Gospel

The Christian Gospel

When Christians refer to the "Gospel" they are referring to the good news that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might become the children of God through faith in Christ alone. He suffered as a sacrifice for sin, overcame death, and now offers a share in His triumph to all who will accept it. The gospel is good news because it is a gift of God, not something that must be earned by ritual or by self-improvement.

How Should We Then Live?

Many years ago, Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book which subsequently became a documentary series titled “How Should We Then Live”. The series documented the rise of western civilization under the influence of Biblical Christianity and the subsequent decline of civilization as Christian influence was removed. Dr. Schaeffer also prophetically predicted the rise of a manipulative elite to replace the Christian consensus, a future we are now seeing unfold. He concluded that the only hope to restore the freedoms afforded by the Christian worldview was for people to restore their individual commitment to the truths of God; that God is real, that He has spoken clearly to us, and that we have an obligation to honor Him and spread the Gospel to the world.

The Church

What is the role of the Church? It is clearly beyond the individual and personal, although the collective church would certainly be a nurturing environment for every individual. The church’s role has two main dimensions; one directed inward toward the support of fellow believers and the second aimed outward to save the unsaved. The church is incomplete without both dimensions fully and consciously in play. Basically, everything begins with the individual but the church collective supplements when individual action is inadequate.