Is “Gospel-Centeredness” Still Relevant in a Post-Everything, Spiritual Formation World?
In 2022, I wrote a blog entitled, “Where Did All The ‘Gospel-Centered’ Folks Go?” asking why those who had once passionately championed the gospel as the anchor of all things discipleship have seemingly moved on.
Look, I get it. Our world has changed.
Cultural shifts have created new felt needs. People are asking deep questions about the divided world around them. Post-modernism is old news as we welcome in the metamodern world. These shifts have led us to reconsider “what” and “how” we think about discipleship in our churches.
I also recognize how the Holy Spirit refreshes God’s people in different ways at various times. I agree with Trevin Wax’s article - 3 Waves That Have Shaped Evangelical Churches (and a 4th on the Way) that the recent boom of the spiritual formation movement very well may be one of these Spirit-led things.
I appreciate the spiritual formation movement. There’s something healthy about going back to the practices of earlier Christians which helps us to recover good things that may have been de-emphasized or lost. There’s something life-giving about spiritual practices in rhythm that allow us to experience God more richly, especially in a noisy, anxious, self-help entrenched culture. And if I’m being really honest, I probably need more sabbath, solitude, and digital detox than I want to admit.
So in light of these shifts, where does gospel centrality, the ongoing recognition that the work of Christ—His death and resurrection—as both foundational and the lens through which we understand all things discipleship fit? Is it still relevant in the current life of the church? Or is this now an outdated question, a sad attempt at pouring old wine into new wineskin?
While it remains to be seen if this is a steadily shrinking opinion, I believe gospel-centeredness is still very relevant for following Jesus in our ever-changing culture for this simple reason: the work of Jesus on the cross and its implications remain completely indispensable and inescapable as the very crux of the Christian faith.
John Stott framed it this way in his classic work, “The Cross of Christ”:
“Why…insist on its centrality, refusing to let it be pushed to the circumference of our message? Why must we proclaim the scandalous, and glory in the shameful? The answer lies in the single word ‘integrity’. Christian integrity consists partly in a resolve to unmask the caricatures, but mostly in personal loyalty to Jesus, in whose mind the saving cross was central. Indeed, readers who have come without bias to the Scriptures all seem to have come to the same conclusion.”
According to Stott, integrity is the reason why the message of the cross must remain central to the Christian faith. In Stott’s mind, combing through the Scriptures to paint the most authentic picture of the Christian faith has the work of Christ, his death and resurrection, at the center of the canvas. All colors and strokes revolve around the crucifix, its message, and its implications.
To de-center the cross and its message is, in Stott’s mind, to create a “caricature” of what the Scriptures explicitly reveal about the Christian faith. To de-center the cross is to be disingenuous about what the Bible says about Christianity. To de-center the cross is to insert a different priority about what was central in the very mind of Christ during his earthly ministry.
For Stott, making the gospel the central issue is an integrity issue about whether we will be honest about the testimony of the Scriptures and the mind of Christ during His time on earth.
For Stott, the gospel is like a door to enter a home. It’s like the key to unlock the door. It’s like the person who hands you the key in the first place. Any genuine undertaking to understand and grow in the Christian faith brings us squarely to the foot of the cross and the message of its crucified (now risen) Savior.
Here’s what I believe this can mean for us today:
“Gospel-centrality” can feel differently today than it did in previous iterations.
Gospel-centrality today isn’t necessarily about re-creating the shadow left behind by “The Young, Restless, and Reformed.” It doesn’t have to mean the gospel has to magically show up at the end of the sermon. It’s not about putting the phrase “gospel-centered” as some sort of bumper sticker validation on all ministry programming. It doesn’t mean only singing worship songs that explicitly define substitutionary atonement.
Gospel centrality can simply be about presenting the gospel as precious and powerful for the seeker and the believer when God’s people gather for worship. This can occur in a myriad of creative and fresh ways and perhaps this is the exciting opportunity of the present. Leaders could ask: “How can we display the gospel for its inherent beauty and power?”
Gospel-centrality” still fuels followers of Jesus for ongoing obedience.
Gospel-centrality in its previous iteration gave a helpful corrective for a potentially legalistic leaning Christianity centered around checking off the boxes of spiritual disciplines or abstaining from alcohol and premarital sex. It also fueled the best motivations to obey from being already loved as opposed to obeying to earn God’s love. These positive benefits can still be applied to all expressions of the Christian faith, including spiritual formation.
By making the gospel center, we can recognize that spiritual practices do not make anyone a superior Christian. The gospel has already leveled the playing field because Jesus, our true older brother, pursued prodigals who sinned through rebellion or self-righteousness. Instead, we can gratefully walk into various practices so we can experience more and more of His grace. In this way, gospel centrality and spiritual formation can beautifully complement each other as the gospel remains foundational.
Furthermore, the gospel cuts through every cultural shift and philosophical question. There is “nothing new under the sun” and the very gospel that penetrated Eastern and Western philosophies in times of cultural ascension or collapse throughout history will continue to do so today.
Pastors and church leaders, let’s continue to preach the gospel whether it’s in season, or out of season. And something tells me, it will eventually be “in season” again.
Follower of Jesus, may you continue to hold the gospel of Jesus as the continued pathway to spiritual growth, not only as the entrance to salvation.
Let’s heed John Stott’s call to integrity.
