The Gospel Coalition

In this breakout session from TGC's 2023 National Conference, a panel featuring Vincent Bacote, Steve DeWitt, John Dickson, and Philip Ryken considers how race, sex, politics, and social media are tearing evangelical communities apart. They reflect on what pastors, teachers, and other Christian leaders can do to restore true Christian fellowship and empower effective gospel witness that's faithful to Scripture and relevant to culture. They discuss the following: - Challenges in the evangelical church - The church's reputation and loyalty - What it means to live in a post-Christian society - The need for pastoral resilience - The term "evangelical" and its usefulness in the broader world - Educational decisions for Christian families - Political emphasis in the church and the need for discernment Watch the full breakout below or listen in the TGC Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. 

In the summer of 2023, the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), in response to controversies threatening the unity of their association of churches from multiple directions, issued a set of affirmations and denials meant to clarify a path forward. “Just as Paul needed to explain and defend himself and his ministry (2 Cor 10–13),” they said, “we, too, sense a need to explain the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us.” The statement was approved by the board of directors and the board of ministerial standing, the two boards elected by and accountable to the EFCA. When the president delivered it at the conclusion of his report, delegates responded with a standing ovation. In that moment, the EFCA made it clear their future would be neither “Progressive Evangelical” nor “Neo-Fundamentalist.” They reclaimed the traditional and historic center of the best of their evangelical heritage. They clarified not only their beliefs but also their ethos. This series of denials and affirmations is a terrific example of what I call “multi-directional leadership”—not an attempt to find “balance” or “a middle path” but a fierce commitment to walking in light of the gospel while avoiding dangers that encroach on the flock from different sides of the field. Here’s a quick overview of what they declared.

"Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge” are words the psalmist wrote as he gazed on the creation and beheld God’s glory (Ps. 19:2). He watched the sun run its course across the heavens and likened it to an athlete running his race (vv. 4–5). The psalmist, however, didn’t merely marvel at creation’s beauty but acknowledged that it disclosed knowledge: “There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard” (v. 3). What does the creation say? What speech does it disclose? Creation reveals God’s existence. Some theologians reject this idea, and yet Scripture and classic Reformed theology say otherwise. God reveals something about himself in creation, a disclosure that falls under the category of natural revelation. This stands in contrast to special revelation, which is the knowledge God discloses about himself chiefly in Scripture. We can liken natural revelation and special revelation to two “books.” When people read the book of creation and interpret it, this is called natural theology. Let’s briefly consider the objections to natural theology, what Scripture and historic Reformed theology have to say about it, and the importance and benefits of natural theology for the Christian life.

This week, construction crews finished destroying a church building in my neighborhood. I drove past last weekend to mourn one final time. The white columns and colonial steeple still stood. But the sanctuary, offices, classrooms, and fellowship hall had already been chewed into dust by excavators. For me, it was the end of a dream. I lived for five years on Red Mountain, just south of Birmingham, Alabama, overlooking Shades Valley. This church’s steeple jutted through the canopy of pine trees that separated us. From my deck and the southern windows in my son’s room, my kitchen, and my office, I looked down on the steeple and prayed nearly every day that a faithful, biblical, gospel-preaching church would open in the building. I couldn’t quite believe the dream had died until I saw for myself the facade standing sentinel over piles of rubble.

Gavin Ortlund has a message for those who are considering converting to Roman Catholicism: Rest in Christ. And then dig into biblical doctrine and church history. Watch the full episode in the Gospelbound podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts!

