By Jan Wood, GNA Founder and Director from 1998-2024

WHEN I WAS A NEWBIE PASTOR, I co-pastored with John Braun. Each morning we would start our workdays in prayer and ministry accompaniment. This one morning I was holding forth theologically. As I carried on, John leaned back in his chair and asked a question that changed the course of my public ministry. As he gazed at me, he said, “Jan, where is the good news in that?” I was taken aback. But as I thought about it, there wasn’t much good news in it at all. The more I reflected on this simple question, the more I realized that the church has often bundled a bunch of bad news together and labeled it “good news.” It broke my heart and turned my path around.

After this I decided to be intentional about being a carrier of truly good news. That meant looking honestly at whether the message and actions were truly a gift of goodness and love. That meant looking at ministry from the vantage point of all the stake holders in a situation. It isn’t good news if it gives joy to one person and inflicts harm on another. It meant working with others to come out of meetings with shared joy in win-win solutions. It meant centering on the joy and possibilities of being faithful.

When I founded Good News Associates, it was a manifestation of this intent. I knew it was incredibly good news to create an organization that could find way forward for the needs of those of us who are called to ministries in which there is no salary job that would pay us to do the work. We weren’t going to be hired by the church for our life’s work, but we were impelled by faithfulness to do it. Artists. Writers. Musicians. Spiritual Directors. Teachers, leaders, facilitators. Those who have dedicated their lives to prayer and service. Whew, what a relief to find a community of fellow travelers and financial way forward. I knew that the Associates, who were risking a lot to throw their lot in with the adventure of faith, would be persons who would bring the love of God into the world. I knew that the face of love has many facets and so the ministries would be diverse and often unique. And so it is. It is a really good thing.

By Christine Hall, GNA Director since 2024

FOR A LONG WHILE, I’VE BEEN HESITANT, about the phrase “Good News” as a modern equivalent of “gospel.” When I hear it, I’m painfully aware that too much Christian teaching and practice have in truth been quite BAD news to oppressed and suffering people through the centuries—enslaved Africans, Indigenous peoples, women, and the LGBTQ community.

I want to make peace with the phrase at the very heart of the organization I love and direct, Good News Associates. I write on behalf of friends and family who are in physical danger because of contemporary forms of Christianity that are power-hungry, violent, racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic. I write for Good News Associates, because we live and minister from an egalitarian and welcoming experience of Jesus’ Good News.

When I’m stuck with words, I like to dig into their history. Sorting the shifts in languages and interpretation over time helps loosen the tangles of my assumptions. So, first I learned that the Greek word for “Good News” or “gospel” was εὐαγγέλιον. Simply seeing it in another writing system softens my resistance. It helps me remember Jesus’ teachings were obviously not in English. So maybe Jesus’ “Good News” doesn’t mean what I thought, or what some people claim, it means.

In varied forms, εὐαγγέλιον is used more than 70 times in Christian scriptures . It’s in the very first sentence of one of the earliest writings that narrate the life of Jesus, the book of Mark: “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, the Son of God.” (from The Voice, a dynamic interpretation, 2012).

When the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον is translated into English as “gospel,” we also hear it applied to “the Gospel of Mark” or to the four books of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John as “The Gospels.” But I was surprised to find that our word “gospel” actually came from Middle English a thousand years after Jesus.

It looked like “godspell,” meaning a good story or tale. Nothing witchy here, no magic spells. To say it in Middle English, you could try to sound like the wizard Gandalf, while imagining marbles in your mouth—“Gaawdshpiel.” We still echo the old meaning when we say, “Give me the whole spiel,” or “Spell it out for me.” I didn’t know the word history when I sang in the musical Godspell during high school, a bright memory.

Since the English “gospel” was not in first writings about Jesus (ever), I turned back to the Greek εὐαγγέλιον. It sounds something like “yoo-ang-GHEL-ee-on”. There are other English translations of Biblical εὐαγγέλιον—glad tidings, a good message, and joyful news. Remember the angels singing for the shepherds at Jesus’ birth? Luke 2:10 uses an action form of the word. But what really matters is how εὐαγγέλιον was used most widely in Jesus’ day. It wasn’t about Jesus.

To my surprise, I learned that εὐαγγέλιον was at first political and military word. When the ancient Greeks won a battle, messengers traveled home proclaiming εὐαγγέλιον. When the Romans conquered the Greeks, they appropriated the term to declare their conquests in foreign lands, praising their emperor, a Divine-king. I imagine it sounding something like, “Great News, Losers! Ceasar is now your Lord and Savior, Son of God!” I doubt the newly invaded societies experienced the Roman Emperor as a Prince of Peace.

Besides, a “peace” enforced by the Roman military, called the Pax Romana, was hardly what the Christian scriptures were about. So why would Mark, an author of the earliest writings about Jesus, begin with εὐαγγέλιον?

I hear Mark’s εὐαγγέλιον as a provocative “rebranding” of the term. The author boldy proclaims that Jesus’ εὐαγγέλιον is not business as usual. It’s not power-hungry, greedy, or oppressive. But like an imperial decree, Mark’s εὐαγγέλιον expresses real strength and glory. You can tell this good news is truly Good because a sweet Holy Spirit weaves people together in mutual care instead of cycles of hatred and violence.

In Jesus’ teaching, the good news is more than personal, more than an individual assenting to a check list of religious propositions. The Spirit empowers relationships, groups, and societies to function very differently from the domination system of ancient Rome or oppressive regimes of any era. It’s good news because the poor get food; the sick access health care; the outcasts are welcomed; the suffering find comfort; wrongs are forgiven; varied strengths and gifts shine and dance with each other; enemies are loved; resources are shared; peace and generosity overflow. All are invited to participate in this extraordinary culture (or reign) of God.

That’s the εὐαγγέλιον I experience in Good News Associates. We’re a small circle of faithful folks who serve others as we are called by the Spirit. We know how to Listen inwardly and between us for divine guidance in all things, though we are members of diverse faith communities with no shared creed. We speak our joys and challenges honestly. We hear each other deeply. We gather regularly to pray with and for each other. We share support and care in our varied giftedness and situations. For me, GNA is a refreshing taste of the Holy in the tumult of our days.

Where does God gather you with others in grace and goodness? May you have a taste of εὐαγγέλιον too!