Another brief thought sparked by a good conversation. The friend I was chatting with made an observation. He said that in a lot of churches it seems like the gospel, the good news, is that we are good news. Interesting thought. Imagine if the gospel was just that we are the gospel. But honestly, if that’s it, then it doesn’t seem worth it.
(There are other gospels on the loose today, also not worth it. If the gospel is just that we can be rich in this world – not worth it. If the gospel is just that we can protect the environment – not worth it.)
We won’t get into precise definition of the gospel here, although there is huge need for that. But the basic conclusion was this – the gospel surely is something about what God has done in Christ. If we let the gospel shrink to an us-size gospel, rather than a Christ-size gospel, we do everyone a profound disservice. Now a Christ-size gospel, a work of God gospel, that reaches us and does what only God could do for people who deserve anything but . . . that’s a gospel worth preaching!
Biblical Preaching 
I don’t know what an us-sized Gospel is. And what did your friend mean when he said “we are the Gospel” at some churches?
It’s not referring to the goal of the gospel (for the joy set before him, he endured the cross – the joy including fellowship with us and lovingly glorifying the Father). It’s referring to the content of the gospel. That is to say, an us-size gospel is a the good news that by being good people, by being nice, we can be good news. It’s a gospel that seems to put the God and Christ and cross to one side and essentially incarnate blessing in the world by being a blessing in our sphere of influence. Nice, somewhat motivational, but essentially an empty gospel.