the gospel accepted, assumed, confused, lost...

I came upon a stimulating article by Mack Stiles, former InterVarsity staff worker, on "What's Happening to InterVarsity?"

There is definitely a tension in postmodern evangelicalism brought in by emergent church proponents (and others). Some of the criticisms are warranted, but there may be danger in throwing out the historic gospel and its centrality to the church's mandate.

Here is an insight that applies to any church or ministry...

"...you don't need much more than a cursory scan of history to see that solid Christian organizations can easily lose the gospel if they are not attentive. Losing the gospel doesn't happen all at once; it's more like a four-generation process.

"The gospel is accepted -->
The gospel is assumed -->
The gospel is confused -->
The gospel is lost.

"It is tragic for any generation to lose the gospel. But, as Philip Jensen says, the generation that assumes the gospel is the generation most responsible for the loss of the gospel."

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