A new twist on the conversation: Fire Insurance vs Justice

Posted on May 19, 2010 in The Church, Theology | 0 comments

Over the past few weeks, I have read a large number of posts related to how we define the Gospel and how we communicate it in a way that leads people to faith in Christ.  Scott McKnight’s post Viral Gospel takes the conversation a bit deeper.  He attempts to define two consensus points which I agree most people who visit the Jesus Creed site agree on.  In summary, 1.) the old method of sharing the gospel as “fire insurance” is overly reductionist and 2.) Any attempt to define the Gospel must include an emphasis on the Kingdom if it is to accurately reflect Jesus’ teachings.

I think McKnight’s two consensus points are a good place to start to wrestle with how we share the Gospel.  However, as both Kimball, McKnight and I myself in my post “Social Justice vs Evangelism” point out, any message that attempts to reduce the Gospel down too much and becomes overly focused on one element of Christ’s message, is dangerous.