The Gospel Coalition

Earlier this year I was thrilled to receive an invitation from D.A. Carson to participate in The Gospel Coalition. So after the New Attitude conference ended in Louisville, I flew to Chicago for my first meeting. Founded by D.A. Carson (pictured above), a New Testament scholar at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Tim Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, the council is comprised of about 50 pastors from a wide array of gospel-cherishing churches (here's a list of the council members). As the Coalition's preamble states, "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."

I was grateful to be there. The chance to get to know other pastors, pray together and learn from each other was very encouraging. Men like Tim Keller, John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Mark Dever and James MacDonald are so different and yet joined by a common passion to exalt Jesus Christ and him crucified. Being with them was a reminder of how God uses different people with different gifts to accomplish his great purposes. (My one disappointment is that my friend Mark Driscoll had a stomach flu and wasn't able to make it.)

This year's meeting was just the council members, but next April the Gospel Coalition will host a national conference. I would encourage pastors, seminary students and anyone else with a heart to see faithful gospel ministry in our post-Christian age to consider attending. In the meantime, a brand new website is scheduled to launch soon. Be on the lookout for it. Thanks to the hard work of Ben Peays, the director of the Gospel Coalition, it's going to be valuable resource.

Let me share the remainder of the Gospel Coalition's Preamble for your encouragement. I hope this vision resonates with you as it does with me:

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.

We believe that in many evangelical churches a deep and broad consensus exists regarding the truths of the gospel. Yet we often see the celebration of our union with Christ replaced by the age-old attractions of power and affluence, or by monastic retreats into ritual, liturgy, and sacrament. What replaces the gospel will never promote a mission-hearted faith anchored in enduring truth working itself out in unashamed discipleship eager to stand the tests of kingdom-calling and sacrifice. We desire to advance along the King's highway, always aiming to provide gospel advocacy, encouragement, and education so that current- and next-generation church leaders are better equipped to fuel their ministries with principles and practices that glorify the Savior and do good to those for whom he shed his life's blood.

We want to generate a unified effort among all peoples--an effort that is zealous to honor Christ and multiply his disciples, joining in a true coalition for Jesus. Such a biblically grounded and united mission is the only enduring future for the church. This reality compels us to stand with others who are stirred by the conviction that the mercy of God in Jesus Christ is our only hope of eternal salvation. We desire to champion this gospel with clarity, compassion, courage, and joy--gladly linking hearts with fellow believers across denominational, ethnic, and class lines.

Our desire is to serve the church we love by inviting all of our brothers and sisters to join us in an effort to renew the contemporary church in the ancient gospel of Christ so that we truly speak and live for him in a way that clearly communicates to our age. We intend to do this through the ordinary means of his grace: prayer, the ministry of the Word, baptism and the Lord's supper, and the fellowship of the saints. We yearn to work with all who, in addition to embracing the confession and vision set out here, seek the lordship of Christ over the whole of life with unabashed hope in the power of the Holy Spirit to transform individuals, communities, and cultures.