“Gospel-centered” is a popular term these days, used by many Evangelicals, predominantly Reformed who give much emphasis on the centrality of the gospel in one's theology, life and ministry. Here at Beacon of Truth, we have Jay Dharan’s articulation of the centrality of the gospel as follows: “Doctrinally, canonically and thematically, the center of the Bible is the gospel. The gospel thus dictates our understanding of every single doctrine, orients our hermeneutics and brings coherence to our grasp of the Bible storyline. Thus it is only by keeping the gospel at the center of our theology, life and ministry, we would faithfully uphold the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel. We thus want to be as gospel-centered as the Bible is.”[1] Thus being gospel-centered affects our systematics (understanding of doctrine) and makes it thoroughly Evangelical; affects our hermeneutics (understanding of texts) and makes it thoroughly redemptive-historical in approach; and finally it affects our understanding of the biblical metanarrative (understanding of the whole story line) and makes it Christocentric.
What kind of a ministry would this result in the church? Tim Keller, very much a veteran in gospel-centered ministry expounds 1 Peter 1-2 to explain how a ministry profoundly shaped by the gospel will look like. He lists seven aspects of the gospel from this passage and then reflects on ministry implications of each of these. The seven facets of the gospel that Keller expounds from this passage are : Historical, Doxological, Christocentrical, Personal, Cultural, Transformational and Wonderful. For each of these, Keller has a very profound ministry application and thus lets the listener see how each of these ought to shape the ministry of a church. When the gospel shapes the ministry of a church, it is a gospel faithful ministry and as Evangelicals, the people of the Evangel, that is what we should yearn for the most in our churches.
Footnotes
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[1] Jay Dharan, The Gospel and Worshipping The Lord At Any Cost, Beacon of Truth.
