Returning to the Gospel Centre

A new clarion call is being sounded in the United States for evangelical churches to “renew our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reform our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures” (see http://www.thegospelcoalition.com/). Key people behind this call are men like Don Carson, Tim Keller and John Piper.

A somewhat related call, came in 2006 when four friends in Ministry, from diverse backgrounds [Mark Dever – the Southern Baptist pastor, Ligon Duncan – the Presbyterian pastor, Al Mohler – the Southern Baptist seminary professor and C J Mahaney – the Charismatic Sovereign Grace Ministries “Apostle”] came together under the banner of “Together for the Gospel” (see http://www.t4g.org/). Their purpose, to “stand together for the Gospel”, even as they are “convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among many who claim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness.”

Some may protest that the evangelical church has always been gospel focused – just look at the number of evangelistic campaigns. However, the clarion call is also a call to rediscover the biblical meaning of the gospel, I quote Don Carson (with slight paraphrase),

“Many see the Gospel as a narrow set of teachings about Jesus’ Death and Resurrection that if rightly believed, “tip” people into the Kingdom of God. After that the real training, life transformation, discipleship and maturity take place. In summary, the Gospel is treated as the door into the Kingdom of God.

However, the emphasis of the Bible, is that the Gospel is the all embracing category that holds much of the whole bible together. The Gospel takes Christians from lost-ness, condemnation, alienation from God all the way through conversion and discipleship to the consummation, resurrection bodies and the new heavens and the new earth.”

[Malay translation:
Ramai orang menganggap Injil itu, sebagai sekumpulan ajaran yang sepit mengenai kematian dan kebangkitan Yesus, yang jikalau dipercayai “menolak” seseorang ke dalam Kerajaan Allah. Selepas it, barulah perlatihan sebenar, transformasi hidup, menjadi pengikut Kristus dan kematangan berlaku. Kesimpulannya, Injil itu hanya dianggap sebagai pintu masuk ke dalam Kerajaan Allah.

Walaubagaimanapun, penekanan Al Kitab adalah bahawa Injil itu adalah kategori menyeluruh yang mengabungkan seluruh ajaran Al Kitab. Injil itu membawa seseorang penganut Kristian dari kehilangan, peghukuman, dan perpisahan dari Allah, melalui pemelukan agama Kristian dan menjadi pengikut Kristus, kepada penyempurnaan, kebangkitan tubuh, dan langit baru dan bumi baru.]

In other words, we never move on from the Gospel, but spend our entire lives looking at how to apply it to all areas of our life. Personal relationships, work relationships, evangelism, discipleship, social justice, helping the poor, church ministry etc – they must all find their source in the gospel, and ultimately point us (and others) back to that same gospel.

I am praying, that we capture a fresh vision for holistic gospel ministry in Singapore, like our brothers are beginning to across the oceans. Their context might be different, but we believe in the same Bible, the same Jesus – Lord over His church.


PS: Do drop a note if the Lord is speaking similar things to you.

PPS: To keep my Malay alive, I’m going to be translating portions of my blog. Do give feedback on accuracy, its been some time, and its rusty.. :-)