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              As you drive through the country, as we have been doing a lot of lately, you see a wide variety of church names.  One of my quirks is to speculate on what message the churches are trying to send to those who would read their sign.  Some would seem to be directed to Christians advising them of the denominational distinctives that the church emphasises.  Others seem to be directed to non-Christians hopefully encouraging them to come and check out their services.

              One of the more simple names is “The Gospel Hall”.  It is rather neutral in that it is not espousing any particular denominational distinctive nor in my mind is it attractive to non believers as who among them would even know what the word ‘gospel’ means.  The intention I believe, is to emphasise the central truth that the church must be all about the gospel which means “the good news”.  Paul’s message was consistently about the gospel.  He realized that his mission in life was to preach the gospel.  In I Corinthians 1:1 (NLT) he writes: Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.  I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

              In Mark 1:14: Even before Paul arrived on the scene, Jesus preached the gospel. Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News: “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”.

              The messages in church names come and go, but the core message of the church must always be the gospel, the good news.  Our mission like Paul’s is to preach the gospel.  The words “the good news” appears about thirty times in the New Testament.  That alone underlines its importance.  As churches we must continue to preach the good news, yes Jesus did die for OUR sins, he calls for US to believe this, he calls for US to repent, he was buried but was resurrected, he is alive today and is coming again.  Acts 4:12 Says: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  May God continue to bless us as we preach the gospel.

Pastor Dave  

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