John Dekker's Day

5:16PM - Evangelism in the Church and the Home #4: Preaching the "bare-bones gospel"

Given that the good ol' bare bones gospel *is* good for Christian and non-Christian alike, the more evangelistically bent service will be good for everyone who comes, just as the "worship service" will be good for the non-Christian.
– Mikey Lynch, Christian Reflections, Volume 6, Number 3.

Should a pastor aim to include an explanation of the gospel in every sermon? I will take it as given that he should not preach merely the "bare-bones gospel" every week, but does his message need to contain it?

Actually, what is the "bare-bones gospel" anyway? Is it even a legitimate category? We could take our cue from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve... (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)

But this raises all sorts of questions about our gospel presentations. Have we really preached the gospel if we do not refer to the resurrection? Do we need to talk about the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture? Is it essential to talk about Jesus' burial?

Or to take the other side of the coin, what about those things not mentioned here? Do we have to refer to the need for faith and repentance? Do we need to talk about the consequences of unbelief? Should we summarise the flow of biblical theology – creation, fall, redemption, consummation?

Including all these things in every sermon might be unwieldy, though I'm sure there must be preachers who attempt to do so. But there are many different ways of expressing the gospel – it can be as broad as "the gospel according to Matthew" or as narrow as the statement "Jesus is Lord."

In any case, when I am ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Australia I will be obligated according to our Declaratory Statement as follows:
Inasmuch as the Christian faith rests upon, and the Christian consciousness takes hold of, certain objective supernatural historic facts, especially the incarnation, the atoning life and death, and the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, and His bestowment of His Holy Spirit, this Church regards those whom it admits to the office of the Holy Ministry as pledged to give a chief place in their teaching to these cardinal facts, and to the message of redemption and reconciliation implied and manifested in them.