Paul Watts, Gospel-Driven Change: Navigating Reform in a Local Church. Grace Publications, 2022. 220 pages.
It was Julius Caesar who once opined that “experience is the best teacher.”
“Best” might be debatable, but its indispensability is not. Pastors who lack experience at the beginning of their ministries learn invaluable lessons from older men who have faithfully shepherded congregations for decades through ups and downs, peace and turmoil, joys and sorrows.
In Gospel-Driven Change, Paul Watts comes alongside his reader as the seasoned, older pastor. Any younger pastor will learn from his experience.
Watts’s primary message is that the gospel and biblical wisdom must propel any meaningful change in a church. Such gospel-driven change must often swim against currents of tradition and denominational expectations when those things become merely “barriers that [have] nothing to do with the gospel itself” (54), left standing in the way of effectively reaching people with the message of Christ.
Watts’s story serves as an example of how God uses the wisdom, courage, and humility of a pastor with gospel convictions to navigate challenges and lead his flock to align more closely to God’s will for his church.
REFORM IS HARD
In Section I of the
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