New group of high-profile pastors seeks return to evangelical consensus.
This week I attended the inaugural one-day conference of the Gospel Coalition. This consortium of more than 50 evangelical pastors have united around a common confessional statement and theological vision of ministry. Organizers hope this short conference, hosted by Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and attended by 500+ pastors and other ministry leaders, will propel a long-term effort to renew and reform evangelical thought and practice. D.A. Carson, a New Testament scholar at TEDS, and Tim Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, organized the group, which has met privately for three years now. Other speakers and workshop presenters included Crawford Loritts, Phil Ryken, Mark Driscoll, and John Piper.
I thought a couple statements stood out in the Gospel Coalition's founding document:
From the preamble: "On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal consumerism and the politicization of the faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism."
From the theological vision of ministry: "If we seek service rather than power, we may have significant cultural impact. But if we seek direct power and social control, we will, ironically, be assimilated into the very idolatries of wealth, status, and power we seek to change."
The Gospel Coalition's core group of pastors plans to meet yearly. Leaders have tentatively planned a national conference for April 2009. A website, www.thegospelcoalition.org, will be forthcoming in June with video of all the conference sessions and loads of links to resources that promote the Gospel Coalition vision.
As Carson told me today, this group could not have come together five years ago. Make of that what you will, but something's stirring in the evangelical movement. The Gospel Coalition seeks nothing less than a return to the theological consensus enjoyed in the days of neo-evangelicalism, led by Billy Graham, Carl Henry, Harold John Ockenga, and many others. That might be a goal more difficult to achieve than pioneering evangelicalism in the post-war Protestant scene, split as it was between fundamentalism and liberalism.
Posted by Collin Hansen on May 25, 2007 4:33PM
Comments
Very encouraging sign. Looks like John 17 in action. Hopefully, the world will take notice and smell Christ.
******
http://surfcountry.blogspot.com
Posted by: Dootz at May 29, 2007
Wish I could've joined you all. I passed by numerous times on my way to Whitehorse and back to class. I pray that all went well with you.
Posted by: Matt Stephens at May 29, 2007
Looking fwd to the GC website and content. There is indeed something stirring, and it is an answer to the other half of the emerging church.
Too bad MacArthur isn't part of it.
http://michaelkrahn.wordpress.com
Posted by: michael krahn at May 29, 2007
I'm looking forward to the website also. Thought the "core-doctrines" put together looked great -- although there seems to be some concern in the desire to return to the days of Billy Graham?!? It seems we've tried a broad-based ecumenical approach before and it has failed (ie. Billy Graham). I would much rather hold to the document produced than the approach of Graham -- especially later on.
It is good to see a unity over these essential truths, though.
Posted by: Ben Eilers at June 2, 2007
There never actually was a "theological consensus" in the days of neo-evangelicalism.
Posted by: sji at June 3, 2007
"the very idolatries of wealth, status, and power we seek to change."
What evidence is there that the majority, or even a sizeable minority, of evangelicals in the USA have the slightest desire to change those things?
All the evidence I see from this side of the Atlantic is that what they really seek is to take personal and communal advantage of them.
How can evangelicals, to take just one example, be in favour changing the idolatries of wealth, status, and power, and at the same time fulminate against improving the status and welfare of illegal immigrants (many of whom are related to the original inhabitants of the land stolen by white immigrants)?
Posted by: Peter Smith at June 6, 2007
A return to the basic fundamentals of the original NAE is sorely
needed in our nation. The propositional truths of the Scriptures
have too often been sacrificed in a creeping incrementalism that
borders on religious syncretism.
Posted by: Loyal Funk at October 6, 2007
Post a comment