine this seeming cheap or gimmicky. But Humble Lamb has pulled it off. After using this Bible every morning for more than a month, this Bible would seem strange to me if it did not have this element.

Third, Humble Lamb has added Gustave Doré illustrations throughout the Bible. This is the design element I have wrestled with the most. I think it works with the overall flow of the Bible. The art on the page edges makes the art inside the Bible make more sense. I am still undecided about whether I would choose to have this element, if I could have the same Bible with the images or without the images. The inclusion of the illustrations makes it start to feel like a Study Bible, without any of the other features of a Study Bible. I was a bit surprised there wasn’t more context or explanation for the illustrations in the Bible itself. If I had to guess, where I am unsure on this element, I bet many more people are enthusiastic about this addition. There is one other tradeoff I kept thinking about I’ll come back to in a moment.

Fourth, the words of Christ are blue in this Bible. (They are typically red, if they are set off from the regular text.) There are different views about whether the words of Christ should be in a different color than the rest of Scripture. I think the choice to use blue instead of red for this Bible totally works. It is the kind of change that feels dramatic, because I’d only ever seen red. However, it is not actually that big of a change. I think it is a brilliant move that makes the Bible really feel different from other Bibles.

Fifth, and finally, Humble Lamb Bibles have more color options for the cover than most Bible publishers. The Shepherd comes in six colors. I have one of the two most conservative colors “Sahara Blue.” The other is “Black Wool.” “Forest Green” looks like a good option is you want a Bible that is distinct from the typical black, brown, or blue, but aren’t ready to be too crazy in your color choice. And then there are the options of “London Red,” “Coral Coastline,” and “Aspen Gold.” I do not think I would like the brighter colors for a premium Bible. It would feel like a substantial risk to me at this price point. But what do I know? It looks to me like other publishers have been influenced by Humble Lamb as many of them seem to be offering more color options.

Overall thoughts on the distinctive design of the The Shepherd

I think these five distinctive design elements generally work very well together. If Humble Lamb had been risk averse and had just chosen one, I don’t think it would work. If you took any of the first four things named above by itself, I don’t think it would work. I think what Humble Lamb has done so well is figure out what the principles of a premium Bible are and keep them solidly in place, while being willing to innovate and change multiple things around that. The overall feel is that this is a unique Bible that still feels like an exceptional premium Bible.

The Rest

The Cover

The cover is full-grain goatskin leather. It is a true full yapp cover. The spine has four bands, which I love. I also really like the Sahara blue color. It is not too bright or too dull. The blue looks great with the gold “The Word of God” on the spine and with the three copper ribbons. The ribbons also come out of the box at the perfect length, neither too short nor too long.

Layout

The Shepherd has a single column layout. This is a must for some people. It is not for me. But I do think it made it reading this Bible more enjoyable. I was initially surprised to see a Bible of this size only have a 9pt font. The space between lines and the overall layout do make it highly readable. It feels like a bigger font than 9pt when reading it.

This Bible has cross references, which is a top priority for me in a premium Bible. They are in the margins out from the corresponding verse out at the side, which makes them the easiest to use. Textual notes are in the footer, which helps separate them from cross references.

There is one thing I wish were different about the layout. I think may be a personal quirk that is not important to everyone. I prefer each Book of the Bible to start on a new page. I mentioned a tradeoff I wrestled with when thinking about the illustrations in the Bible. If I could remove the illustrations and have each Book start on a new page, I would. Luke, for example, starts with only three lines at the bottom of the page. I don’t love that design.

Overall, I do like the design choices made with the Shepherd, with the one exception just noted. The layout is key to ease and enjoyment of use when reading. I would give this Bible top marks for ease and enjoyment of reading.

