10 of those

What are the most important things about your church?

It's tempting to answer that question by pointing to what makes your church unique. Yet the most important things are what your church shares in common with every other church throughout the world-its Lord, message, and mission. Churches will best fulfill the Great Commission by prioritizing those common things and by working together-by being ""catholic."" The doctrine of catholicity, which is grounded in King Jesus's global claim, calls churches to work together. After all, every gospel-preaching, disciple-making church is playing for the same team. The victory of one is the victory of all. This issue of Church Matters explores these precious truths and the practical difference they should make in our churches.

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
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• 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 - Francis Chan, by Taylor Hartley
• Baptists and the Christian Tradition, by Jeremy Kimble