What Is the Gospel?

A good starting point for us in our consideration of renewing the church is to reflect on the definition of the Gospel. Pastor and blogger Trevin Wax proposes a conceptual framework for the Gospel that he likens to a three-legged stool. One leg of the stool is the Gospel story which he describes as the overarching grand narrative found in the Scriptures that takes us from creation to new creation, climaxing with the death and resurrection of Jesus at the center. The second leg of the stool is the Gospel Announcement that centers on what Jesus has done to reconcile us to God through his incarnation, life, death and resurrection. This is probably what most of us think of when we think of "the term Gospel. The third and final leg of the stool is the Gospel Community. Pastor Wax writes:

"The third leg of the stool is the gospel community.Our response to the gospel announcement (repentance and faith) is not a one-time event, but a lifelong expression of the gratitude that wells up from the bottom of our hearts and overflows into love for God and his beloved community. We are shaped by the gospel into the kind of people who herald the grace of God and spread the news of Jesus Christ. God has commissioned the church to be the community that embodies the message of the gospel. Through our corporate life together, we "obey the gospel" by living according to the truth of the message that Jesus Christ is our Savior nad the Lord of the world."

He also collected a number of Gospel definitions that you may find helpful in your own reflections on the various ways in which we understand the complex idea of the Gospel.