Incomplete gospel yields nominal Christians, Willard says_20705

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Posted: 2/04/05

Incomplete gospel yields nominal Christians, Willard says

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

IRVING–An incomplete gospel is leading to “nominal Christians” and weakening the church, according to author and professor Dallas Wil-lard.

Pastors are preaching alternative “gospels” that do not reflect the true meaning of Christ's message, Willard said.

Conservative mi-nisters present Christ's work exclusively as one that provides forgiveness of sins, and liberals emphasize a “gospel of liberation,” he said.

Author and educator Dallas Willard teaches about the kingdom of God during Epicenter, a Texas Baptist missions and evangelism conference. (Photo by John Hall)

Christ's work is liberating and enables the forgiveness of sins, but the true gospel is that salvation brings “life now in the kingdom of God,” where God's will is followed, Willard said. Jesus called people to rethink their lives because they can move now into the realm of “God's effective will.”

“The root of nominal Christianity is people have moved away from a gospel of life and replaced it with something else,” Willard said during Epicenter, a Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored evangelism and missions conference.

“If you're preaching the gospel (only) as forgiveness of sins because Jesus died for you, what you will have is nominal Christians you will have to prod to get going.”

The availability of the kingdom is the only message that leads to character transformation through discipleship, Willard said. The gospel encourages people to trust Jesus for life in God's will.

Ultimately, Wil-lard said, each minister should ask, “Is what we do in our local congregation suited to carry out the Great Commission that Jesus gave us?”

Trusting Jesus involves rethinking one's life, becoming humble and being born from above, Willard said. God will assist people in following his will and changing their lives through grace, a term Willard described as God helping individuals accomplish what they could not do on their own.

Churches can stop creating nominal Christians by intentionally forming disciples or “apprentices” of Jesus.

This is done by depicting a clear picture of “new life” through trusting Jesus, including many of the disciplines–prayer, Scripture memorization, fasting and worship–that strengthen spiritual lives.

“As a disciple of Jesus, I am to lead my life in the kingdom of heaven as he would lead my life if he were I,” he said.

To accomplish this goal, many churches need to rethink what they are doing and focus all efforts on following the great commission of sharing the gospel and creating disciples, Willard said. Several-month seminars can be held on topics such as how to love your enemy or how to forgive.

“What we need is people who are more Christ-like,” he said.

Three general steps in creating a disciple-
making church, according to Dallas Willard:

bluebull Vision. The church must depict the life that Christ has given believers, creating an image believers can cling to.

bluebull Intention. The congregation must commit to intentionally live out that vision. This means rethinking every activity of the church, making sure it carries out the vision.

bluebull Means. These are the tools that make the vision reality. They may include extended seminars about how to live out certain aspects of the Sermon on the Mount, creating mentoring opportunities between believers and discussion of spiritual disciplines such as prayer.

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