Date of birth: December 5, 1876
Date of death: March 26, 1956 (80 years old)
Education: Transylvania University
College of the Bible (Lexington Theological Seminary)
Known for:
  • Disciples of Christ minister, ecumenist, and author

Edgar Dewitt Jones (1876–1956), Disciples of Christ minister, ecumenist, and author

Edgar DeWitt Jones was born December 5, 1876, in Hearne, Texas, and died on March 26, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan. Growing up in Missouri, he first studied law, but then turned to pastoral ministry, furthering his education at Transylvania University and the College of the Bible (Lexington Theological Seminary), where he studied under J. W. McGarvey. After completing his seminary education, he was ordained at Independence Boulevard Christian Church in Kansas City, MO, then served by its pastor, Dr. George Hamilton Combs. He would serve congregations in Kentucky, Illinois, and Michigan, retiring in 1946 from his ministry at Central Woodward Christian Church (Detroit, Michigan). He married Francis Willis in 1902. The couple had six children, including Willis R. Jones, who served as President of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. He was laid to rest after he died in 1956 in Bloomington, Illinois. As a memorial to his life and ministry, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), now located in Troy, Michigan, distributes annually scholarships to Disciples of Christ seminarians.

Ministries

After Jones completed his studies at the College of the Bible and his ordination at Independence Boulevard Christian Church in 1901, he received his first call from four rural congregations in Boone County, Kentucky. One of the four congregations was located in Bullittsville, Kentucky, which served as the basis of his novel Fairhope, the Annals of a Country Church (1917). In 1902, Jones organized a new congregation in Erlanger, Kentucky in 1902, at which time he gave up three of his other ministries, except that in Bullittsville. Then, in 1903 Jones received a call from Cleveland’s historic Franklin Circle Christian Church to serve as its pastor. He would serve there until 1906. During his time in Cleveland, Jones began writing for various papers including the Christian Standard, The Homiletic Review, and the Christian-Evangelist. In 1906 Jones was called to the pastorate of First Christian Church of Bloomington, Illinois. He served that congregation for fourteen years, during which time the congregation grew to nearly two thousand members. While serving the church in Bloomington, Jones served as a speaker at the 1909 Centennial Convention in Pittsburg, a delegate to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland (1910), President of the Illinois Christian Convention, and President of the International Convention in Kansas City (1917) and the 1919 International Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Illinois Wesleyan University (1915). While he had already begun to publish his writings during his time in Cleveland, he published his first book in 1914, The Inner Circle. This first book was followed by The Wisdom of God’s Fools (1916), his novel Fairhope (1917), Tender Pilgrims (1917), and Ornamented Orthodoxy (1918).

Having risen to prominence among the Disciples during his years in Bloomington, Illinois, Jones began looking to move to a congregation in a large urban setting. That chance came in 1920, when he was called to serve as the pastor of Central Christian Church in Detroit, MI. Although Central Christian Church was at that time significantly smaller than First Christian Church, Bloomington, Detroit was in the midst of a period of significant growth, and it lacked a high-profile Disciples of Christ congregation. Central Christian drew him to Detroit with the promise of building a new, much larger facility, however, by 1922, after the congregation’s leading benefactor died, the congregation considered abandoning its plans. Disappointed that the congregation would not fulfill its promise to help him build an influential urban congregation in Detroit, Jones gave the congregation an ultimatum. He requested that they either develop a workable plan to fulfill their promise or he would resign. He tendered his resignation in May 1922, but the congregation prevailed upon him to stay. Though apparently unbeknownst to him, a group from Central Christian initiated conversations about merging the church with Woodward Avenue Christian Church, which sat on one of Detroit’s major thoroughfares. At first, these discussions were scuttled when the pastor of the Woodward Avenue Church voiced opposition, as this meeting was held without the presence of either of the ministers. The pastor at Woodward Avenue Church was disturbed by the reports of the meetings because he had his own plans for a new building. In 1926, after Woodward Avenue called a new pastor, merger conversations resumed, with both pastors involved. After these two congregations agreed to a merger, two other congregations joined this new congregation—Plum Street Christian Church and Grand River Christian Church. The resulting congregation took the name Central Woodward Christian Church. After the agreements were made, plans began to build a new building on the site of the Woodward Avenue church. According to Jones’ son, Willis R. Jones, the two congregations brought different strengths to the new congregation. While Central Christian Church, which lay on Second Avenue, had a number of civic and industrial leaders among its members, along with the financial support of Philip Gray’s family, the Woodward Avenue congregation brought to the new church a prime location on Woodward Avenue, along with a large contingent of younger members. Thus, Detroit, which had grown to be the fifth largest city in the country, had a significant Disciples presence. In 1928, the congregation moved into a neo-gothic cathedral, marking the beginning of its growing prominence in the city. Jones remained pastor of this congregation until he retired in 1946, becoming at that time Minister Emeritus. At that time, he was honored by Wayne University (now Wayne State University) with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. Prior to that he was honored with several other honorary doctorates, including from Texas Christian University in 1938.

