What is the gospel?
My great friend and fellow pastor Eulando Henton (shameless plug for our podcast, click here) has a custom of opening meetings at his church by inviting everyone to answer that question.
That makes it awkward–but he’s not wrong.
If we are committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ–
if we’re putting our wholehearted trust and faith in the good news,
then we need to know what that good news is.
And if we are going to invite others to believe the good news with us–
then we need to be able to tell people what the good news is.
If you are anything like me–you can easily say what the gospel isn’t, but struggle to say what it is. (If you are anything like me, you especially struggle to say what it is without preaching a sermon!) We can passionately talk about what the gospel isn’t
but can we speak with equal passion about what the gospel is?
When we can’t–it’s a problem.
Because the church isn’t called to announce what God is against–the church exists to share, live, and celebrate what God is doing in creation. And what God is doing is unexpected (which makes it news) and wonderful (which makes it good).
We aren’t building a community around what we hate, what we mourn, or what we’re against. The Holy Spirit is building us into a community grounded in our shared commitment to what we are FOR–and that is the good news of Jesus Christ.
Which brings us back to the first question
What–exactly–is this good news we believe?
Listen in and think about it with us.
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