The Free Grace Alliance

Dear Friend of the Gospel, As you consider year end giving, would you consider helping the Free Grace Alliance? I'm prayerfully asking God to give us $25,000 or more. Would you help? The FGA turned 10 this year. And the need to "connect, encourage, and equip" is greater than ever! 2014 was a good year. We heard great speakers at the annual conference in October. Dr. Charlie Bing, one of the founding members of the FGA presented a excellent workshop about our history some of the misunderstandings about the Free Grace Movement. You can read his manuscript on our website (http://freegracealliance.com/). We held several regional conferences throughout the year. Many FGA members travelled around the world, helping to connect with, encourage, and equip church leaders who might otherwise not receive much grace-friendly training. As I was typing this appeal, a man who was one of my students in Ghana called me and thanked me (again) for the training we brought. All around the ...

Okay, we stole the line. But it is a true statement! Some of you think you've joined the Free Grace Alliance or that your dues are current, and thus you think you are a current member. Here are a few tests to see if this is true: If you have joined the Free Grace Alliance and your dues are current, you recently received access to the "Members Only" page, which allows access to a "live" membership directory. What a helpful tool if we really want to connect - encourage - equip! If you joined the Free Grace Alliance and your dues are current, you recently received a paper addressing a critique of free grace in general and the Free Grace Alliance in particular given by a prominent reformed theologian. The paper corrected many of the misconceptions this theologian had about free grace. If you joined the Free Grace Alliance and your dues are current, you recently received an invitation to provide literature on your ministry for us to include in the folder...

  Good news... and a headache or two!     Good news #1: The Free Grace message seems to be gaining some momentum. I think this in part because we are getting some "push back." For example, one of the sessions at the next Evangelical Theological Society is called "Salvation without Repentance from Sin? A Critique of the 'Free Grace' Gospel." Why do I consider this good news? Because a prominent, globally known reformed theologian thinks the Free Grace message is worth critiquing at the ETS meeting, and thus sees it as more than just an inconsequential viewpoint! I'll say a bit more about this workshop below.   Good news #2: We see the message going around the globe. I recently returned from Ghana, where we  trained church leaders, focusing on a strong emphasis on grace. I know of a number of other "free gracers" who have traveled or will soon travel. And I know of many around the globe, such as a friend of mine in Nepal, who receives ...

After having great intentions of writing something each month, I find I am behind a month or two. Please forgive my tardiness! I have lots of excuses that I won't bore you with, but some of them are legitimate! I want to briefly address four ideas this month. First, how is the Free Grace message getting spread? I am leaving for Ghana two days after writing this and I know others of you travel to other countries. We'd like to know where you are going! Our mission is to "connect, encourage, and equip," and hearing about what God is doing through your work is a great way to encourage and be encouraged.   I know of trips either "on the books" or recently completed to Ghana, Finland, Burundi, Ukraine, Nepal, Philippines, India, Honduras, and Papua New Guinea. I'm sure there are others. Drop a note on Facebook and/or send a short write-up to our blog master, John Correia (pastorjohn@westgreenway.com), and we'll post it on the blog! Let us know, t...

Three speakers talking free grace and discipleship; 70+ people in attendance; great facilities; delicious lunch. And it didn't hurt that a bald eagle flew over us as I was standing in the parking lot after the conference! The leadership of Lacey Chapel did an outstanding job hosting an FGA regional conference recently (April 30th) in Lacey, WA (although I don't think they are directly responsible for the eagle). What is Lordship salvation? What is the difference between "salvation" truth and "discipleship" truth? What is the true cost of discipleship? How can we "do" discipleship? Drs. Jack Lewis (of Moody Bible Institute, Spokane, WA), Charlie Bing (GraceLife Ministries, Burleson, Texas), and Roger Fankhauser (Burleson Bible Church, Burleson, TX) each spoke, followed by an intriguing Q&A! By the end of the day, those who already held a free grace view were encouraged, and those who did not hold a free grace view heard a solid explanation of...

  Fight Fair! " Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." (Eph. 4:29, NASB) 2 “ But if your enemy is hungry , feed him , and if he is thirsty , give him a drink ; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head .” (Romans 12:20, NASB95) In any theological debate - whether face-to-face, in writing (journals or books) or even on Facebook, the debaters can easily slide into "the ways of the world" in their approach. This last week, I read or heard two different attacks against free grace in general and, included in the attacks, each criticized the Free Grace Alliance. Such attacks are nothing new. And, like most attacks, the attackers did not "fight fair". Both attacks made incorrect statements about free grace theology, both employed emotional arguments to make their position sound stronger, both used we...

Times of transition cause one to contemplate the state of things. Having been with FGA since its inception, on the FGA council for 6 years, serving as president for the past 4 years, and now having recently stepped down to hand thing off to Dr. Roger Fankhauser, I thought I would reflect on where we are and what has changed.  Although it is true that we are not in danger of the Lordship salvation debate abating soon, it does seem that there has been a subtle transition in the Lordship camp. It seems that we have seen the moving away, slight as it may it be, from the “frontloading” error evidenced by the early works of the Lordship persuasion demanding that faith be attendant with remorse and a repentant change of life evidenced by obedience, full commitment and total surrender as a condition for receiving the free gift of eternal life. The subtle transition is seen in that the focus has now shifted to the “back-loading” of the gospel with the fixation on  assurance ...