In both politics and business, experts will talk about the importance of staying on message. One may recall that in the 1990's presidential candidate Bill Clinton operated with a constant reminder from campaign staff: "It's the economy, stupid." As a general rule, candidates or businesses that lose sight of their central message do so at the risk of their viability. This is not to say that they don't care about anything else, but it is to say, as an old mentor of mine used to claim, that they need to keep the main thing the main thing.
Of course, churches and ministries don't always share the same values as businesses, not to mention politicians, but in this instance the parallels would seem to be instructive. Many ministers will quote Paul's statement about preaching "the whole counsel of God," as well as the need to instruct Christians in all things needed for life and godliness. True enough, but the church that loses site of its central message sets out on a course that will lead to faithlessness.
In truth, the Bible does not relate our story, but God's story, telling how he is operating in human history to accomplish his purposes, and at the heart of those purposes is his determination to redeem a people out of fallen humanity for himself. Every other subject that is a legitimate matter for the church's interest arises out of those themes.
Do non-Christians understand the church's message in this way? Probably not, as I am not sure that even many active church members can articulate this. The church will teach about many things, but all of the spokes flow out of the hub of creation, fall, redemption and consummation.
See here for a Table of Contents for this study.
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