Because 2025, as of this past February, marks fifteen years for the Helwys Society Forum (HSF), we thought it suitable to reflect on our work. In this post, the three longest-tenured contributors offer their reflections: Matthew Steven Bracey, Jesse F. Owens, and Phillip T. Morgan.
Matthew Steven Bracey
When I reflect on the HSF, I am filled with gratitude.
Firstly, I am grateful to the HSF because through it I have learned to think and write. Our process for publication includes an editorial process whereby Christian brothers and sisters meaningfully engage both the form and content of our submissions. Swallow your pride because serious engagement can be tough, but it is through this process we learn to think and write better. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to God for placing me within this group of people who have challenged me and helped me through the years. We do not need “yes men” who give us empty flattery; we need serious engagement because truth is a property of He Who says He is the truth (John 14:6).
Secondly, I am grateful to all the people who have submitted articles through the years. I have taken part in the editing, and I can testify that the weekly engagement with others’ writing profoundly shapes the editor. Submissions are a means of iron sharpening iron, learning what works and what (maybe) does not work. So, I am thankful to all our regular and guest contributors since our inception because I have learned and benefited from you.
Thirdly, I am grateful to the HSF because it serves as part of the backdrop of my teaching and publishing. By learning to think and write well, a person learns also to speak well. Whatever my rhetorical abilities—to the extent I have them, they are God’s gift—they have come about partly because of the HSF. And of course, following writing and teaching naturally comes publishing. Perhaps these trajectories would have come anyway; perhaps not. Regardless, God in His provision elected to use the HSF to those ends.
Fourthly, and as an extension of the third, I am grateful for the opportunity to test out ideas that later grow into publications. For example, some of what appears in Sexuality, Gender, and the Church and Christians in Culture first appeared in nascent form on the HSF. A spiritual mentor told me years ago to get as much mileage out of what I preach or teach or write as I can; I have aimed to follow his good advice. Repeated attempts at the same topic allows a person to sharpen his ideas in ways that are unavailable without that repetition. I continue to use the HSF in this fashion, inviting others to help me think rightly about the ideas God has placed in my heart. I am thankful that the HSF is an outlet to this end.
Finally, I am grateful to all the people who have read our material and talked with us about it through the years. Most people do not comment on the website, but they regularly talk with us through private, personal interactions—through an email, by a text message or telephone call, in a conversation. These interactions are blessings to my soul. Hence, I am thankful not only to the people who interact with my ideas before they are published but also to those who interact with them afterward. I also appreciate that not all these interactions have signified agreement. Truth matters too much for us not to want to be challenged. Epistemic courage equips us to challenge one another, even when it is hard, and epistemic humility equips us to recognize that our understandings are sometimes—nay, oft-times—limited.
So, for all these reasons and more, I am grateful for the HSF. I am grateful to God for how He has led me through it, and I am grateful to others who have encouraged me in different ways along and along.
Jesse F. Owens
Sometime in 2009, W. Jackson Watts, Matthew Steven Bracey, and I began discussing the possibility of starting the HSF. Not many Free Will Baptists were blogging at that time, and we thought we could make a positive contribution to our denomination and evangelicalism by writing thoughtful essays on theology, spirituality, ministry, and culture. None of us were tech-savvy and knew very little about building and maintaining a website. In those early days, Jim Williams was a huge help regarding tech-support, and in 2010, we began posting essays on the HSF website.
From its inception, Jackson and Matthew kept the ball rolling by ensuring we had posts scheduled months in advance, and they both took turns reminding us contributors to turn our essays in. They edited for style, grammar, and argumentation, and they did an excellent job. I can say without reservation the HSF would not exist today without the consistent work of these two men. Matthew has continued to serve faithfully as an editor and the chief organizer of our schedule after Jackson transitioned to a new opportunity.
Over the past fifteen years, we have experienced change among our regular contributors as we have all gone through different phases of life and ministry. We have added new elements such as book recommendations and “HSF Conversations,” both of which I believe have been helpful additions. Yet much has remained the same over the past decade-and-a-half. We are still writing on a broad range of topics for the benefit of the church from a Reformed Arminian perspective. We have had the opportunity to mentor and bring on younger writers who have gained greater experience and breathed fresh life into the work.
We have tried to “plod” along faithfully over the past fifteen years, and I am thankful for all the ways in which that faithful plodding, with the Lord’s help, has borne fruit.
Phillip T. Morgan
In interviews about their time making the hit 1990s situation comedy Seinfeld, the cast and writers have often stated that for the first few years they were making the show mostly for themselves. They were vaguely aware that some people were watching, but their decisions about what to write and produce were driven by their own personal interests and sense of humor. While the HSF has obviously not achieved the sort of recognition and following of that television series, I have often thought about their description of what it was like during those early years of the series.
Over the past fifteen years, I personally have written some ninety essays (one hundred and thirty if you include the Recommended Books posts I put together quarterly), and I have edited many more. Most days, this work seems to be just for my friends and me. Whether anyone else finds what we are doing useful or enjoyable is really beside the point. I am being changed by the process, and my thinking and sanctification have been sharpened by the exercise. The steady practice of writing and reading/editing essays that address matters of theology, spirituality, ministry, and culture from a confidently Free Will Baptist perspective has strengthened my faith, challenged my understanding of the world, and steeled my commitment to our tradition. Fifteen years of working on the HSF has changed me greatly, regardless of whether anyone else has engaged our material.
However, from time to time, I am reminded we do have faithful and serious readers. Emails and personal conversations, not to mention comments posted online, remind me that this venture is not just for me and my friends. Thank you for your faithful readership and kind promotion by word-of-mouth and by sharing articles with others. If anything that we have written has served to improve the faith and practices of Christians and Free Will Baptists, all the long nights trying to draw up another thought from the deep well of the soul will have been worth it.
January 4, 2026
Congratulations on 15 years! That is a huge achievement.