The Box

I want to name one other thing that I really like about this Bible that may seem strange to you. I really like the box this Bible came in. It is very sturdy. The color coordinates with the cover of the Bible. It does not have any extra text, so it is clean and seems more elegant or substantial to me. The presentation and experience opening the Bible was the best I’ve had with any Bible. It was obvious to me that this is a place Humble Lamb put serious thought and effort. They executed this very well.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the Shepherd is a fantastic Bible. I have really enjoyed reading it in the mornings since I received it. And while I wanted to spend quite a bit of time reading it before writing this review, this is not a Bible I am going to put away after publishing this review. It is fun and enjoyable to read. Humble Lamb has done a fantastic job with this Bible. This Bible is exactly the kind of Bible I love recommending. As I mentioned at the beginning, with the competition of smartphones and screens for our attention, I am thankful there are Bibles like this that are a delight to hold, read, and interact with.

I am excited to see what Humble Lamb comes up with next!

Humble Lamb generously provided the Shepherd pictured here for review. I was not required to give a positive review of this Bible, only an honest one.

Kevin M. Watson is Director of Academic Growth and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary’s Tulsa, OK Extension Site. He is also Scholar in Residence at Asbury Church. His most recent book, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline describes the purpose of the Wesleyan tradition and the struggle to maintain its identity in the United States. Affiliate links, which help support my work, used in this post.

New Review of My Book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline!

25 Tuesday Mar 2025

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review

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Book Review, Chris Ritter, Doctrine Spirit Discipline, Kevin Watson, Methodism, Wesley

Chris Ritter published a great review of my book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States (Zondervan) on his blog last week.

Ritter writes:

Given Watson’s clear passion for Methodist recovery, it should come as no surprise he shapes this latest work around a clear thesis: Methodism thrives when it stays close to its original fire and suffers when it strays. Watson’s account will undoubtedly become the standard telling of Methodist history for Global Methodists.

Top 5 Must-Read New Releases of 2024

22 Wednesday Jan 2025

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Uncategorized

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Book Review, book-reviews, books, culture, reading

I like to read.

For several years now, I have tried to read 100 books a year. I have not hit the target more than I have.

A quick random aside: How are your New Year’s Resolutions going? Did you make any? I realized this year with a simple clarity that I unapologetically love New Year’s Resolutions! It does not bother me at all if they are not your thing. My clarity came from a thought I randomly had in mid-Fall last year:

New Year’s Resolutions work for you if you are still thinking about them in October.

This totally happened for me last year. In October, I realized I was way behind the pace (so far, I could not realistically catch up). But it motivated me to start reading again. I’m just better when I’m reading.

Last year I ended up reading 88 books. This year, I am off to a good start and ahead of the pace. But there is a long way to go. We’ll see how it goes!

I not only enjoy reading, I enjoy a good book recommendation. I hope you do too! I read a lot of books I really enjoyed last year. Maybe the highlight for me was finishing reading the Chronicles of Narnia series out lout to my kids. (You should absolutely read them in the original publication order and not the chronological order imposed on them by later publishers.) My kids are all avid readers and do not need me to read out loud to them. But I wanted them to hear one of my favorite stories in their father’s voice. And there are just so many characters in those books that are so fun to read out loud. (Puddleglum!)

I decided I wanted to write a top five post to celebrate and share my favorite books from the year. I had a hard time getting my list pared down to a manageable size. For whatever reason, I noticed a handful of books I really liked that were also new releases last year. So, I decided to limit this to a top five of new release from the past year. Hope you like it!

I am listing my top five new releases of 2024 in reverse order for one reason: It seemed more fun to me.

#5 Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis, James Davison Hunter

Of the five books I list here, this is the most demanding read. (Not coincidentally, it is the only one published by a University Press.) I do not mean this as an insult. I am only naming it to set expectations. You should read this book. But it will require a lot of you. And that’s ok, because, as I tell my kids: You are capable of great struggle!

James Davison Hunter, who previously wrote another very influential book – To Change the World – argues in Democracy and Solidarity that the roots of solidarity in the United States are breaking down and dissolving. There must be some degree of unity within any political organization for it to work. Hunter offers a detailed and sophisticated description of how this has worked in the history of the United States. He then makes the case that we are at a breaking point in terms of the solidarity required to persist as a stable political order. This is not a hysterical reactionary clickbait piece. It is a thoughtful, measured, and carefully argued book that people across the spectrum will find things with which they agree and disagree.

