What's in a Name?

Steve Timmis

I hope I’m not being insensitive with this question, but what is the obsession with dead languages? In fact, I reckon it has almost become a hallmark of contemporary, cutting-edge, hardcore gospel movements that we make up new words from languages that no one speaks.

Gospel Communities

Let me explain. The idea of missional communities has become trendy. This enables larger churches to devolve the routine stuff of church life to smaller groups throughout the week while retaining a central teaching session, usually on a Sunday. But why call them “missional” when we have a perfectly good word at our disposal in “gospel”? Gospel communities is exactly what they are: communities that are all about the gospel because they are formed by the gospel and exist for the gospel.

Using a word like gospel also helps us in our evangelism. If non-Christians want to know what a gospel community is, you can take them straight to Mark 1:15-20, where Jesus preached the gospel and formed a community around it. Alternatively, you have Acts 2, where Peter preached the gospel concerning Christ crucified and risen, and a community was formed around that. If the same non-Christians want to know what a missional community is, where will you take them then? A dictionary!