LifeWay Bible Study Shows All Scripture Points to Jesus

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Sunday, January 15, 2012

A new Bible study curriculum by LifeWay Christian Resources seeks to show how every story, every theological concept and missional truth in the Bible points to Jesus.

Slated for preorder in June, “The Gospel Project” Bible study has been prepared by writers and editors who had a singular focus – to draw attention to Jesus, Tennessee-based LifeWay said in a statement Thursday.

“The Gospel Project is more than curriculum,” the project’s managing editor Trevin Wax said. “The church is God’s Gospel project; we are His project.”

The project, whose release marks the first time in more than a decade that LifeWay will release ongoing studies for children, students and adults under one theme, is described as a Christ-centered Bible study resource that “deeply examines the grand narrative of Scripture and how it transforms the lives of those it touches.”

Wax added that it’s possible to scour and search the Scriptures and miss the point. “It’s easy to come to Scripture looking for just new information or immediate application. We can even have Bible knowledge and not be focused on Christ.”

Wax said the study shows that “the Gospel is central to our daily lives. Not that it just saves us, but it also sustains us.” God uses the Gospel to move us along, he added. “He uses the Gospel in our hearts and lives to move our feet out ‘on mission.’”

The message we all need is the Gospel “and that message is for unbelievers and believers alike,” said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research and who also serves as general editor for The Gospel Project. “The apostle Paul says it’s the message ‘by which we are being saved.’”

Stetzer added that LifeWay brought together a group of scholars, pastors and church leaders to advise about the direction of the project from the outset. “We received direction regarding the topics we would cover, the approach we would take – Christ-centered, mission-driven, shaped around the narrative of God’s redemptive plan – and the level of accessibility we should strive for,” he said. “It’s important to hear from people in a variety of contexts who are serving the local church, and the advisory council helped us think through important high-level issues at the outset of the curriculum's development.”

The project’s advisory council includes D.A. Carson, professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill.; Collin Hansen, editorial director, The Gospel Coalition; Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C.; Matt Chandler, pastor at The Village, Dallas, Texas; and James MacDonald, senior pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel, Chicago, Ill.