Church PLANT Manual

Session 2: Launch and Assemble • 41

whom we have offended because of our rebellion—stepped into his own story to salvage it.

II. The Mission of the Gospel A. The Gospel is the good news that saves us and sends us to fulfill the mission of Christ. Jesus summarized his mission by stating, “He came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). B. For the proclamation of the Gospel to be heard and understood, the gospel must be contextualized. When considering the process of contextualization, many people rightly think of the Apostle Paul. After all it was Paul who said, “To the weak I become weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9:19-23). But it was also Paul who said, “Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). In other words, Jesus was Paul’s perfect model of contextualization. John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Through the incarnation of Christ, we see the kingdom of heaven entering the world. In Christ we see the light of the world is stepping into our brokenness and sin to bring redemption and freedom. Jesus came near us, breaking the barriers that separated sinful people from a holy God.