What Is Catholicity?

Wanted: Catholic Pastors
by Mark Dever

What Is Catholicity and What Does It Require?
by Jonathan Leeman

Are Ecclesiological Convictions and Catholic Affirmations Mutually Exclusive?
by Jonathan Leeman

A Catholic Church
by Mark Dever

Fundamentalism May Feel Safe, But It’s Shortsighted
by Phil Newton

What Catholicity Requires: Tightly Held Beliefs and Big Hearts
by Scott Logsdon

When Catholicity Leads to Compromise
by Jonathan Worsley

Catholicity in History

Martin Bucer as a Cooperating Pastor
by Jason Lee

“Very Sweet Honey”: Basic of Caesarea’s Friendship with Syrian Christian Eusebius of Samosata
by Michael A.G. Haykin

Catholicity in a Divided Age

Ecclesiological Triage
by Michael Lawrence

The Beauty and Power of Catholicity in Politically Charged Times
by Collin Hansen

Same Health, Different Look: Ecclesiology in Historically Black Churches
by Welton Bonner

Black and White Church Catholicity
by Bobby Scott

Why Racist Churches are Anti-Catholic
by Luke Stamps and Matthew Emerson

The Internet and Christian Catholicity
by Samuel James

Catholicity and the Local Church

Partnering Together: A Practical Guide
by Aaron Menikoff

Single Assembly: Advancing the Gospel by Investing in Other Churches
by Alex Arell

Cooperating Under Persecution
by Paul Plantinga

Give Members Permission to Leave Your Church
by Juan Sanchez

Catholicity and the Church Membership Process
by John Sarver

How to Use Prayer Meetings to Promote Catholicity
by Ben Lacey

Pray for Revival in the Other Guy’s Church
by Andy Johnson

Stop Calling Them Names
by Sam Emadi

Catholicity and Missions

The Great Commission Is Bigger Than Your Church
by Bobby Jamieson

How Catholicity Compels Missions
by Joshua Bowman and Jeff Kelly

How Catholicity Promotes Church-Centered Missions
by Ryan Robertson

Catholicity in Different Contexts

What I’ve Learned from the Anglicans
by David M. Gobbett

What I’ve Learned from the Baptists
by Sam Ferguson

What I’ve Learned from the Presbyterians
by Mike McKinley

Book Reviews

Association, edited by Ryan King & Andrew King
by Nathan Carter

Until Unity, by Francis Chan
by Taylor Hartley

Baptists and the Christian Tradition
by Jeremy Kimble

Editor’s Note:

Say the word “catholic” or “catholicity,” and many pastors might give you a quizzical look. 

They affirm the 381 Nicene Creed’s, “I believe in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” They know the word simply means “universal” and applies to more than the church of Rome. 

The thing is, it’s not a word we often use in everyday evangelical church land. The raised eyebrows follow. 

Still, it’s a word that 9Marks has been trying to breathe a little life into for a number of years. Call it our reclamation project. When asked, I give it a three-word definition: churches partnering together. Conceptually, that’s me taking a few shortcuts. The doctrine needs a fuller definition than that. Yet churches partnering together is where the rubber meets the road for a pastor when it comes to catholicity. It’s what catholicity looks like. 

What 9Marks wants is more catholic pastors, as Mark Dever argues in his piece. First, the catholic impulse is biblically required. You should want to partner with churches around the world. Second, that impulse is the Great Commission impulse. It wants more churches everywhere, because Christ has people everywhere. Third, the impulse works against the turfiness and self-sufficiency that seems to follow the attractional church-growth and missions philosophies which have dominated evangelicalism for seventy years. 

Therefore, we offer this edition of Church Matters to help you and your fellow church leaders study this fairly neglected topic. Start with the basics of what it is, what it requires, and what are its limits. Next, consider its significance in history and our own divided age. Most crucially for your work, study what it means practically for your church and your church’s missionaries. Finally, you’ll be encouraged by the testimonies of a few brothers who explain what they’ve learned from those with whom they disagree on secondary matters. 

If you read this edition of Church Matters straight through, you’ll encounter some overlap between the articles. Yet we hope that will help you better grasp, remember, and apply this glorious doctrine, a property of the gospel, the beauty of the church, for the praise of his name among the nations. 

—Jonathan Leeman