What is The Gospel Coalition and Why Are You at Their Conference?

A Dispatch from Indianapolis

I’m writing this week’s article from Indianapolis where our pastoral team and three of our elders are attending TGC25, a conference presented by The Gospel Coalition (TGC). We attend each TGC conference, held every two years, for the gospel-centered preaching, Christ-exalting worship, and specialized training in breakout sessions. It’s a time to refresh, reset, and regroup as a team. It’s an opportunity for each man to sharpen his axe.

What Is TGC?

The Gospel Coalition began 20 years ago as the vision of Tim Keller and Don Carson. As the Foundation Documents explain, TGC is “a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures.” Twenty years ago, I was immediately drawn to TGC because that also describes our church.

As a non-denominational church, we’re not anti-denominational. We believe in a biblical catholicity that sees our local church as part of a multi-national global network of local churches working together for the same goal: glorifying God by helping people know, love, obey, and exalt Jesus Christ. Since we aren’t part of a denomination, we must work harder to make those connections. TGC has provided a way for us stay vitally connected to the church at large.

This week, over 7000 people from every state and 38 different countries have gathered in Indianapolis to hear speakers like John Piper, Alistair Begg, Andrew Wilson, and David Platt preach through the book of Ephesians. Keith and Kristyn Getty, Laura Story, and Matt Boswell have led us in singing praises to our King. I can’t adequately describe what it’s like to be in the same room with over 7000 singing saints from all over the world, but maybe this (poorly recorded) sample can give you a sense of it if you turn up the volume.

So here at TGC25, there is great joy (so much laughter) and a settled conviction that churches and their leaders can hold deep and sound doctrine and yet be charitable. We can be intellectually substantive while engaging the emotions in deep feelings of joy in Christ. My breakout session tonight was delivered by a professor from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Here’s the title of his presentation: “‘It Was the Will of the Lord to Crush Him’: Classical Trinitarianism and Penal Substitution.” We theology nerds loved it, especially the Q and A. But then we heard John Piper, a man of massive intellect, appeal to us to cultivate strong positive feelings for God. You may want to take a few minutes to listen to it here:

But Isn’t TGC ___________?

Maybe you haven’t heard of TGC, or perhaps you’ve heard things that aren’t true. It has critics because, well, it’s effective and successful in what it does. Some of the criticism is probably spurred by envy and some of it is motivated by ignorance. That’s not to say it’s above criticism. No institution or movement is above criticism. I don’t agree with everything TGC does or prints, but I know its coming from a sincere desire to help Christians think Biblically about ancient truth and equip believers to navigate current issues that challenge God’s Word. But most of the criticism of TGC I’ve encountered is unfair.

Have you heard that TGC is too far to the right? Well, I can see how holding to the inerrancy of Scripture, the solas of the Reformation, the doctrines of grace, the exclusivity of the gospel, the Biblical definition of marriage and sexual ethics, binary gender, and male-leadership in the church and home would attract the negative attention of more progressive types who are willing to make doctrinal compromises to be more inclusive.

Have you heard that TGC is too far to the left? Well, I can see how seeking justice, condemning racism, promoting the equal dignity and worth of women, showing Christlike compassion to immigrants and the LGBTQ community, critiquing Christian nationalism, and advocating a winsome witness to the world would attract the attention of more traditional types who are willing to make ethical compromises to combat anything they think smells like wokeness, even if they have no cogent definition of wokeness. Read through TGC’s foundational documents and show me evidence of a leftward lean.

Hold the Center

The bottom line is that TGC, like our church, is trying to plant a flag in the center of biblical orthodoxy and hold that center regardless of how the cultural winds blow. As Collin Hansen, VP for Content and Editor in Chief at TGC, told me “I’d rather TGC go down while trying to hold that center than to pander to the left or right just to stay relevant.” Me too.