{"id":4772,"date":"2009-05-13T14:57:07","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T14:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/kingdom-gospel-3.html"},"modified":"2009-05-13T14:57:07","modified_gmt":"2009-05-13T14:57:07","slug":"kingdom-gospel-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/kingdom-gospel-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Kingdom Gospel 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

I grew up in the gospel I sketched Monday, so when I contend that I
\nthink it is right but not right enough, you can take it as friendly
\nfire from one who learned the hard way. Three experiences led me not
\nonly to embrace a gospel like what we find in Luke but to see the
\ngospel I grew up with as too small to be fully biblical. Today I will sketch those changes.<\/p>\n

First, as a college student I was privileged to spend two summers in
\nAustria with Greater Europe Mission. What I learned there changed my
\nentire worldview: the Church is bigger than the little church world in
\nwhich I had grown up. God’s work is about a worldwide community. <\/p>\n

Second, as a seminary student I read a book that shook me to my core:
\nRonald Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.  I learned from
\nSider, and I wish I could say I have practiced as much as I have
\nlearned, that we are responsible for one another and especially to care
\nfor the poor and needy in our world. Of all the places in the world
\nwhere care for the poor should be visible, the church should be at the
\ntop of the list. (It wasn’t then, it hasn’t always been, but it is
\ngetting better.)<\/p>\n


\n 
<\/p>\n

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\nThird, from 1996 until now, as a result of teaching college students
\nand listening to both their sharp critique of the church and, at the
\nsame time, listening to their lack of interest in attending local
\nchurches, I learned something else: the gospel we are preaching is so
\nindividualistic, so tied into getting the individual into heaven, that
\nthe church has become an afterthought for many Christians today. The
\ncurrent generation of young Christians is now living out, so I believe,
\nthe gospel my generation preached to them – the individualistic gospel.
\nThis gospel is deconstructing the church, making the church little more
\nthan a Sunday morning option for those who want to follow Jesus. Do you
\nrealize how far this church-as-option is from what we see in Luke’s
\nwiki-story of the Story? For Luke, the church isn’t an option; it’s the
\nmain stage.
\n   
These experiences of mine, combined with reading the Bible’s Story,
\nhave led me to a deep shift on how to talk about the gospel and what it
\nmeans to live out the gospel in our world today. I am learning that the
\nBible, which is filled with blue parakeets to remind us, confronts you
\nand me with a gospel that redeems individuals in and through
\ncommunities and it redeems those individuals so they might contribute
\nto those communities. Any kind of gospel living that is not first and
\nforemost church-based is simply not the biblical gospel living. Notice
\nnow how John calls people to respond to the gospel of the kingdom – he
\ncalls them into a community that is unlike the culture surrounding
\nthem. (I wonder what John would think of the gospel I sketched at the
\nbeginning of this chapter.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in the gospel I sketched Monday, so when I contend that I think it is right but not right enough, you can take it as friendly fire from one who learned the hard way. Three experiences led me not only to embrace a gospel like what we find in Luke but to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kingdom-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nKingdom Gospel 3 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/kingdom-gospel-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kingdom Gospel 3 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I grew up in the gospel I sketched Monday, so when I contend that I think it is right but not right enough, you can take it as friendly fire from one who learned the hard way. 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