Skip to main content

Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? - A Review

I am always looking for good resources on the gospel. I've read many books on the topic. I can recommend only a few.

A trusted friend and dedicated follower of Christ recently gave me a copy of Walter Chantry's little book Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? which I had the good pleasure of reading this week.

Greatest Strength

This book is short. Less than one hundred pages. Just by looking at it I would have assumed that it would be unlikely to pack much of a punch.

I was wrong.

In most cases, a short book on the gospel will be disappointingly shallow. For many studies on a massive topic, brevity is their greatest weakness. For this particular book, I believe the length is perhaps its greatest asset.

Chantry ably outlines the problems of modern gospel preaching and evangelism. Although "modern" to him meant in the late 1960's and early 1970's, the problems he outlines are still running wild today.

Each problem is diagnosed scripturally and the biblical remedy is presented. It is not enough simply to point out problems with no path forward. Chantry not only exposes and rebukes error but exhorts in right doctrine and practice.

While I personally would have enjoyed more discussion in each chapter, the short length left me hungry to both read the Scriptures more and to boldly and compassionately go into all the world and proclaim the glorious truth of the gospel to every creature.

Greatest Weakness

The major thrust of the book I thought was excellent. It edifies, encourages, rebukes, and admonishes. As far as the main content and purpose is concerned I don't have any substantive critique.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ
My only real issue is in the way Chantry discusses evangelists. On the one hand, Chantry is dealing with a system of doing church that makes use of travelling teachers who preach revival-style messages and travel from local church to local church. When critiquing the message and methods of such ministries his terminology is certainly appropriate. That's what his culture (and ours, too) calls evangelists.

Yet, Chantry also uses the term "evangelist" to refer simply to the Christian who is proclaiming the gospel. Although it may be unnoticeable to some, those familiar with the purpose for this blog will understand why such usage distracts me a little bit.

Had Chantry substituted the term "ambassadors for Christ" or simply "Christians" in his descriptions for those sharing the gospel I would have had very little problem. Likewise, I would personally go a step further to say that the travelling revivalist preacher model so common today is not what the Bible calls "evangelists." That shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knows me, seeing as I have written a book on that very topic.

Since the purpose of Chantry's book is not to define the nature and role of evangelists but the content and method of preaching the gospel, admittedly this critique is a bit nit-picky.

Conclusion

This is a book I highly recommend every Christian to read. It is even more important for preachers and teachers who are tasked with equipping others to faithfully bring our Lord's gospel to the world in His name and power.

The book itself is inexpensive to purchase. It will not take much time to read, either. A worthy investment of both time and resources.

Comments

Popular Posts

Prayer vs. Petition

Q: What's the difference between prayer and petition? Phil 4:6 for example. A: An excellent word study question! When attempting to study words from the text it is necessary to analyze the word being studied in the original language (in this case Greek) as attempting to look up the words in English will often produce erroneous results. For example, in English the word petition has within its range of meanings things that are certainly not within the scope of meanings for the Greek word (i.e. “a sheet that is signed to demonstrate agreement with some principle or desire for some social action to be taken” is part of the range of “petition” but not of the Greek deesis from which “petition” is translated). The word most commonly translated as “prayer” in our English Bibles is proseuche , which appears 36 times in the New Testament (NT) in one form or another (for the purposes of this study, we are only examining the usage of these words as nouns – the verbal forms will not be

Smoking Hookah

Q: This week a young Christian talked with me about the practice of smoking Hookah. They attend a church [which] is reaching out to the many Indian and Muslims in the surrounding areas. Their church also have several ministries that support missions in India and Arab countries. As they spoke with me they said that many of their Christian friends are smoking the Hookah. They said that they have been told that certain types of Hookah smoking involve no tobacco but are simply flavored water, other types of Hookah smoking do include tobacco but in a ‘more pure’ form than that of cigarettes that have additives. The Christians that they know of who partake in smoking Hookah do not feel that there is anything sinful in this practice and believe that it is just a part of certain cultures as a way to relax and socialize. Apparently during certain celebrations some of these culture groups get together as a family and include smoking the Hookah together as part of the festivities. These Chris

The Church Isn't A Business

I used to be a salesman. I sold a lot of different stuff. I worked retail. I did door-to-door. In all my various jobs my function was essentially the same. I was the link between company and customer. Successful companies know their customer demographics. Many sales meetings revolve around numbers. Persons are treated as statistics. The customer becomes a set of numbers, preferences, and habits. Really successful companies cater their goods and services to a target demographic. It's all about the consumer experience. I remember when I began in pastoral ministry. People assured me that my experience as a salesman would be beneficial. They said there was a lot of overlap between pastors and salespeople. That may be true in our experience. But is it true of what we read in Scripture? When I open my Bible and read about Christ's church I see a beautiful design that is very different from a business. Night and day different. When Jesus walked the earth He rebuked those who

The "Jesus Loves You" Problem

Q: I've encountered a lot of teaching and Christians who believe that saying, "Jesus loves you!" is a valid form of evangelism. Do you disagree with this? If so, why? It seems like a loving way to reach out and to encourage those who are not believers. A: What a great question! There are certainly a lot of materials and teachings that encourage Christians to use the phrase, "Jesus loves you" as an outreach and evangelistic tool. Much of this teaching that I've encountered emphasizes following the lead of the Holy Spirit. It claims that the Holy Spirit will often lead Christians to say this to non-believers to encourage them and try and lead them to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Fourth Year Ministries does not teach or endorse this as a valid evangelism strategy. That's not because we don't want it to be valid! Truth be told, we would love for this to be a good practice for Christians. It would certainly open some more doors for us. I

10 Things An Evangelist Is Not

You've probably heard the term Evangelist before. Most people have. The term most likely brings something to mind. Sometimes positive. Often negative. Does your idea match what other people think of when they hear the term evangelist? More importantly, do any of these ideas match what the Bible tells us an evangelist is ? The truth is that most of the popular ideas about what an evangelist is and does are based on the culture, not the Bible. This is a problem. The cultural idea of an evangelist is so popular that it is beginning to be used by companies. If you go to popular job sites and put the term evangelist into the search bar you will find many non-church jobs looking for evangelists. Many of these positions include the duties of spreading knowledge about a particular company, product, service, or idea. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave some Evangelists for His church. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as