When I recently saw a clip of politicians refusing to shake hands during a ceremony related to the peaceful transfer of power, it bothered me in a way it would not have had I not read this book. Democracy and Solidarity is a sobering but deeply relevant book.

#4 Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture, Aaron Renn

I was already familiar with Renn’s Three Worlds of Evangelicalism framework and find it to be a helpful way of thinking about where we’ve been and how the church ought to respond in the present. I think Renn’s book is the first book I pre-ordered because I intentionally wanted to help the author have the best possible chance of a successful book launch that increased the book’s visibility. I am thankful for Aaron Renn because he has started many important conversations that people in more obvious positions should have started but were unable or unwilling to do so because of a lack of imagination, willingness to do the work to think deeply about hard things, or simple cowardice. I am thankful his ideas are gaining influence and being taken seriously.

Part I, where he explains and makes the case that we are in Negative World, is the best part of the book. I have come to think of the rest of the book as helpful suggestions or first drafts of what it looks like to live faithful as a follower of Jesus Christ (both personally and corporately) in Negative World. My guess is it will be practitioners who figure out how to most effectively do much of this work (and I’m pretty sure Renn himself would agree with this from his other work I’ve followed). In other words, Renn serves as a very helpful prod to recognize that the times have changed, and we need Negative World strategies to win in Negative World.

#3 Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age, Rod Dreher

If I’m following correctly, I think Rod Dreher believes in aliens (see chapter 6). Ok, now that I have your attention, here is what really fascinated me and encouraged me about this book. Dreher lets the reader in to his very personal story with the supernatural. He has experiences which are not explainable in purely rational terms or through the laws of nature and what we know about how the world works.

I have walked a similar journey in the sense that I have had immediate and supernatural encounters with the Lord that defy academic explanation. That felt like a problem because, well, I am an academic. (I care more about being an effective pastor than being an effective academic, but I am trained as one and am a seminary professor.) In his previous book The Benedict Option, Dreher put his finger on the need for communities of belonging, deep formation, and strengthening in an increasingly anti-Christian context. In a way I did not expect when I began reading this book, I think Dreher may have named the reality that we are all charismatics now. By this, I do not mean that everyone is literally a charismatic in terms of some precise definition. What I mean is that the church, across the entire Body of Christ, is rediscovering the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There is an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit in a way that I did not experience when I was in seminary. Dreher wrote in a way that seemed to me to come from a place of vulnerable sharing. I sensed it felt risky to him to share the parts of his story he shared. And something about this book made me think we have crossed a line where testimony to the “weird” stuff won’t seem weird or abnormal much longer. And that is a good thing! Again, I am thankful for Dreher’s courage in writing and releasing this book to the world.

#2 Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, Abigail Shrier

Abigail Shrier has written two major books, and they are both amazing. Her first book, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, courageously shone a light on the impact of transgender ideology on young women and the excesses of the hasty embrace of the movement by many in the cultural mainstream. In 2024, she wrote Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up. Shrier helped me think through two things that were concerns in the back of my mind but that I could not articulate.

First, therapy does not seem to wrestle with iatrogenic injury. An iatrogenic injury is an injury that is caused by the intervention of a care giver. This is uncontroversial in medicine. The possibility of iatrogenic injury needs to be discussed more with therapy. Second, and related to the first, Shrier discusses the lack of an end goal in some approaches to therapy. Sometimes people come to a place where they feel they cannot cope in life in general without their counselor or therapists’ constant engagement and guidance of their lives. This seems unhealthy and the opposite of what you would expect at the outset when choosing to engage the services of a counselor or therapist.

I am tempted to qualify this in many ways because I know this is a tender area for many. I will just say here that if my summary does not sit with you, feel free to skip this book. Or, it might be that it would be especially worthwhile for you to read and consider Shrier’s analysis.

