The Gospel Coalition Foundational Documents

Last month, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School hosted what I think will come to be known as an important conference, the first conference of The Gospel Coalition.

I’m going to devote my next few blog posts to the content of this meeting, because of its timeliness and what I hope will be the lasting influence of the Gospel Coalition conference and the documents produced in it, which I think will be very significant for the advancement of a robust, confessional, and missional expression of Christianity for all people.

The Gospel Coalition produced a number of foundational documents, including a Confessional Statement and a Theological Vision for Ministry, rooted in the Scriptures and centered on the gospel.

Presenters at the conference included (listed in alphabetical order):

Andrews, Reddit
Bisgrove, David
Bullmore, Mike
Carson, Donald A.
Cole, raham
Davis, Andy
Driscoll, Mark
Duncan, Ligon
Keller, Timothy
Lawrence, Michael
Loritts, Crawford
Louie, Jeff
Ortlund, Ray
Piper, John
Reeder, Harry
Ryken, Phillip
Um, Stephen
Willson, Sandy
Yates, John

The foundational documents are posted in a PDF file downloadable here:
http://www.stevekmccoy.com/GospelCoalition.pdf

In this first post I reproduce the first paragraph of the Preamble of the Foundational Documents for the Gospel Coalition,
which is subtitled, “The Gospel for All of Life”

***** quoted text begins *****
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.
***** quoted text ends *****

Lots of meat here. In outline form, here’s the first paragraph:

A fellowship of evangelical churches
A. Committed to:
1. Renew our faith in the gospel of Christ
2. Reform ministry practices to conform to Scripture
B. Deeply concerned about movements
1. That diminish the church’s life
2. Which lead us away from our historic beliefs and practices
C. Troubled by
1. The idolatry of personal consumerism
2. Politicization of the faith
3. Unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism
D. These trends can lead to abandonment of
1. Biblical truth
2. Transformed living mandated by our historic faith.
E. We commit ourselves to invigorating churches
1. With hope
2. And joy
3. Based in the the promise of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

I think this first paragraph is somewhat like Vince Lombardi’s (or was it Knut Rockne’s?) famous back to basics speech beginning with, “This is a football.”

This first paragraph sets forth identity and core commitments, beginning with renewed faith in the gospel of Christ. This renewed faith partners with reforming ministry practices so that they conform to Scripture – not to pragmatic goals, nor to fads or trendiness, but Scripture.

The concern about movements takes aim at the extremes of the spectrum: movements that diminish the church’s life include lifeless confessional subscription (theological legalism) and moralism (behavioral legalism), both of which sap life from the church. At the same time there is acknowledgement that certain movements lead away from historic beliefs and practices, and I think this hits the bullseye with with the urge to reject anything historical or traditional in favor of the cool, the trendy, the “emergent”.

The idolatry of personal consumerism is endemic in the modern (and here I refer to modernity purposely — I am not using the term as a synonym for contemporary) seeker church. Politicization of the faith has taken place from the right in churches that preach Christian Americanism (Reclaim America for Christ!) in which the gospel is supplanted by an effort to reclaim for the church the political power and cultural influence that were once its prerogative in the de facto (in America) or de jure (in much of Europe) establishment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the left politicization of the faith results in a vitiation of the gospel in favor of embracing social justice for the oppressed, environmental activism, and associated affections. Both of these trends result in the acceptance of theological and moral relativism, with varied manifestations.

But both lead ultimately to the abandonment of biblical truth and transformed lives. The first paragraph ends with a commitment to invigorating churches — giving them new life and vitality. True vitality can only come from a living source. There have been efforts to invigorate churches with methodologies and techniques, but these only gave the illusion of life. True church vitality must have at its core genuine hope and joy based in the promise of God’s grace along through faith alone in christ alone.

Let me add my heartfelt and enthusiastic assent to the work of the Gospel Coalition. Some of the things I have written in this blog may look like a tradition-rejecting emergent churcher, but nothing could be further from the truth. I am a committed Reformed Evangelical, but like the signers of the Gospel Coalition, I am committed to real gospel life. This means being relentless about subjecting every aspect of church to the lens of scripture, rejecting those things that obscure God’s grace and the truth of the good news of Christ, and holding tight to those things that help God transform us through the redeeming power of Jesus, his love, and his truth.

If this is not at the core of church planting, then the whole enterprise is a fool’s errand.

In future posts I’ll be interacting with the remaining parts of the Foundational Documents of the Gospel Coalition as well as with the presentations made as they become available. Audio is being posted on the podcast page of The Resurgence website. Pictures are available at the placeholder site of The Gospel Coalition. Enter Gospel Coalition in your search engine to find more information and discussion of this important meeting.