What a great trip. Let me share with you the rest of our sessions:
Session 4 - Daniel Montgomery - Gospel Centered Theology
Session 5 - Mark Driscoll - Qualifications for the Lead Planter Dude
Session 6 - Ed Stetzer - Understanding Missional Theology
Session 7 - Q and A with Stetzer and Driscoll
Once more everything was related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ - great stuff.
We ended yesterday with a 2 hour assessment with a couple of Acts 29 church planters. Our assessment was primarily conversation - about theology, about the Gospel (imagine that), about home life - how do I treat my wife and kids... We will hear back in the next week on whether we will be received into the Acts 29 network of churches. The Acts 29 network offers resources, coaching, great relationships, potential church partnerships, and possible funding.
One of the questions asked during Q and A with Driscoll and Stetzer - and perhaps being asked by some of you - was, Why do you focus so much on the Gospel when Hebrews tells us we should move past the basics of the death and resurrection - from milk to meat?
I knew the answer but sure enjoyed hearing it!
We believe that Gospel is both the milk AND the meat of the Christian life and the teaching of Scripture. Driscoll and Stetzer went to explain that a little.
Here's my take on that question:
Many, if not most "Christians" have come to see the Gospel (the birth, life, death, resurrection of Christ) as little more than our way to get to heaven - you know, If you died tonight, do you know where you would be tomorrow? That is certainly part of the Gospel. But the Gospel is SOOOOOOOOO much more than a ticket to heaven - this gets MEATY!
I'll use Ephesians as an example of the far-reaching, meaty implications of the Gospel:
In the first chapters Paul unpacks what the Gospel is - How we were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world, how we are forgiven in Christ, How we are sealed in the Spirit. He then talks about the power of the Gospel - it raised Christ from the dead and (Chapter 2) raised us from the dead as well. Paul talks about the mystery of the Gospel and its power to unite Jew and Gentile, black and white into 1 body... Then in Chapter 4:1 he says, Therefore - in light of the Work of the Gospel, In light of the Power of the Gospel, in light of who you are in the Gospel - Walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel! Paul then explains how the Gospel should be reflected in our relationships - with one another, with our spouse, with our children, with our employer... Go back and read Ephesians thinking this way and see how deep, meaty, and difficult the implications of the Gospel can be. The Gospel is everything to us. The Gospel reaches, touches, and should transform EVERY area of our life.
I get it - I may not live it all the time (thank God for the Gospel that forgives me every day - over and over) - but I get it. That is the transforming Gospel that is the heart of this church plant - I pray that it truly become the heart of New City Church downtown... to see the Gospel transform everything within our reach - our selves, our church, our city, and the world.
For more on the week and a wife's perspective, check out Amy's take.
