Founding Documents
The Gospel Coalition finds direction from three founding documents, drafted by Don Carson and Tim Keller and approved in the original gatherings: (i) the Statement of Faith, (ii) the Explanatory Preamble, and (iii) the Theological Vision, all drafted and approved prior to the 2007 conference.
Statement of Faith
While some language was drawn from the confessions, the terminology of the Statement of Faith is driven largely by biblical-theological categories. Moreover, while the confession is as brief as possible, its wording does interface with some contemporary theological movements about which it cannot responsibly be silent. In full, the document covers 13 articles.
Explanatory Preamble
“We are a fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. … ”
Theological Vision for Ministry
This document is a statement of how the Gospel Coalition intends to discharge Christian ministry and interact with its culture in biblical and theological faithfulness. It addresses epistemological, hermeneutical and contextual challenges, and promotes a “gospel-centered” approach to ministry.
