Oct
26
2009
The Gospel for All of Life
The following text is taken from The Gospel Coalition Foundational Documents. This “Preamble” is followed by a Confessional Statement and Theological Vision for Ministry. We encourage you to prayerfully read these documents and join us in promoting gospel-centered ministry for the next generation.
***
We are a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
We believe that in many evangelical churches a deep and broad consensus exists regarding the truths of the gospel. Yet we often see the celebration of our union with Christ replaced by the age-old attractions of power and affluence, or by monastic retreats into ritual, liturgy, and sacrament. What replaces the gospel will never promote a mission-hearted faith anchored in enduring truth working itself out in unashamed discipleship eager to stand the tests of kingdom-calling and sacrifice. We desire to advance along the King’s highway, always aiming to provide gospel advocacy, encouragement, and education so that current- and next-generation church leaders are better equipped to fuel their ministries with principles and practices that glorify the Savior and do good to those for whom he shed his life’s blood.
We want to generate a unified effort among all peoples—an effort that is zealous to honor Christ and multiply his disciples, joining in a true coalition for Jesus. Such a biblically grounded and united mission is the only enduring future for the church. This reality compels us to stand with others who are stirred by the conviction that the mercy of God in Jesus Christ is our only hope of eternal salvation. We desire to champion this gospel with clarity, compassion, courage, and joy—gladly linking hearts with fellow believers across denominational, ethnic, and class lines.
Our desire is to serve the church we love by inviting all of our brothers and sisters to join us in an effort to renew the contemporary church in the ancient gospel of Christ so that we truly speak and live for him in a way that clearly communicates to our age. We intend to do this through the ordinary means of his grace: prayer, the ministry of the Word, baptism and the Lord’s supper, and the fellowship of the saints. We yearn to work with all who, in addition to embracing the confession and vision set out here, seek the lordship of Christ over the whole of life with unabashed hope in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform individuals, communities, and cultures. You will find attached both our Confessional Statement and our Theological Vision for Ministry—a vision rooted in the Scriptures and centered on the gospel.
3 Comments
Here is an impartial challenge on what the sustainable gospel of Jesus Christ is and, by implication, is not. All one needs to do is to identify the factors in the gospel that are “alive and active and sharper than any double-edged sword” –factors that have stood the test of time and the “hard way and narrow gate to life” and will continue to do so!
Briefly, I submit for Scriptural and experiential verification the Gospel of Jesus Christ as defined originally with the following characteristics:
1)Exclusively of divine origin;
2)Wholly in accordance with the Scriptures of Moses, the writings of the prophets, the Psalms, and the teachings of Jesus Christ;
3)Complete with Jesus’ baptism work in the Holy Spirit; and
4)Nothing more or less than the perpetual vision of Jesus Christ’s self-revelation, as immortal, in his diacritical death on the cross for our non-stop feasting from the “tree of life”, reproduction in his own image and growth in his knowledge and grace.
The hard choice is between the real gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ and the “other gospel” with their corresponding advantages and disadvantages!
May God help us!
Whenever anyone writes a confessional statement that is other than or more than the ecumenical creeds (Apostles, Nicene, & Athanasian) it is because they have a particular view that they want “baptised” and put on the same level as genuine Church Dogma. Almost always, the view is a current political hobby horse.
In the case of this particular statement, there is a distinct evangelical tone, some Reformed theology, and much of the current agenda of the Republican party. Without doing an exhaustive line by line, you can see the evangelical tone throughout, the Reformed theology (predestination) in #1, and the political agenda in #3 where both sexual orientation and “headship” as the definer of heterosexual are brought out. There is more Reformed theology in # 5 (election), and political in #6 (inerrant bible). And so on.
I see Tim Keller & Al Mohler are both on the Council, which for me would account for much of the Reformed from Keller and much of the political from Mohler. While there is nothing at all wrong with such writing, I do not believe it does much for the Church. It does a good deal for those who aspire to leadership in the evangelical movement as all leaders in all areas of human endeavor are known by the company they keep and the positions they take. This coalition gives its members both.
Rather than such things, I prefer serious theology, like Jenson or Newbigin or Zizoulas. They are people who are after truth, not a short tem accomplishment on the current American religious scene. I do not discount Keller & Mohler, et. al. They are good Christian people who are actively engaged. But they are so involved with current church politics that I think they miss the larger movements of God. – -To which critique they may properly reply that if “others” (like me) discern the larger movements of God, what good is that private knowledge as the “others” are not able to get that word out to the masses.
We all have to bloom where we are planted, to quote a 60’s bunper sticker, and this sort of political theology has never interested me, whether of the right or left variety. It doesn’t help those struggling, hoping, communities that I love to be with. I have played some with the “power people” and found it neither fun nor nourishing.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. However, I think you misread our Foundation Documents if you think they are political. We would ground even things like “headship” and manhood and womanhood in biblical/theological categories–with no reference to the Republican Party platform.
Do hope you continue to visit the site for as you do you will see a refreshingly theological vision for ministry and life.
For Christ and His Church,
Mike Pohlman
Executive Editor, The Gospel Coalition