Life. Faith. Jesus.

Today I review a book through BookSneeze, an extension of Thomas Nelson, The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns.

Richard Stearns is the president of World Vision U.S. In his book, he writes of his journey through faith and how the corporate world took a toll on it.

In his introduction, Stearns clearly defines the perspective at which he is approaching in his book:

“we are carriers of the gospel—the good news that was meant to change the world. Belief is not enough. Worship is not enough. Personal morality is not enough. And Christian community is not enough. . . . When we committed ourselves to following Christ, we also committed to living our lives in such a way that a watching world would catch a glimpse of God’s character—His love, justice, and mercy—through our words, actions, and behavior” (3).

Quickly after he begins to tell his life story of how he has missed the Gospel message and how it “should” have affected him. This was the seller for me. I always appreciate when someone is openly honest about his or her life when writing to others about how they ought to live. Stearns does this well. And because he did this so well, I was bought into the book by the first two chapters.

After the first two chapters, Stearns begins to talk about how he was challenged to leave the safety of his high income job at Lenox, America’s fine tableware and gift company. It was a call to be president of World Vision. And not until about half way through the book does Stearns get into the meat of his message. But when he does, it’s pretty good.

What I liked

I love the fact that Stearns talks about Christians being much about doing, and not just being. Stearns brings out statistics on rich, poor, child deaths, sickness, disease, and others. He not only reveals them, but shares what World Vision is helping to alleviate some of these problems, but not without a call to action to his readers. And he does it well.

Stearns reveals intense truths about the world around us, the world that those of us who are comfortable do not notice very well. And herein lies the problem: that the Gospel we profess ought to be a Gospel that causes us to move into social action on behalf of these afflicted people. The “hole” in our Gospel, says Stearns, is a Gospel that does not move into social action (paraphrase). The “whole” Gospel, though, is one where we take responsibility for the poor and show them the Gospel by our action so that in response they would turn to God (121-22).

Overall, I think Stearns gives a healthy treatment on the condition of many of us Christians who profess a message, yet do nothing to authenticate, or make known this message in social action. If anyone is qualified to give this sort of message, it is certainly Richard Stearns.

What I didn’t like

What I’m concerned with is his interpretation of some Scriptures. He is certainly no theologian, and I do not hold him to that standard. But I know how easy it is to make Scripture seem to mean what you want it to mean when you have an agenda to push. And most certainly this book has an agenda. But it’s an agenda I agree with.

So for that, I will give this review a healthy 4 out of 5 stars. The reason I don’t give 5 is because of some of the theological elements. I don’t think that social action is always a part of the Gospel. I think there should have been a distinction between the Gospel and “Mission.” Not that they are separated, but that the Gospel message always includes words, mission does not.

So the old saying “Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words” is off the mark. Words are always needed when preaching the Gospel. Always. But words aren’t always needed in Christian mission. And the Gospel drives the Christian mission, not the other way around. In spite of this, my rating stands firm. A healthy 4 out of 5!

If you want to check out the book for yourself, you can here on Thomas Nelson’s site.

Or, you can help a brother out and make your purchase through my affiliate site by following this link.

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