On May 21, 2018, we hosted The Gospel at the Center, a webcast on gospel culture—a culture where the gospel saturates our experience as a community of faith. During this event, we asked 28 speakers—including Trevin Wax, Jen Wilkin, Matt Chandler, Dhati Lewis, and J. D. Greear—to explore how this affects every area of life and every age.
Hopefully you were able to join us for this event, and are already considering its standout moments—those statements (or entire segments) how the gospel is transforming the culture of your church. Today, we want to share a few great moments from the event:
Ed Stetzer encourages remembering the past.
“As you revitalize a church, honor the journey but also show how the gospel shapes the future.” The 5 Rs of church revitalization are all fantastic, but one of them is incredibly challenging (and needed), especially for those of us who can be tempted to dismiss what’s come before in a church culture. Instead, Ed Stetzer, our founding editor, insists that we remember the journey. Because when we do, it makes all the difference in the world. Check it the whole talk:Jen Wilkin challenges assumptions.
“There is no such thing as a church where the men are flourishing and the women are not. We are created in partnership to flourish together.” This powerful session needs to be given careful consideration.Dhati Lewis drives us to rejoice and reject.
“The poor are called to lead the church in rejoicing in future hope, while the rich are called to reject the false hope of present riches.”Jana Magruder’s challenge to perfectionist parenting.
“Kids understand the gospel better when parents admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness.” Perfectionism in parenting isn’t going to help us shape our kids’ faith. Instead, when we ask our kids for their forgiveness, we help them see that the gospel is for their parents, too.Matt Chandler reorients us on the gospel.
“We only stand in the gospel if we hold fast to the gospel which we originally believed.” Check out the whole talk:Nancy Guthrie on grief and faith.
“When it comes to grief, our faith does not make it hurt less. But our faith does keep us from despair.”Jeff Vanderstelt: we talk about what we love.
“Everyone talks about what they love most. We should help people learn how to fall in love with Jesus more and more, so that the love for Jesus in their hearts overflows out of their mouths.”Sharon Hodde Miller explores true humility.
“False humility refuses to admit pride. Criticism is what often reveals this in defensiveness.”Danielle Bell on equipping kids for mission.
“We can’t just pour truth into kids. We also have to pour truth through kids so that they can share with others.”Trevin Wax shows us a better way.
“‘Deny yourself and pick up your cross,’ is a call to a life that is eternally better than being true to yourself.” Check out the whole talk:J. D. Greear: The great commission is costly.
“Who are we reaching in our community that costs us but enriches the kingdom of God?”Micah Fries on the good news of God’s discipline.
“Discipline does not point back and shame us over what we have done, it points forward and sanctifies us in the truth of what Christ has done for us.”Barnabas Piper’s call to embrace curiosity.
“The gospel gives us safety and security to be curious. It takes the risk out of our exploring God.”Dean Inserra calls us to speak to a crisis.
“We have a pornography crisis. Not an issue—a crisis… Neighbor love requires us to speak out against this crisis.”Kevin Jones’ entire session. (Every word of it.)
The only way this session could be more powerful would be to have been in the room when it was filmed (and, full disclosure, I was). We’d encourage you to watch the whole thing as soon as it’s available, but for now, here’s a quote: “Enter into the culture of those around you like a missionary: with a posture of humility and learning”
Because we believe this concept of gospel culture is so important we want to make sure you have access to this content at the time that best fits your needs, whether over a few lunch breaks, after Sunday services, or in the evenings with your community groups. So, here’s how we’re making that happen:
- First, the content is available at live.gospelproject.lifeway.com until the end of this week. So if you can sign-up and enjoy every session right now.
- Second, we’re making this content available—all of it—available as a free resource for you and your church to use right here on gospelproject.lifeway.com. Head over to this page, fill out a bit of information, and get started.
