Together for the Gospel (T4G) was a biennial conference for Christian leaders. [1] It was formed in 2006 by Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney, and Albert Mohler. [2] These men were all associated with the New Calvinism movement although they differed on issues such as baptism and charismatic gifts. [2] The first conference also included John Piper, John F. MacArthur, and R. C. Sproul as speakers. [3] The stated aim of the conference was to "encourage and aid ministry leaders with three days of biblical preaching, fellowship, books, and singing." [4] It was held in Louisville, Kentucky. Other speakers included Matt Chandler, Kevin DeYoung, and David Platt.
Mahaney withdrew as a speaker from the 2014 conference due to the Sovereign Grace Churches sex abuse scandal. [5] He returned in 2016 but withdrew again in 2018. [6] Baptist News Global noted that in 2020 John MacArthur was absent and suggested a possible rift over social justice issues: MacArthur had signed the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel but Al Mohler had not. [7] The 2020 conference was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Mohler left the group and Dever and Duncan subsequently announced that the 2022 conference would be the last. [8]
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.
Reformed Baptists, Particular Baptists and Calvinistic Baptists, are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology. Depending on the denomination, Calvinistic Baptists adhere to varying degrees of Reformed theology, ranging from simply embracing the Five Points of Calvinism, to accepting a modified form of federalism; all Calvinistic Baptists reject the classical Reformed teaching on infant baptism. While the Reformed Baptist confessions affirm views of the nature of baptism similar to those of the classical Reformed, they reject infants as the proper subjects of baptism. The first Calvinistic Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith is a significant summary of the beliefs of Reformed Baptists. The name "Reformed Baptist" dates from the latter part of the 20th century to denote Baptists who retained Baptist ecclesiology, and reaffirmed Reformed biblical theology, such as Covenant theology.
John Stephen Piper is an American theologian and pastor in the Reformed Baptist tradition. He is also chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Piper taught biblical studies at Bethel University for six years (1974–1980), before serving as pastor for preaching and vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church (Converge) in Minneapolis for 33 years (1980–2013).
The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and in 2005 was one of the largest seminaries in the world. It is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and the National Association of Schools of Music to award diplomas and bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
Sovereign Grace Churches is a group of reformed, continuationist, and confessional Christian churches primarily located in the United States. Sovereign Grace believes that churches should exist in a close partnership with one another and describe themselves as a family of churches. In addition to the U.S. congregations, there are also congregations in Mexico, Australia, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Great Britain, Germany, and many other countries.
John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. is an American pastor and author who hosts the national Christian radio and television program Grace to You. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. He is currently the chancellor emeritus of The Master's University in Santa Clarita and The Master's Seminary.
Covenant Life Church is a non-denominational, evangelical megachurch in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Established in 1977, it spawned other churches and was the flagship church of Sovereign Grace Churches until it left the group in December 2012.
Richard Albert Mohler Jr. is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast The Briefing, where he gives a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
Complementarianism is a theological view in some denominations of Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam, that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family, and religious life. Complementary and its cognates are currently used to denote this view. Some Christians interpret the Bible as prescribing a complementary view of gender, and therefore adhere to gender-specific roles that preclude women from specific functions of ministry within the community. Though women may be precluded from certain roles and ministries, they still hold foundational equality in value and dignity. The phrase used to describe this is "ontologically equal, functionally different."
Mark E. Dever is a theologian and the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks, a Christian ministry he co-founded "in an effort to build biblically faithful churches in America. Dever also taught for the faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and also served for two years as an associate pastor of Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge."
Charles Joseph Mahaney is an American Christian minister. He is the senior pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, and was formerly president of Sovereign Grace Ministries, now known as Sovereign Grace Churches. He was one of the founding pastors and leaders of Covenant Life Church, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The seminary has been an innovator in theological education, establishing one of the first Ph.D. programs in religion in the year 1892. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and moved to its current location in 1926 in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.
Larry Tomczak is a Christian evangelist and author. He co-founded People of Destiny International, a network of churches, and was editor of People of Destiny magazine. Tomczak is the author of several books, most prominently Clap Your Hands!, an autobiography.
New Calvinism, also known as the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement, is a movement within conservative Evangelicalism that reinterprets 16th century Calvinism under contemporary US values and ideologies.
The "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" is a manifesto issued by Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders to affirm support of "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty". It was drafted on October 20, 2009, and released November 20, 2009, having been signed by more than 150 American religious leaders. On the issue of marriage, the declaration objects not only to same-sex marriage but also to the general erosion of the "marriage culture" with the specter of divorce, greater acceptance of infidelity and the uncoupling of marriage from childbearing. The declaration's website encourages supporters to sign the declaration, and it counts 551,130 signatures as of July 18, 2015.
The Gospel Coalition (TGC) is a "a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition." It was initiated in 2004 by D. A. Carson and Tim Keller, and subsequently launched in 2007.
The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, also known as the Dallas Statement, is an evangelical Christian statement of faith addressing the perceived trend that some prominent evangelicals tend to mix the Christian Gospel with the social gospel. Signatories claim that the rising social justice movement within American evangelicalism endangers Christians with "an onslaught of dangerous and false teachings that threaten the gospel, misrepresent Scripture, and lead people away from the grace of God in Jesus Christ."
American Gospel is a documentary series proposing that Christianity has been distorted through American culture. Two films have been produced to date: American Gospel: Christ Alone (2018) and American Gospel: Christ Crucified (2019). The former deals with the Word of Faith movement and prosperity theology, while the latter addresses theological liberalism and the meaning of the atonement. The series is the basis for a streaming service, AGTV. A film series, American Gospel: Spirit & Fire, is scheduled its first season to be a 2024 release. It will critically examine the view of the Holy Spirit taught in the New Apostolic Reformation movement.
G3 Ministries is a 501(c)(3) organization and a Reformed Baptist ministry in the United States. The ministry organization was formally formed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is most widely known for hosting the G3 Conference that has been held since 2013. The ministry says that its goal is to educate, encourage, and equip local churches with sound biblical theology. The Founder and current President of the organization is Josh Buice.