Salvation and the Mission of God: A Panel Discussion Worth Your Time [Video]

David Platt, Trevin Wax, Frank Page, and I talk about how God's mission and man's salvation relate

In June 2014, David Platt, Frank Page, Trevin Wax, and I discussed the topics of salvation and the mission of God. The panel was sponsored by The Gospel Project, an intentionally Christ-centered and mission-driven curriculum that Trevin and I edit. We think that conversations like this matter—people need more theological discussion, not less. In fact, The Gospel Project 2014-15 winter study for adults and students is titled "The God Who Saves" and explores the biblical doctrines of election, calling, conversion, and our union with Christ.

The purpose of our discussion was to address some debates about how Christians, who disagree on the order of salvation or the extent of the atonement, can work together (or not).

Now, we are not saying that (for example) Calvinists and Wesleyans should, necessarily, be in the same denomination. The fact is, doctrinal statements and standards matter. And, the beliefs we have (and sincerely hold) need to be passed on in our church plants and our mission efforts. (Thus, Arminian Pentecostals like the Church of God I was with last week should plant, well, Arminian Pentecostal churches. You would not hear me making a case there they they should plant Calvinist cessationist churches. More on that here.) Read more

See also
Reflections on the Gospel Project Panel on Calvinism and Mission
Should Churches from Different Denominations Collaboratively Plant Churches?

In the reformed Anglican Church Anglicans who are Reformed in their theology have been a part of the Church since the English Reformation. Classical Arminian theology gained a foothold with the Caroline High Churchmen in the seventeenth century. The Anglo-Catholic Movement would seek to undo the English Reformation in the nineteenth century and change the identity of the Anglican Church from reformed and Protestant to unreformed and Catholic. Liberalism would also gain a foothold with the Broad Church Movement in the nineteenth century and the Liberal Catholic Movement later in the same century. Evangelical Arminianism would leave with the Methodist Movement in the eighteenth century and return in a modified form with the Charismatic Movement in the twentieth century. The result is a veritable hodgepodge of disparate theologies. In the Episcopal Church the liberals have sought to impose their views on the rest of the denomination to the exclusion of all other views. In the Anglican Church in North America the Anglo-Catholics and those who share similar views but came to them by a different path are trying to do the same thing.