A relevant Gospel

In 2006, the Churches of Christ Conference for Victoria and Tasmania asked all participating churches to send in their vision and mission statements so that a logo or document could be designed to express the themes common to all. At the recent AGM, the logo to the left was unveiled.

It is called the Theme Tree and if you look closely you will see a lot of words used in Christian faith and practice combined in an image of a tree representing connection, depth and growth in a Christ-centred community.

Having not been to a Churches of Christ AGM before, I found it very interesting to sit back and listen for the common language used across the denomination: revealed were words such as story, conversation, narrative, dialogue. All these words express a desire to relate the central truths of the Christian faith to this day and age in a way understandable to them, and respectful of their culture, mindset and formed views of life. Also dominant were the themes of unity, and developing local churches that strive for New Testament form.

In many of the conversations held on the ministers day , many people spoke of, or implied, that they are striving to make the Gospel relative to the 21st century in Australia. Although I understand this line of thinking, I am wary of it. Let me explain!

I do want to make the Gospel available and understandable to my generation in language they also use, using images they already see, using methods that do not alienate. But I don't believe that the Gospel is relative to anything. The Gospel is a perfect, absolute entity given and crafted by God and we have no right to alter it to make it relative to a culture or season. The aim is to make it RELEVANT, not RELATIVE.

The Gospel was committed to the 12 by Christ, and they committed it to the next generation of ministers and so on... We have the unenviable task of preaching an unchanging Gospel to a western world where everything is considered relative to the preferences of the individual. Yet in the mystery of ministry with God - it still works. Because the Gospel and the Holy Spirit together can break through any barrier with the eternal good news of Jesus Christ, this everlasting message can penetrate a relative culture. But don't be drawn in to making the gospel relative to their circumstances. Rather, draw them to the eternal truth that the Gospel relates to all peoples of all times.

Go on, get out there and give it a go.