Many elder-led churches are broken. Think, for example, about these all-too-familiar scenarios. Laissez-faire elders: The elders are mere “yes men” to the lead minister. They look to him to be the star of the show and see themselves as gatekeepers there to ensure nothing excessive or terrible happens, and nothing happens too fast. Divided elders: The pastor is under attack by a new, dominant elder. Quietly but forcefully, he’s undermined the pastor and rallied a couple of elders to see things his way. Church division and pastor burnout are just around the corner. Micromanaging elders: The elders are active and hands-on. But their hands are on everything. Alongside matters of pastoral and theological significance, they discuss minor things like the coffee machine and staging for the Christmas carols event. They’re overwhelmed and behind because each issue they face has to be worked out from scratch. There’s no big picture of a gospel church in front of them, just a hundred separate issues that need to be addressed now. To these scenarios, dozens of others could be added: elder-led churches where there’s unresolved conflict, a slow-moving bureaucracy, ineffective busyness, lone-ranger pastors, narcissistic leaders, or gospel-stifling traditionalism. This litany of failure can make it look as if eldership itself is the problem. Pastor-led churches make progress; elder-led churches don’t. If, however, these church scenarios are examined through a biblical lens, it becomes clear the problem isn’t eldership per se but the way many elder teams work. The Scriptures, by contrast, unfold a picture of eldership that generates compelling and effective leadership for healthy, gospel-hearted churches.

“Things were so desperate,” he said. “They were open to anything. We tried for nine months to find a planter and cast a vision. We brought a few people in, but no one was interested, and no one was buying the vision.” Slowly, Cook began to talk himself into the job. In 2003, without even having been an elder anywhere, and in a denomination that hardly existed in the Northeast, Cook jumped in. Within a year, Hope Fellowship Church had 40 people. Within four, they had around 200. Today, Hope sees about 300 each week. That’s a lot of growth in a state now tied for least religious in the country. But it’s even more remarkable when you know that Hope regularly sends people and finances to new churches, including three plants of their own. “They changed from inward-looking to outward-looking very quickly,” said Dane Helsing, a Hope associate pastor turned church planter. “Curtis has welcomed anybody who is interested in planting—he will never say no to a coffee meeting with anybody. He’s met hundreds of people over the last 20-plus years who want to talk about planting.” That’s one reason Cook can say he sees more healthy churches in a variety of denominations and networks across Boston and New England now than at any time in the last 25 years. “I’m from the Bible Belt, and I love it there,” Cook said. “But I can recommend more churches with confidence in the greater Boston area than in several Southern cities. These churches are trying to have some form of membership, faithful leadership, and expository preaching. It really is an encouraging time.”

"Everything in life can be taken from us. Your salvation can never be taken from you." - Melissa Kruger Melissa is one of our many breakout speakers for TGC25! Browse the full list of 110 speakers and register today at tgc.org/tgc25!

Christians are called to be different from the surrounding culture. Philippians 2:15 says we should “shine as lights in the world.” Romans 12:2 calls us to “not be conformed to this world.” To use Augustine’s imagery from The City of God, the heavenly city and the earthly city are in a state of antithesis. We often think of this contrast in terms of our conduct and morality—but what does it mean for how we view history? Should Christians have a unique posture toward historical study and awareness? Sarah Irving-Stonebraker explores these questions in her thrilling book Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age. For Irving-Stonebraker, associate professor of history and Western Civilization at Australian Catholic University, the late modern Western world has entered an “ahistoric age,” which she argues began around 2010, due in part to social media’s influence. Part of the problem is an increasing ignorance of history in society (and the book chronicles alarming ways in which this has gotten worse even in the past decade). But the problem is deeper. Ahistoricism also involves the way culture wars and social media lead us to more simplistic historical judgments in which the people and ideas of the past are either weaponized or canceled. Insofar as we engage history at all, we tend to do so with a “totalizing and puritanical mentality” that manipulates historical facts to serve a contemporary agenda (25). This is profoundly related to our increasing difficulty in living peaceably with each other today.

Shortly after I moved into my first apartment, I decided to make my mother’s beef stew. The recipe called for red wine, but after I started cooking, I realized I didn’t have a corkscrew. I tried everything I could think of to open that bottle. I don’t remember how I did it in the end, but I do remember that wine splattered all over my new kitchen. A corkscrew is a simple tool, but it makes the job of opening a bottle easy. I bought one, and I’ve never since tried to take out a cork without it. God has given parents tools to train up our children in the way they should go. We discipline to teach them how to obey. We praise them when they do something well. We pray for them. We teach them by our example. What if I told you there’s another tool you can add to your parenting tool belt? One that wouldn’t replace any of the other tools but, like a corkscrew, would make some hard jobs easier? Parents, let me recommend to you the art of storytelling.