The Gospel Coalition
July 2, 2007 by Brad
If ministry had “Special Forces,” or “SF” for those in the know, The Gospel Coalition would be the Green Berets.
A few weeks ago, over 50 theological heavy-weights from across the country met up and held a conference in Chicago, IL. This new “Gospel Coalition” is a trans-denominational alliance of pastors and theologians like Dr. John Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll (*cue fist pump*), D.A. Carson, Scotty Smith, and Dr. Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary.
From their Preamble:
“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.”
I am salivating as I type this. The Gospel Coalition includes pastors from many cultures, backgrounds, ages, and perspectives who all see the need for a Resurgence of “Gospel-faithful ministry” for the next generation.
At Mystery of Iniquity’s blog, I have had some pretty heated discussions on biblical interpretation, and how to be “faithful” to a “contextualized” interpretation without injecting our own perspective into it. I, along with most Christians in the last 2000 years, have struggled with verbalizing what I feel is the answer. To date, the best answer and explanation I have found has been on The Gospel Coalition’s new website. Read it’s sweetness:
“How this reading of the Bible shapes us. (1) Many today (but not all) who major in the first of these two ways of reading the Bible—that is, reading along the whole Bible—dwell on the more corporate aspects of sin and salvation. The cross is seen mainly as an example of sacrificial service and a defeat of worldly powers rather than substitution and propitiation for our sins. Ironically, this approach can be very legalistic. Instead of calling people to individual conversion through a message of grace, people are called to join the Christian community and kingdom program of what God is doing to liberate the world. The emphasis is on Christianity as a way of life to the loss of a blood-bought status in Christ received through personal faith. In this imbalance there is little emphasis on vigorous evangelism and apologetics, on expository preaching, and on the marks and importance of conversion/the new birth. (2) On the other hand, the older evangelicalism (though not all of it) tended to read across the Bible. As a result it was more individualistic, centering almost completely on personal conversion and safe passage to heaven. Also, its preaching, though expository, was sometimes moralistic and did not emphasize how all biblical themes climax in Christ and his work. In this imbalance there is little or no emphasis on the importance of the work of justice and mercy for the poor and the oppressed, and on cultural production that glorifies God in the arts, business, etc. (3) We do not believe that in best practice these two ways of reading the Bible are at all contradictory, even though today, many pit them against each other. We believe that on the contrary the two, at their best, are integral for grasping the meaning of the biblical gospel. The gospel is the declaration that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has come to reconcile individuals by his grace and renew the whole world by and for his glory.”
This new organization and ministry think-tank is incredible. The need for this kind of unified gospel-faithful rhetoric has been boiling for the last decade, and is most likely the first of many that will boil over in the next decade.
Go visit their website, download the growing list of media available, and be ready for a radical return to gospel truth. Praise God.
Brad,
Good article. I agree that how to interpret scripture without coloring it with what we wish it would say is difficult, but that’s because we can’t see the forest for the trees. The individualists want to enforce a personal piety that takes away the authority of Jesus in the individual’s life. The corporate Christian wants to focus on social justice and oppression. God works through individuals first I think, but tries to get us to see that it’s not about us and our personal holiness at all, it’s about the holiness of the BODY, representative of Christ to the whole world.
So while we are busy tearing apart the body because the hand does not think the foot is preaching the gospel properly and the eye thinks the ear is whacked and way off base, the Body of Christ lays in pieces before the secular kingdoms of the world and the world looks on in pity.
Lately, I’ve been hearing God (yes, I still hear God) telling me that I, for one, should be willing to forego the heated criticism of the parts of the body so that the whole may not be defamed. Maybe I’ve had an epiphany of sorts, but I’ll be the first to swallow my pride and admit that I’ve not been helping. This confession of the Gospel Coalition also seems a good conciliatory effort. Now the question is, is anyone listening anymore?
MOI,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m really glad you got a chance to check out their mission and vision statements. I very much agree that they seem to be conciliatory. One of the things I love most about their vision is that they are more than willing to admit and take responsibility for the wrongs committed by the church and start anew in “speaking the truth in love.”
“So while we are busy tearing apart the body because the hand does not think the foot is preaching the gospel properly and the eye thinks the ear is whacked and way off base, the Body of Christ lays in pieces before the secular kingdoms of the world and the world looks on in pity.”
-So much truth to this statement… and it sincerely saddens me. You have hit on the nose the reason why I take the time to write about the things I do. There are so many misconceptions to clear up and positive examples that need to be made. While I do not fool myself into thinking I am the best example, the effort alone, I feel, is noticed. (I hope anyway!)
“Lately, I’ve been hearing God (yes, I still hear God) telling me that I, for one, should be willing to forego the heated criticism of the parts of the body so that the whole may not be defamed.”
-Honestly, there is a time for truth in every situation. You have done an amazing job of speaking truth into the church through your writings. We disagree on many points, but never on the need for reform. Exhortation is needed, as is gentle rebuke and speaking the truth in love. We are (or SHOULD be!) on the same team. When others forget this, we unfortunately are still called to take the high ground. Your comment shows much wisdom and maturity!
Brad,
I’ve forgotten, at times, which team I’m on in attempts to see all sides and bring dialog together. It helps to be reminded now and then.
Hey, it is hard! I too have been very guilty of verbally stabbing the church in the back in recognizing their faults in agreement with others, but without affording them the forgiveness that is needed to move on and correct the wrongs.
It can be so very convoluted sometimes…