Las G. Newman

What the Preacher Forgot to Tell Me: Identity and Gospel in Jamaica Las G. Newman

In "What The Preacher Forgot To Tell Me: Identity and Gospel in Jamaica, author Faith Linton identifies what she believes is a deficiency in the historical preaching of the Gospel in Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries, that has impacted the success of the Gospel there. It is her conviction that many of those to whom the gospel is preached lack just what the ancient Athenians lacked-a heightened awareness of the one, true God and of them as He originally designed them. They lack a sense of kinship, of belonging to their Creator, and therefore of what they are to Him and what they owe to Him. She examines the principal of preaching the Gospel message by beginning at the beginning-in Genesis, with our creation. When people do not appreciate the significance of their being created in His image, the consequences are that they have no clear, healthy sense of their spiritual identity or of the lofty purpose for which they were created. If the message preached does not fill this gap, the understanding of the gospel will be distorted. Hearers may be driven to repentance strictly out of the fear of hell. Or, they may seek self-centred satisfaction and happiness by allying themselves with Christ, but they will not be motivated to please God. When a person is not allowed to see how closely connected they are to God, who made them like Himself, they continue to feel alienated from Him even after salvation. They feel unable to relate closely to Him in an intimate way. Her personal experience bears this out. Faith's book identifies this problem with clarity and conviction as she describes how this principle has impacted Jamaica and the Caribbean communities and offers what she hopes is a transformational solution.