by Pastor Terry Janke

How do we authenticate the Gospel? 

Someone reminded me the other day of a document that the Board and Staff discussed five years ago when I first arrived at Whyte Ridge. It was called The ABC’s of Best Practice Policy. In a nutshell it calls us to:

• Assume good intentions behind everything, unless proven otherwise.
• Believe the best in another to fulfill their job with support, not interference.
• Communicate authentically all mutual concerns that might affect the ministry.

The document also addressed matters such as e-mail etiquette, resolving conflict, how to receive a bad report and what to do with careless words.

Relationships Are Key

It occurred to me as I read the document it was simply an attempt at defining our relational theology, or how we live out the gospel together. We either betray or we authenticate the gospel in our relationships, especially the difficult ones.

To ‘authenticate’ means to establish or prove that something is real or genuine. If we apply this to our relationships – to authenticate our faith in Christ means to show that it is real. Our profession of who we are and what we have in God is authenticated by our possession of the graces we offer to one another.

Paul uses a word for this in several of his letters. He calls believers to live lives ‘worthy’ of their calling (Eph. 4:1), to conduct themselves in a manner ‘worthy’ of the gospel (Phil. 1:27). He prayed for believers to live ‘worthy’ of the Lord (Col. 1:10), and he spent his ministry encouraging, comforting and urging others to live ‘worthy’ of God (I Thes. 2:12).

A Worthy Life

A ‘worthy’ life authenticates what the gospel is all about – humbling ourselves as Christ did and doing all we can do to be at peace with one another. Our membership covenant reflects this:

With respect to our interpersonal relationships, we agree to walk together in Christian love by remembering each other in prayer, aiding each other in sickness and distress and being courteous in our speech. We further agree to be slow to take offence, always ready for reconciliation, and mindful to seek God’s Word without delay.

We believe God calls us as a Church to nurture followers of Jesus Christ through healthy relationships. This is the arena of our discipleship, both individually and collectively. The measure of our maturity is reflected in how we authenticate the gospel with each relationship God sends our way. And when we stand before Him one day, the final exam will not be a written one. It will be the exam we have already written with our lives by faith and entrusted to Him for that day (2 Timothy 1:12-14).