This week I’m highlighting the Gospel Coalition’s Theological Vision for Ministry and their characteristics for “gospel-centered ministry.”
The first was “empowered corporate worship,” the second was “evangelistic effectiveness,” and the third is counter-cultural community.
Because the gospel removes both fear and pride, people should get along inside the church who could never get along outside.
Because it points us to a man who died for his enemies, the gospel creates relationships of service rather than of selfishness.
Because the gospel calls us to holiness, the people of God live in loving bonds of mutual accountability and discipline.
Thus the gospel creates a human community radically different from any society around it.
Regarding sex, the church should avoid both the secular society’s idolization of sex and traditional society’s fear of it. It is a community which so loves and cares practically for its members that biblical chastity makes sense. It teaches its members to conform their bodily being to the shape of the gospel—abstinence outside of heterosexual marriage and fidelity and joy within.
Regarding the family, the church should affirm the goodness of marriage between a man and a woman, calling them to serve God by reflecting his covenant love in life–long loyalty, and by teaching his ways to their children. But it also affirms the goodness of serving Christ as singles, whether for a time or for a life. The church should surround all persons suffering from the fallenness of our human sexuality with a compassionate community and family.
Regarding money, the church’s members should engage in radical economic sharing with one another—so “there are no needy among them” (Acts 4:34). Such sharing also promotes a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak.
Regarding power, it is visibly committed to power–sharing and relationship–building among races, classes, and generations that are alienated outside of the Body of Christ. The practical evidence of this is that our local churches increasingly welcome and embrace people of all races and cultures. Each church should seek to reflect the diversity of its local geographical community, both in the congregation at large and in its leadership.
