The Free Grace Alliance

There is a right way to approach an issue, as well as a wrong way.  Particularly as theologians and those who espouse “Free Grace” theology, we must ever be mindful to keep the grace in the message of Free Grace. Case in point:  I had lunch with a friend on Monday.  She is a very nice young lady whose background was from a liturgical, Protestant denomination.  She had a particular theological issue that she wanted to work through that, at least in my opinion, is not a pillar of evangelical Christian theology.  The issue was baptism, and very similar to the brouhaha caused by the disagreement between Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Wayne Grudem, John Piper, and Ligon Duncan in August 2007. (read all about it in posts here [great place to start] and here ; click through their links for the details) This came to the forefront because this young woman had a great angst about the issue.  This angst was not theological or doctrinal.  We talked our way through t...

Dear FGA Members and Friends, Some feel that “the grace issue” is only a phenomenon of the American church as a result of strong Dortian Calvinism. But the truth be known, it seems that even as far as Africa the church has been infected by what me might call, “pseudo grace theology,” or perhaps “neo legalism.” The African church might not be as sophisticated in their theological articulation, but the error that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ from it very inception continues to infect both the church in America and Africa alike. One of our FGA members, Pastor John Correia, has just returned from Africa where he was teaching pastors about hermeneutics. While there, he had an interesting encounter regarding a works oriented salvation and the answer of grace theology. I would encourage you to read the article about his trip, Free Grace Theology in Africa . Many of you have received a brochure for the 2010 FGA National Conference October 4-6 in Irving, TX. As I see it, this...

Dear FGA friends, For those of you who were able to join us in Dallas for the FGA National Conference you know it was a great time of fellowshipping, listening and learning from one another, as well as worshiping the Lord together. Many people told me and others on the executive council that this was the best conference we have ever had. I think this is because of the tremendous slate of speakers we had this year.  Dr. Dave Anderson taught from the book of Hebrews and lifted our souls to heaven to worship the Cosmic Christ. Dr. Jody Dillow explored the problematic sections of the Sermon on the Mount and its impact on rewards. Our special guest, Dr. Michael Eaton, reminded us of the historical and theological realities of the doctrine of the assurance of salvation. Dr. Larry Moyer and Dr. Charlie Bing challenged us all to do the work of an evangelist and “get the gospel out” both in our “ Jerusalem ” and to the “uttermost parts of the earth”.  Additionally the fifteen worksh...

I ran across a blog post from Lisa Robinson on Reclaiming the Mind today, and thought it was worth sharing.  This blog is “owned and operated” by Michael Patton of Credo House Ministries.  Dan Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary occasionally posts there as well, and Michael was his intern.  All that to say, the Reclaiming the Mind blog tends to be fairly Reformed in its soteriology. Go read the post and I think you will find some interesting and (mostly) agreeable thoughts from Lisa.  The question she asks is, how can I know if someone is a Christian"?  She had some significant time after her “conversion” (I use the italics meaningfully, as she is on the fence when it occurred) when she ignored Christ and lived the lifestyle of an unbeliever. I think it is worth reading and interacting with because it represents not a hard-line Lordship position, but rather a moderate position that questions, perhaps doubts, but allows for the fact that she may well have...

Dear FGA, I am haunted by the words of a life management guru, Steven Covey, “Anything less than a conscious decision for the important is an unconscious decision for the unimportant.” We who have dedicated our lives to the ministry of serving our Lord Jesus and leading the church must at times stop and ask the hard questions:   Am I living by the clock or the compass? Have I lost my bearings? Am I operating by the tyranny of the urgent and hence missing the important? There are many important issues in life. One of the most important ones for FGA is that we need to make sure we are intentionally discipling or mentoring young men and women in the faith and in grace theology. As I saw at the FGA national conference last month, there are many of us who - shall we say - are showing our age. Fortunately there were some who were of a new generation, of a younger ilk. We must make sure we are spending time and training up younger pastors and lay leaders to make sure they are well ver...