Author Archives: willwillimon

Baptist Standard has published a favorable review by Karl Fickling of my recent book Aging: Growing Old in Church. It begins: Will Willimon quotes John Wesley as saying, “Christianity is a social religion; to turn it into a solitary affair is to destroy it.” These timely words, however, are not about quarantines or shutting downContinue reading “Aging Well”

The first session of Duke Divinity’s Virtual Convocation is today from 12-1pm EDT, and I’ll be leading off with a webinar about Preaching and Leadership with an eye towards the strange situation we find ourselves in. It’s not too late to register! Sessions are free, but the Divinity School has asked participants to register atContinue reading “Preaching and Leadership: Today!”

Mark Connolly, an Irish primary teacher, interviewed me for his YouTube channel More Christ to talk about what inheritors of a particularly Wesleyan form of Christianity think is important about it in a secular age, what makes Christianity radical, and why holiness still matters.

Though our chapel services look quite a bit different than they used to, I was pleased to preach for one last week. The sermon was on Matthew 18:15-20, the lectionary gospel text. -Will

Paraclete Press has released a trailer for their upcoming republication of one of my first books, The Gospel for the Person Who Has Everything. As part of the book (re)launch, I’ll also be doing a webinar with Paraclete called “Telling the Good News.” We’ll talk about what evangelism looks like today and what I’ve learnedContinue reading “Good News!”

Every year, in partnership with the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church and The Duke Endowment, Duke Divinity School invites clergy (not just Methodists) for a couple days of enriching lectures and worship. This year, it’s been spaced out throughout September and October and moved to Zoom because ofContinue reading “Virtual Convocation and Pastors’ School”

In conjunction with Paraclete Press’ upcoming republication of my early book The Gospel for the Person Who Has Everything, I’m hosting a webinar with them called Telling the Good News, talking about why the Gospel is good news, who needs to hear it, and how to get it to them. The webinar will run fromContinue reading “Telling the Good News”

Faith and Leadership posted this week an article adapted from my recent book Leading with the Sermon. It begins: Leadership is necessary only if an organization needs to go somewhere and if an organization is accountable to a mission more important than its own survival. Many people in leadership positions vainly try to foster warmContinue reading “Preachers are a Pain”

My book Shaped by the Bible is back in print with Wipf and Stock not quite thirty years after it was published. It offers sound information about the ways congregations are formed and reformed by the biblical message and the living Word. I discussed the ways Scripture can form us, reform us, and challenge us,Continue reading “Shaped by the Bible”

In our third session of the Reading More Barth Together webinars, we looked at “The Gift of Freedom,” in which Barth sketches the understanding of freedom he thinks necessary for evangelical ethics, and Stanley and I answered some of your questions. You can watch it here on my YouTube channel.