What is the Missional Gospel? Part 5: The Evangelical Missional Church
By Keith Whitfield
At a recent conference, Tim Keller addressed the challenges of evangelism in a post-modern context and gave six principles on how to pursue evangelism in this context. The first principle was “Gospel Theologizing,” and what he meant by this is phrase that all theology should articulate the gospel message. He says our theology should be an exposition of the gospel, and our presentation … [Read More]
What is the Missional Gospel? Part 5: The Evangelical Missional Church
Tim Keller’s Advice to Seminarians–Pastor a Country Church
Though I have never been the “permanent” pastor of a local church, I have been a youth minister and done interim pastor work. Three of the churches I’ve served were rural congregations of less than 100 active members. I wouldn’t trade my experiences with those small-church saints for anything in the world. Perhaps because of my own experiences, I think Tim Keller’s advice to seminarians–consider becoming a country parson–is good advice for many would-be pastors. This … [Read More]
Aspect 4(a): A Mission Focused on This Nation (Confront the Brutal Facts)
(By: Danny Akin & Bruce Ashford)
Our convention must confront the brutal facts:
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations. This includes our own nation-the United States of America-and yet the truth is that we are failing to meet the challenge. While the population of our nation increases, the population of our churches has not kept pace. While the United States becomes increasingly diverse, the Southern Baptist Convention remains a mostly middle-class, … [Read More]
The Church Planter’s Library (2): North American Church Planting & Renewal
North American church planting and renewal is not for wimps, dummies, or dorks. In order to plant and revitalize churches in 21st century America, we need men who are strong in their walk with the Lord, strong as husbands and fathers, and strong in perseverance. Further, the church needs men whose mind is buttressed by sound theology and missiology. Third, we need men who are culturally savvy, having a ready gasp of their socio-cultural context … [Read More]
The Church Planter’s Library (1): Introduction
On Tuesday mornings, I drink and read. By 7:30 a.m., I am sitting around the table in my conference room with a rowdy group of guys, including some of the best students on campus. We start off by drinking coffee (unless Bryan Laughlin makes the coffee, in which case we actually cut it into squares and chew it), cracking jokes, and catching up, but soon we get down to business, discussing how to take the gospel … [Read More]
The Differences Between “Religion” and the Gospel
Because of the craziness involved with the end of the spring semester followed immediately by a three-week summer class, over the past month or so I have not been as active in my blogging. I hope to start blogging in earnest against next week, when I will share my personal thoughts about the GCR Declaration and my hope that a Great Commission Resurgence will become the unifying vision for Southern Baptist churches and the numerous denominational parachurch ministries those churches support.
For the weekend, I … [Read More]
God’s Guidelines for the “Gray Areas” of Life: Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World, Part 4
Ethical and moral decision-making presents a great challenge for devoted followers of Jesus in the 21st century context. In 1 Corinthians Paul provides helpful guidelines for navigating what could be called “the gray areas” of the Christian life.
These biblical principles are true anywhere, anytime and under any circumstances. They are extremely helpful in leading us to be wise decision-makers as we live out a gospel-centered ethic.
5). Is this action consistent with my new life in … [Read More]
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