Together for the Gospel is the name of a recent conference in the USA, mainly for church pastors. The event was organised by:
- Mark Dever (pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC, and the director of 9 Marks Ministries)
- Al Mohler (President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
- Ligon Duncan (Minister of First Presbyterian, Jackson and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America)
- C.J. Mahaney (leader of Sovereign Grace Ministries)

These four men have signed an affirmations and denials statement. The statement has a preamble and then 18 affirmations and denials…

Article I

We affirm that the sole authority for the Church is the Bible, verbally inspired, inerrant, infallible, and totally sufficient and trustworthy.

We deny that the Bible is a mere witness to the divine revelation, or that any portion of Scripture is marked by error or the effects of human sinfulness.

Article II

We affirm that the authority and sufficiency of Scripture extends to the entire Bible, and therefore that the Bible is our final authority for all doctrine and practice.

We deny that any portion of the Bible is to be used in an effort to deny the truthfulness or trustworthiness of any other portion. We further deny any effort to identify a canon within the canon or, for example, to set the words of Jesus against the writings of Paul.

Article III

We affirm that truth ever remains a central issue for the Church, and that the church must resist the allure of pragmatism and postmodern conceptions of truth as substitutes for obedience to the comprehensive truth claims of Scripture.

We deny that truth is merely a product of social construction or that the truth of the Gospel can be expressed or grounded in anything less than total confidence in the veracity of the Bible, the historicity of biblical events, and the ability of language to convey understandable truth in sentence form. We further deny that the church can establish its ministry on a foundation of pragmatism, current marketing techniques, or contemporary cultural fashions....

http://www.togetherforthegospel.org/about.php

Is this a good statement? How does it compare to previous statements. In 1999, another statement was produced, with 18 affirmations and denials

Affirmations and Denials:
1. We affirm that the Gospel entrusted to the church is, in the first instance, God’s Gospel (Mark 1:14; Rom. 1:1). God is its author, and he reveals it to us in and by his Word. Its authority and truth rest on him alone.

We deny that the truth or authority of the Gospel derives from any human insight or invention (Gal. 1:1-11). We also deny that the truth or authority of the Gospel rests on the authority of any particular church or human institution.

2. We affirm that the Gospel is the saving power of God in that the Gospel effects salvation to everyone who believes, without distinction (Rom. 1:16). This efficacy of the Gospel is by the power of God himself (1 Cor. 1:18).

We deny that the power of the Gospel rests in the eloquence of the preacher, the technique of the evangelist, or the persuasion of rational argument (1 Cor. 1:21; 2:1-5).

3. We affirm that the Gospel diagnoses the universal human condition as one of sinful rebellion against God, which, if unchanged, will lead each person to eternal loss under God’s condemnation.

We deny any rejection of the fallenness of human nature or any assertion of the natural goodness, or divinity, of the human race....

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/106/53.0.html

In 1996, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals produced a statement based on the Five Solas of the Reformation (Sola Scriptura [by Scripture alone], Solus Christus [Christ alone], Sola Gratia [by grace alone], Sola Fide [by faith alone], Soli Deo Gloria [the glory of God alone] ).
The Cambridge Declaration

Dear Ben,

I found it a helpful statement. Its purpose is to highlight various issues in the church and to produce a robust, biblical response to them. Such statements help us apply the bible to our times when teachings arise that are not directly addressed by historical church confessions.

Did you have any specific quibbles with the document?

In Christ,

James.

Sounds good to me. With attacks on the bible growing, within the ‘church’, anything that puts biblical authority back on top must be good. What’s the problem? Greg

I don’t have any problems with the Together for the Gospel statement. I did not want to sound like I was objecting to the statement - I agree with it. I was just interested to hear what other people thought of it.

Hello Everyone!

I don’t see anything wrong with the Statement.  I just wonder what it’s supposed to accomplish.  There are plenty of similar statements about; the Cambridge Declaration which Ben mentioned is also good, but it’s not clear that it accomplished anything.

This statement will not protect the churches.  Within two generations of the publication of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the English Presbyterian Church was pretty much apostate.  The onus is on individual churches to protect their pulpits and dicipline their errant members (Titus 3:10-11 ).  Unless they do, confessions of faith are useless.

Also, C.J.Mahaney, as far as I’m aware, is not fully orthodox.  He describes himself as an ‘apostle’ which is rather worrying.

