Between Two Worlds

Ligon Duncan calls for local congregations of Christians to be characterized by a Gospel culture, a Gospel-sharing culture, a culture of evangelism. By that he means:

1. that your whole congregation would be able to articulate the Gospel, personally, in a compelling and understandable way;
2. that your whole congregation would understand the importance and necessity of their lives, their prayers and their participation in Gospel witness;
3. that your whole congregation would deeply care about conversions (and I would lay stress here, that we are talking about real conversions, not numbers; disciples, not decisions; changed lives, not merely prayed prayers);
4. that your whole congregation would earnestly and regularly pray for conversions, talks about their own conversions and the conversions of others, and put a priority on people coming to know God; and
5. that your whole congregation would be excited about the Gospel itself, and not simply about a method of sharing the Gospel, or a training program.

At his church they went through "The Gospel Course," that had the aim of equipping members of their church with:

1. a fuller understanding of the Gospel;
2. an opportunity to hone and articulate their Christian testimony;
3. an opportunity to be instructed in, observe and engage in Gospel conversations;
4. a simple, biblical, outline of the Gospel;
5. encouragements and helps to share (or more effectively share) the Gospel;
6. an opportunity to help better the evangelism equipping of our congregation;
7. the opportunity to see how all pastors of the church are involved in gospel witness; and
8. encouragement and instruction on how to engage others in the church in this Gospel culture.

Keep your eye on the T4G blog as he shares over the next several weeks the material taught in their church.

You also may be interested in a recent Al Mohler radio program where Duncan was his guest, on the topic of Checking the Pulse of American Evangelicalism.