Gospel-Driven Articles

Gospel-Driven Articles
What is the Gospel? by Scott Sauls

The Gospel is the core message of biblical Christianity—it is "good news" that is more than the first step in a “staircase” of truths. It is better likened to the hub of a wheel, the central reality around which all of life is arranged. It is not a “basic truth” from which we move on to deeper truths, but is the key and core truth from which all other truth flows. Whether you are just beginning to investigate Christianity, or are a life-long follower of Christ, the Gospel is the one, single thing you must grasp if your life is to be all God designed it to be. Without the Gospel, life becomes distorted in many, many ways. With the Gospel, life is set to a path toward beauty, truth, and wholeness.

Read the whole article here

A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent

The New Testament teaches that Christians ought to hear the gospel as much as non-Christians do. In fact, in the first chapter of Romans the Apostle Paul tells the believers in the church that he was anxious “to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome.” Of course he was anxious to preach the gospel to the non-Christians at Rome, yet he specifically states that he was eager to preach it to the believers as well.

Download the PDF here

Gospel-Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges

Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, "The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct." Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst.

Read the full article here or download the PDF here (my church's men's group on Sunday mornings is currently discussing this great article. I highly recommend this article, as well as, A Gospel Primer for Christians).

Gospel-Driven Church by Richard Kaufmann (HT: Drew Goodmanson)

One of the most important questions you can ask about ministry is: What kind of church do we want? What kind of church are we seeking to plant, grow and be? The purpose of this paper is to challenge you to think clearly about what kind of church you are aiming for, by presenting how we at Harbor Church are thinking about this.

You can read, listen and/or download the session here

Gospel-Driven Church Planting by Steve Timmis

Church planters can be passionate about planting churches but indifferent about
what kind of churches they plant. “Gospel driven church planting” is church planting
that:

• Takes the gospel seriously


• Is given impetus by the gospel


• Is given shape and definition by the gospel

I am involved in a church-planting network that goes under the name of The Crowded House (www.thecrowdedhouse.org). We are about planting churches in a fiercely antagonistic and deeply secular culture. It is our ambition to reach some of the 90% of the population in the UK for whom traditional church has no relevance or worth. Our modus operandi is Mission through Community and our aim is to be Communities in Mission. There are two principles from which we work:

1. Mission is the primary responsibility of the church in the world


2. The church is God’s primary mission strategy in the world

One of the criticisms ... levelled at us is that we are ‘gospel plus’. Some people believe we have placed so much emphasis upon community that we have added to the simple, saving gospel of Christ crucified. It all depends on your understanding of the gospel.

• Is the gospel about the glory of God in rescuing individual sinners and bringing them one by one into heaven for his own honor and reputation?


• Or is the gospel about the glory of God in rescuing a people with which he will populate his
  new heaven and earth for his own honor and reputation?

You can listen or download this session's notes here and more specifically, you can download the PDF here

The Gospel and the City: San Francisco... by Fred Harell

3 years ago, my family and I moved to San Francisco to begin a new church. We had 5 names given us by Lewis Ruff.... all former attendees of PCA churches in other parts of the country. 3 from NY, 1 from Florida, 1 from Dallas. After a networking period that lasted 6 months, we began worship in February of ‘97 with around 30 adults. Over the next 2.5 years we’ve had a small-scale explosion of growth through renewal and conversion. Today, City Church averages 250+ in attendance with 215-220 of those being adults. That makes us one of the larger evangelical churches in the city. We have seen, by a conservative estimate, 30+ conversions and approx. 75+ who report renewal (“I really never understood the gospel before I got here”).

...

I believe we have seen this take place due to four major commitments:
I. A Commitment to Developing a Culture of the Gospel
II. A Commitment to Embodying the Gospel through Kingdom Priorities
III. A Commitment to Understanding our Context
IV. A Pastoral Commitment to Incarnate the Gospel

You can download the whole article here

Grace-based, Gospel-driven, Christ-Centered

By gospel-driven, we mean that everything we do- worship, fellowship, Bible study, etc.- is driven by the good news of Jesus Christ. The underlying motives are the love of God and the desire to bring seekers to experience that same love. When we're gripped by the gospel, it compels our hearts to glorify God in everything we do. We're not all fully like that, but we all strive to be.

You can read the whole article here

Real Men and Women are Gospel-Driven by Dan Cruver

Someone recently asked me if I knew of any resources that help explain what is meant by gospel-centered. That is a very good question. Talk about gospel-centered this and gospel-centered that is becoming common. Just do a Google search for “gospel-centered” and you’ll find references to gospel-centered communities, gospel-centered books, gospel-centered resources, gospel-centered blogging, gospel-centered preaching, gospel-centered homes, gospel-centered leadership, gospel-centered worship—the list goes on for pages. Being gospel-centered is becoming vogue. But what exactly do we mean by it? After all, aren’t all Christians gospel-centered?

You can download the PDF here

For other Gospel-Driven goodness, check out my "Favorite Blogs" section on the left side.