Steve Owen

Steve, a slight aside on your last comment: CJ Mahaney does not describe himself as an apostle - when one of the others on the blog.togetherforthegospel.org jokingly suggested he did, he replied (in this post), “I would like to assure everyone that I don’t think of myself as an apostle. I think of myself as the worst sinner I know.” As he is a continuationist, I imagine he does believe in the continuation of the gift of apostle, and possibly some of those in the Sovereign Grace churches refer to him as such - but not the same as the 12 & Paul (saw the risen Lord etc) but ‘sent one’ (eg Barnabas - Acts 14.4&14;, James - Gal 1.19).  I presume that you strongly disagree with this (ie think it false by Scripture, ie unorthodox), but our partners in affinity, the apostolic church, also hold to this continuation of the role of apostle in some way, and as we usually reserve the term ‘unorthodox’ for those denying the gospel, I suggest we should not do so here.

Hello Etrangere,
I hear what you say, but I remain more than a little uneasy about anyone who descibes himself as an apostle, which Mahaney and others in his church grouping most certainly do.

Steve

Dear Steve,

while sharing your cessationism, I don’t see anything on the home page of Sovereign Grace Ministries describing Mahaney, or any other leader, as an apostle.

I’ve always wanted to regard Reformed Charismatics (and there aren’t that many of them) as brethren. I also note that the doctrinal commitments of Sovereign Grace are a heap more detailed and Reformed than our FIEC churches! (Continuationist portions excepted.)

Yours in Christ,

James.

Hi James,
It’s good to be discussing with you again.  I have an American friend who attends a Sovereign Grace church.  Certainly Mahaney and other leaders were known as “Apostles” until about 18 months ago.  I will contact my friend and find out if that is the case.  I hope it is.

Steve

You hope it is, or you hope it isn’t?

In Christ,

James.

Doh!
I certainly hope that Mahaney & co have abandoned these pretensions.  If so, I will gladly withdraw my allegations.

Steve

Sovereign Grace’s Statement of Faith (which James referred to), can be seen online at
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/about/faith.html

The section on the church mentions apostles as follows:

The ascended Christ has given gift ministries to the church (including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) for the equipping of Christ’s body that it might mature and grow. Through the gift ministries all members of the Church are to be nurtured and equipped for the work of ministry.

Their position with regard to modern day apostles is explained more in their Frequently Asked Questions section of the website:

With regard to the principle of apostolic ministry, we want to be clear that the men identified as apostles within Sovereign Grace Ministries are understood by all to hold a position decidedly and radically inferior to that of the original twelve Apostles. But the label is retained because Scripture appears to offer another type of apostle – one that neither writes Scripture, nor is counted among the twelve. In fact, there appear to be at least eight others, apart from Paul himself, who graced the pages of the New Testament in apostolic ministry. In our view, apostolic ministry can exist today without comparing its authority or impact to Paul or the twelve. Briefly stated, the role of the apostle is to ensure that the gospel is preached and applied in the daily life of the church. Concentrating attention on the writings of Luke and Paul, one might conclude that apostles are devoted to church planting, being set apart for the gospel and sent forth with the gospel, that they might protect the gospel and build with the gospel. They are called to serve churches as spiritual fathers, with primary responsibility during a formative season in a local church (much as earthly fathers do with the formative years of their children), a pattern that eventually transforms into a partnership with mature local churches.

Do You Want To Know More? We recommend a publication in our Perspectives series, “Polity: Serving and Leading the Local Church,” by Dave Harvey.

Fine, I stand corrected. I’d looked at the web site but clearly not deeply enough! It’s not a word I’d use of any church leader, but the way they’ve defined it at least draws the sting of some abuses that might be made of the term. Maybe it would have been better if they’d called themselves bishops. (I wish Anglican bishops had the same view of their task as Mahaney does of his!)

Nonetheless, I’ll still take a Reformed Charismatic over an Arminian cessationist any day!

In Christ,

James.

What about unity with groups like Newfrontiers, which we are more likely to have contact with in the UK?
I think they are generally Reformed charismatics. Here is an explanation of their view on apostolic ministry today.

I’ve heard they are Reformed, and certainly we enjoy singing Stuart Townend’s songs, but one searches in vain for a doctrinal statement on their web site (at least last time I looked).

In Christ,

James.

Hello all,

I didn’t think that Affinity was a cessationist organisation! In any case, while some Sovereign Grace churches do practice spiritual gifts openly (see this blog post for some details) others do not commonly do so. Nowt wrong with a reformed charismatic!

The Together for the Gospel statements are an excellent initiative. In fact, I came onto the website today to see what could be done about an Affinity partnership with them…

http://www.togetherforthegospel.org
http://www.9marks.org

Chris