#1 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt

At some level, I think everyone knows that the rise of smartphones and social media has not been good for us. In The Anxious Generation, Haidt pulls the fire alarm and demonstrates just how detrimental the “phone-based childhood” is for kids. For parents who have already given their children smartphones and access to social media, there will be much temptation to defensiveness or feeling like the die has been cast and nothing can be done. I think this is a hopeful book, because it is always better to live in reality than deny it. We have reached a turning point where we collectively now know that smartphones and social media have a net negative impact on children and adolescents and it is not even close.

This book is the best new book I read last year because it is a piercing diagnosis of the problem. And it also offers hopeful and helpful practical suggestions for a way forward.

Bonus: Or, a Humble Brag

Ok, let’s be real. If you’ve follow me at all you know that none of these books are really my favorite new release in 2024. I had a new book come out in 2024. And it is my favorite. Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States is both a history of where the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition has been as it continues to fracture and divide. I also hope the book is a sign pointing to a hopeful and faithful future for those who carry the mantle of the Wesleyan theological heritage. If you haven’t read it yet, the price is the lowest right now on Amazon that I’ve seen. I hope you will check it out!

Links in this post are affiliate links and help support my work.

Podcasts Featuring My New Book: Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline

21 Thursday Nov 2024

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Life, Methodist History

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class meeting, John Wesley, Methodism, small groups, Wesley

This is a short post to share two podcasts appearances from this week.

The prompt for both invitations was the release of my new book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States. #affiliate I did quite a few interviews in the weeks the book was released in late June. The first print run sold out in a few weeks. The timing of these conversations is great because Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline is back in stock!

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, I think you’ll enjoy both episodes as they went in significantly different directions.

I was interviewed by Dr. Brian Russell on his podcast Deep Dive Spirituality. This was my second time on Dr. Russell’s podcast. I really enjoyed the conversation with him about my new book. My favorite part of the conversation, however, was when he asked me what I am most hopeful about the future. He set it up with a great image. Audio only is available here.

YouTube version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EYBwB2T2aw

I was also interviewed by Rev. Jeffrey Rickman on his podcast Plain Spoken. We also talked about the book and spent time talking about implications of the book’s argument for theological education and developments in the Global Methodist Church. Check out my conversation with Rev. Rickman here: https://plainspokenpod.substack.com/p/american-methodist-history-and-its

Thanks to Brian and Jeffrey for having me on their podcasts! I hope you’ll check them both out.

Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States – Book Release

25 Tuesday Jun 2024

Posted by Kevin M. Watson in Book Review, Holiness, Methodist History, Wesley

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Book Review, John Wesley, Methodism, Methodist, Wesley

After working on this book for seven years, my new book Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline: A History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States is officially released.

I am so thankful to the Lord that this day has arrived!

If you haven’t picked up a copy of the book, I hope you will today!

Here is the summary of the book from the dust jacket:

An expansive, substantive history of the Wesleyan tradition in the United States, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline offers a broad survey of the Methodist movement as it developed and spread throughout America, from the colonial era to the present day. It also provides a theological appraisal of these developments in light of John Wesley’s foundational vision. Beginning with Wesley himself, Watson describes the distinctiveness of the tradition at the outset. Then, as history unfolds, he identifies the common set of beliefs and practices that have unified a diverse group of people across the centuries, providing them a common identity through a number of divisions and mergers. At a time when sweeping changes continue to transform Methodism and the pan-Wesleyan movement, Watson shows that the heart of the Wesleyan theological tradition is both more expansive and substantive than any singular denominational identity.

For more information check out the post I wrote here.

Zondervan has created a fantastic page for the book here.

Buy the book at Amazon here (affiliate link) or through Zondervan directly here.

I have been interviewed on several podcasts about the book. I will update interviews as they go live.

I was on Art of Holiness with Rev. Dr. Carolyn Moore. Check it out here.

I was on Spirit & Truth with Rev. Dr. Matt Reynolds. Check it out here.

The interest in this book has been so encouraging to me. Thank you so much to each of you who have bought the book. I am grateful!