FAQs

How did this start? What was the vision/dream behind CGC?

A core value that we have at our church at Citylife, is to have everyone understand not only the truth of the gospel, but the implications of that truth into every dimension of life. It’s not merely about the gospel being preached and received, but how it can be lived. As a council member of the gospel coalition, I have been thinking, praying, wrestling, and having conversations with others on how we can recapture the center of evangelicalism, which is the gospel. I believe that the center exists to establish the centrality of the gospel as the basis for developing a gospel culture worldview in renewing every dimension of an individual’s life –spiritual, social, theological, ecclesiological, ministerial, psychological, corporate, and professional –so that individuals would be able to think, act, and live in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal 2:14). We want to establish a gospel central worldview for people who want to live out a life that revolves around a gospel culture. I also had a burden to bring some of my background training in biblical theology to help people to have an inter-canonical, diachronic, historical-redemptive, reading the scriptures along its big story plotline.

What is the purpose of having the many categories at our center?

The centrality of the gospel and its gospel culture worldview will serve as the center which realigns, renews, and transforms our orientation to everything, e.g. our culture in general, literature, the arts, media, sex, power, money, ministry, preaching, university ministry, music, culture of ideas, marketplace, education, the academy, the church, our theological framework, mercy, missions, parenting, and counseling, etc. Rather than attaching the gospel or a Christian perspective to these categories, we want all of these things to be driven by a gospel orientation. For example, we are not critiquing literature from a Christian perspective, but we are evaluating literature in order to enter into its story, finding a point of reference, challenging it, and realigning the story with a gospel orientation.

Who is the audience?

This Center isn’t necessarily for people who are in the academy. Whether you are a pastor, seminarian, or layperson who wants to thoughtfully think through how the gospel has implications for every dimension of life, we hope you will find the Center to be engaging and helpful. We want the gospel to be central in our understanding of God, ecclesiology, culture, literature, music, to everything.

What sort of resources?

We will provide resources that will make that the central fabric of the connections that we will make from themes that we find in scripture, or culture, or in literature. To that end, we will provide featured articles from our team of contributors and guest writers, along with monthly articles from each of the respective ministry categories. We hope that you will find this ministry site a place where your mind and heart will be engaged, where you will find some novel contribution along with thoughtful summaries of other helpful resources and we will also provide links to likeminded blogs, ministry sites, etc.