The Local Church
Pastoral ministry, ecclesiology, preaching, discipleship, membership, leadership, and the ordinary means through which Christ builds His church.
Pastor. Theologian. Writer.
Marty Beamer
Marty Beamer is a pastor and theologian serving the local church in Kansas City. His writing and teaching explore pastoral ministry, church revitalization, Christian wisdom, ethics, theology, and the ordinary faithfulness through which God advances the gospel.
Bethel Baptist Church — Kansas City, Missouri
Theology in service of the local church
Marty Beamer serves as the Preaching Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He holds a Master of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Philosophy from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
His ministry sits at the intersection of the local church and serious theological reflection. Whether preaching verse by verse through Scripture, thinking about the renewal of declining churches, or writing about Christian wisdom and ethics, Marty is interested in theology that serves ordinary Christians and strengthens local churches.
Areas of Work
Wisdom & Christian Ethics
Christian wisdom, prudence, virtue, public ethics, moral reasoning, and faithful Christian living in a complicated world.
Church Revitalization
Lessons from helping shepherd a historic congregation through decline, renewal, theological clarity, leadership development, and renewed gospel mission.
Latest Writing
Essays and reflections on pastoral ministry, the local church, Christian wisdom, ethics, theology, culture, and church revitalization.
New essays and pastoral reflections are coming soon.
The archive is ready for publication. In the meantime, sermons and teaching are available through Bethel Baptist Church.
Watch & Listen
Marty preaches regularly at Bethel Baptist Church in Kansas City, where the congregation is committed to verse-by-verse exposition of Scripture and Joyful Gospel Advancement.
Church Revitalization
A Historic Church. A New Season.
Bethel Baptist Church was established in 1872 through the efforts of students from William Jewell College and has served the Kansas City Northland for more than 150 years.
By 2021, after a prolonged period of decline, the historic congregation had reached approximately twenty regular attenders and faced the genuine possibility of closure.
At roughly the same time, Marty Beamer was sensing an increasing call toward church revitalization. Through a providential series of relationships and conversations, Marty was introduced to longtime Bethel pastor Harold Dinsmore and eventually invited to preach. On September 26, 2021, the congregation called Marty to serve as its pastor.
What followed was not an attempt at rapid reinvention. The congregation patiently worked through questions of biblical ecclesiology, membership, leadership, congregational responsibility, preaching, and mission. Bethel revised its governing documents, established a plurality of elders, and deepened its commitment to verse-by-verse expositional preaching.
During an early series through Philippians, one phrase emerged from the text that came to summarize Bethel’s developing identity:
Joyful Gospel Advancement.
Today the revitalization continues as Bethel seeks to glorify Christ through the ordinary faithfulness of the local church.