NWSD Director
Dr. Darren Williamson is the founding Director of the Northwest School of Discipleship. Darren is a native of the Pacific Northwest, born in Oregon, raised in Washington, and educated in British Columbia. He has ministered in churches for nearly thirty years, most recently for 11 years as the Preaching Minister for the Keizer Church of Christ in Keizer, Oregon. Prior to coming to Keizer, he served as minister for churches in Portland, British Columbia, and Texas. Over the years he has taught as an instructor at several Christian Universities and community colleges, including Cascade College.
Darren holds a BA in Biblical Languages, an MS in Biblical and Related Studies, an MA in History, and a PhD in History. He is fascinated and inspired by followers of Christ throughout history, especially during the sixteenth-century Reformation. His doctoral research focused on the influence of Erasmus of Rotterdam, one of the greatest Christian scholars of the Renaissance, upon the Anabaptists, a devout community of simple Christians who suffered greatly for their faith in Early Modern Europe. Over the years Darren has published a handful of articles on Church History, but his most recent interest has turned to more practical themes of discipleship. Most importantly, he is striving to grow as a disciple of Jesus, a devoted husband to his wife Melody, and loving father to eight wonderful kids.
Darren is the author of the Family Worship Guide: A Handbook for the Christian Home (2020) which inspires and equips parents to disciple their children through regular family worship in the home.
The Family Worship Guide is a call to rediscover and implement the biblical practice of family worship, a discipline that will encourage the development multigenerational disciples and strengthen the core of Christian families throughout the body of Christ. Christian parents have a special and profound calling to disciple their children faithfully and instruct them in the ways of Christ. In the past, family worship was a common practice, attested in the writings of the early Church, the sixteenth-century Reformers, the Puritans, and prominent leaders in the American Restoration Movement. Family worship today, however, is rarely practiced and many dedicated Christians have no understanding or experience of it. Designed to inspire and equip Christian parents, this handbook is a guide to take up that call by making family worship an established part of a family’s routine. Readers will find this handbook both inspiring and useful, whether they be experienced worship leaders or Christian parents with little or no experience or knowledge of family worship. Christian homeschooling families will particularly resonate with its themes. Churches can use this material in parenting classes, give it to parents at baby blessings, and make available in church libraries.
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