About Tom Wadsworth

I think that there is a bias somewhere in your research. What’s your church background?

Yes, bias often arises when studying the topic of New Testament church assemblies. As a general rule, most people want to believe that they are “worshiping God correctly.” So, we search for verses that defend our church’s assembly, or conversely, we search for verses that attack the assemblies of other churches. So, let me fully disclose my background.

I was raised Lutheran (LCA, before the ELCA merger). But when I was 18, I had a born-again experience when I was baptized through the influence of the Church of Christ. I then associated with the (non-instrumental) Churches of Christ. I earned my bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Harding University, a Church of Christ school, where I minored in NT Greek. I then did three years of seminary at Harding School of Theology in Memphis, finishing with an MTh, which is now called an MDiv. New Testament studies were my focus.

In 1977, I became a minister for the non-instrumental churches of Christ. But in my first year as a pulpit minister, after studying 1 Corinthians 14, I was stunned to find that the Bible never described the purpose of the assembly as “worship.” Rather, Paul expressly points to “edification” as the purpose of “all things” in the assembly. These ideas seemed bizarre, and my Church of Christ strongly resisted them. But I was intrigued enough to continue to study them.

I got out of the professional ministry in 1985. Since then, we have since attended a variety of churches, including Evangelical, Methodist, and Presbyterian. Even though we’ve generally been actively involved with these churches, we have purposely never placed formal membership with any of them. All along, I was aware that the first-century assemblies were significantly differentthan the assemblies of any church I attended.

In 2016, I went back to school with the objective of studying my conclusions about first-century assemblies. By studying them at a deeper doctoral level, I wanted to see if my conclusions were sound. I was accepted for the doctoral program at the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, a Southern Baptist school. I chose that school because their New Testament faculty had obtained their advanced degrees from a wide range of seminaries, including world-renowned institutions in Scotland, England, Germany, and the U.S. I finished at MBTS with a ThM and a PhD in New Testament in 2022.

So, I have experience in a wide range of churches, and I don’t “have my own church.” Consequently, I feel no compulsion to defend any church’s approach to the assembly. And I don’t feel compelled to attack any church’s approach. I simply want to identify first-century practices and concepts.

In which theological camp do you belong? Are you Calvinist? Trinitarian? Premillennial? Cessationist? Inerrantist? Egalitarian?

I am simply a Christian who believes that the Christian Scriptures should be the basis for Christian beliefs and practices. Consequently, I resist being pigeonholed as Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Liberal, Conservative, Cessationist, Pentecostal, Calvinist, Arminian, Evangelical, Sacramentalist, Inerrantist, Premillennialist, Amillennialist, Preterist, Egalitarian, Complementarian, or whatever.

I simply try to understand the biblical text in the context in which it was written. And I try to be understanding and compassionate of others who have arrived at an opposing view. We all have much to gain by learning from one another. Too many Christians have excelled in the “works of the flesh” of strife, dissensions, and factions (Gal 5:20), and too many have not learned the “fruits of the Spirit” of love, peace, patience, and kindness (Gal 5:22).

You’re just like so many others who are trying to convince people that we’ve gotten Christianity wrong and that everyone should join your movement.

Listen to my videos. My focus is not “to convince people we’ve gotten it wrong.” The focus of my dissertation was to investigate the strange “worship anomaly” (that “worship” language is not used to describe NT assemblies) in order to determine why the anomaly exists. I’m only sharing my research.

I have no church to attack or defend. I’m not attacking Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Reformed, Charismatics, or anyone. I’m just sharing my research about the biblical text.

And I’m certainly not urging anyone to “join my movement.” I have no movement, and I’m not selling a book. I’m not advocating my church nor am I trying to start a new church. I’m just a Christian who is trying to understand the biblical text.