What does Gospel Centered Ministry Look Like?

I have always been bothered by the statement “Proclaim the Gospel…use words if necessary”…especially since St. Francis of Assissi, who supposedly said this, was an avid open-air preacher.

This Quote has been wielded by speakers who wish to push their agenda to not use words or share the Gospel because of what I believe is conforming to a tolerant culture that doesn’t want to be told that their belief system is wrong. This is contradictory to sound doctrine and following in the way of Jesus, Paul, the early church, and what God calls us to do today to spread His Name around the world and to confront false knowledge so that people can know the truth.

This video by Tim Keller reasons about why proclamation of the Gospel is central to being a Christian and ultimately defines if you know the Gospel to begin with. I pray this challenges you if you feel this way or were raised with this false doctrine. May God raise up laborers to Proclaim Jesus as Lord and share the Good News in words and deeds.

Excerpt from Tim Keller:

“The Proclamation of the Gospel is irreplaceably central, why? …if you believe the Gospel is Good News, preaching, declarative preaching, verbally proclaiming, will always be irreplaceably central to what we do. And if you really think that basically the Gospel is good advice on how to live a life that changes people and connects to God, if you’ve really lost your grip on grace, I think preaching then becomes…dialogue would be alright, stories, reflection, and modeling that’s more important…you really would believe then…what some people quip…Proclaim the Gospel, use words if necessary, you’ve probably heard that and that shows, I think, that they don’t quite understand what the Gospel is about.”

See Video (click here)