» News: Gospel Coalition Website Launches

The companion website for the Gospel Coalition's recent national meeting is now online. The site contains a confessional statement as well as a theological vision for ministry that contains support for a realist epistemology. The theological vision statement sketches a vision for conducting the ministry of the church that the author's see to be rarely practiced. The goal of the vision is a gospel "balance" about which the authors write:

"We believe such a balance will produce churches with winsome and theologically substantial preaching, dynamic evangelism and apologetics, and church growth and church planting. They will emphasize repentance, personal renewal, and holiness of life. At the same time, and in the same congregations, there will be engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government. There will be calls for radical Christian community in which all members share wealth and resources and make room for the poor and the marginalized. These priorities will all be combined and will mutually strengthen one another in each local church."

In addition to documentation, the website hosts audio and video of the plenary session speakers, and will eventually host media from the workshop sessions.

» News: Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition website now promises that the materials from this conference will be available on June 28th. We previously reported on this parachurch organization and its diverse participants.

» News: Gospel Coalition Statement of Faith

We now have a copy of the Gospel Coalition statement of faith - you can download it here (pdf). More news and analysis to follow in the coming week.

» News: The Gospel Coalition Wraps Conference

The Gospel Coalition grew out of a 2006 colloquium hosted by Tim Keller and D.A Carson in Chicago in which the issue of the relationship of the gospel to culture resulted in the drafting of a Reformed confessional statement on the subject. According to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, part of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, "The hope was to redefine a clear center for evangelicalism more akin to that previously articulated by men such as Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, and Billy Graham." This week, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School played host to the Gospel Coalition's first conference. Part of the conference's goal was to complete the drafting of this confession, along with a document expressing a mission statement for the coalition. See Mark Driscoll's comments after the first day of the conference. According to Driscoll, Mars Hill will fund the hosting online of the documents and seminars held at the meeting. RN will report further on the doctrine and mission of the coalition once the documents have been made public. Participants in the Coalition include well-known pastors such as John Piper, Tim Keller, D.A. Carson, Ligon Duncan, and Ray Ortlund.

Thanks to the reader who pointed us to this conference. RN is a shoestring operation at this point and we depend upon our readers to be our eyes and ears. We work hard to have unbiased, balanced content, but covering all parts of the Reformed world evenly is difficult at this point. If you have story tips or updates, please send them to the editor.