As a religious leader, during his time in Detroit, he was active in ecumenical efforts, serving as President of the Detroit Pastor’s Union, participating in a local clergy group known as the Wranglers, which included Reinhold Niebuhr during his time in Detroit, and helping form a regular union service of four congregations on North Woodward Avenue that included an Episcopal Church. He also served for six years on the board of the Michigan Corrections Commission. In service to the Disciples of Christ nationally, he served as President of the Association for the Promotion of Christian Unity (today the Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)) from 1931 to 1941, succeeding his friend Peter Ainslie. He participated as a member of the joint committee of Baptists and Disciples, beginning in 1927. He was also a member of the Committee for the Re-study of the Disciples for a decade. He also served as an editor of the denominational magazine, World Call for many years. On a broader ecumenical level, Jones served as a correspondent for the Christian Century and as President of the Federal Council of Churches (1936–1938). In his address at his induction as President of the Federal Council of Churches, he spoke of his dream of a re-united church. With that dream in mind, he declared: “I own but the slightest possible interest in a denominationalized Christianity, though not unappreciative of its historic witness. I have the keenest possible interest in a co-operative, unified brotherly and powerful Christianity; not a hierarchy, to be sure, but a church united in spirit and committed to the recognition of all Christians, who may pass from one church to another without the bothersome of tariffs or the imposition of presumptuous penalties.”

Writings

Already mentioned are the books written by Jones during his tenure in Bloomington, Illinois. During his lengthy ministry in Detroit, Jones continued to publish books and other writings. His writing efforts included serving as a correspondent for the Detroit News, as well as contributing columns for the newspaper— “Successful Living” and “Experiences.” Additionally, Jones was an aficionado of the life of Abraham Lincoln. Beginning during his ministry in Bloomington, he developed a national reputation as an expert on Lincoln. He was a director of the Lincoln Association, wrote a book titled Lincoln and the Preachers (1948), and hosted an annual Lincoln Dinner, inviting leading Lincoln experts to the church. His Lincoln collection, one of the largest private collections, was donated to the Detroit Public Library at his death. Perhaps his most important book was The Royalty of the Pulpit (Harper, 1951). This book offered a study of the persons who offered Yale University’s “Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching” from 1872 until 1950.

His writings include:
• The Inner Circle: Studies in Spiritual and Social Values (1914)
• The Wisdom of God’s Fools (1916)
• Fairhope, The Annals of a Country Church (1917)
• The Tender Pilgrims (1917)
• Ornamented Orthodoxy (1918)
• When Jesus Wrote on the Ground (1924)
• The Wisdom of Washington and the Learning of Lincoln (1924)
• Blundering into Paradise (1932)
• American Preachers of Today: Intimate Appraisals of Thirty-two Leaders (1933)
• The Pulpit Stairs (1934)
• Roses of Bethany and lilies of Arimathea (1936)
• Lords of Speech: Portraits of Fifteen American Orators (1937)
• The Great Business of Being Christian (1938)
• A Man Stood Up to Preach (1943)
• The Coming of the Perfect (1946)
• The Greatening of Lincoln (1946)
• Lincoln and the Preachers (1948)
• The Royalty of the Pulpit (1951).
• The Influence of Henry Clay Upon Abraham Lincoln (1952)
• Sermons I Love to Preach (1953).

References:

“Biographical Sketch of Edgar Dewitt Jones,” in Moore, W. T. (editor), The New Living Pulpit of the Christian Church (St. Louis: Christian Board of Publication, 1918).
Jones, Edgar DeWitt, “Portrait of a Preacher,” The Christian-Evangelist, (January-March 1948).
Holloway, Clinton, “Jones, Edgar Dewitt,” in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004).
Jones, Willis R. “Two into One,” (speech given at Central Woodward Christian Church (1975)
The Edgar DeWitt Jones Papers (Disciples of Christ Historical Society)
This article is revised and adapted from a Wikipedia article on Edgar Dewitt Jones. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Rev. Dr. Robert D. Cornwall, Pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church (retired)