The Hole in our Gospel is published by Thomas Nelson and written by Richard Stearns, who is the president of World Vision, US, which is a Christian humanitarian aid organization. The book is a hybrid. It's part memoir and part rallying-call. Stearns balances his story with broader applications of the things he has learned. The book is divided into five parts. The first part is mostly the story of Stearns coming to faith and his life leading up to him coming to World Vision. Part two, Stearns begins to go deeper in his story and also draws out from Scripture, his understanding of the "whole gospel." Part three is spent describing the great problems that face our world. There is not tons of detail, but he gets the point across; our world is broken. Part four, Stearns begins to get an edge and gives a stinging rebuke of the Church for being "AWOL for the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of All Time." Part five is dedicated to fixing the "hole in our gospel." Here, Stearns pleads for every Christian to get involved. If we all grab a shovel, Stearns says we can move the mountains of poverty, hunger and injustice. He casts a vision for what the world could look like if we did....and it is an compelling vision.
Review
There are several things to like about this book. The part I appreciated the most was it's balance. When I selected this book to review (I'm apart of Thomas Nelson's Book Review Bloggers), I was a little fearful I was about to get a dose of social gospel nonsense. The traditional ideals of truth and right doctrine are constantly under attack these days and I was relieved to see Richard Stearns uphold those ideals. Every time I felt like he was drifting off into liberal land, he would quickly clarify what he meant and reaffirm that he was not denying the traditional beliefs, only showing how those beliefs intertwined into what he was saying. Stearns is no biblical scholar (which he readily admits), but you can tell that he is a man of the Word and it comes out in the balance he provides through the book. It was refreshing and inspiring.
Another thing I liked is that Stearns articulates the things many do not want to articulate. He confronts a lazy and apathetic western church with the horrors of a world wrecked by sin (the affects are obvious: poverty, hunger, disease, war, etc.). But, unlike the countless celebrities who exploit the plight of the poor for the sake of their own image, Stearns struggles along side those he rebukes. He uses his story to show that he does not have it all figured out. He constantly reminds the reader, that even as president of World Vision, he struggles with maintaining a broken heart for the poor. His tone, which is sharp at times, is never one of being "holier than thou." It's a plea from one struggler to another. It was refreshing and challenging all at the same time.
The last thing I liked that I'll mention is that Stearns helped personalize the problems that face our world. The pages were filled with stories of people I'll never meet this side of heaven. The thing that drove it home was that they are people...they have names and dreams and desires and emotions. It made me really stop and ponder the breadth of that thought. People die needlessly every day and American's freak out about their 401(k) dropping. But beyond stopping me to think, it has caused me to act as I will be prayerfully considering how I can engage the poorest of the poor.
While there was much to like, I did have one over-arching problem with the book. While Stearns is clear to state that we are saved apart from any works, I disliked his connection of works with the gospel. Perhaps I am splitting hairs, but I feel it's important to differentiate the gospel from gospel-effects (I believe works to be gospel-effects). The gospel is simply that God has made possible relationship with Him and salvation from sin and death through the life, death and resurrection Jesus Christ, who is God's Son. How that affects believers is our works. If there is a problem with our works, then we maybe we do not believe the gospel like we say or maybe no one has taught us the implications for believing this good news. The resurrection of Jesus is our hope that we will be resurrected. Our hope is not in this life, but the next. If that's true of us, we are now free to spend ourselves in this life (because this life is of no account to us) so that others, including the poor and sick, can have the same hope that we carry in our hearts and minds. I think the resurrection was an aspect that was sorely missing from Stearns assessment of why the church has got a lot wrong. The American church is still hoping in this life, rather than the next. The American church is not free to spend itself. It will never be free to spend itself, until the hope of the resurrection becomes a reality in the congregations spread across America. My assessment would be that this gospel, one that Stearns says has a hole in it, is really a false gospel; a gospel that requires nothing of it's adherents. I wish Stearns would of called it false. I can deal with things that have holes. A hole in my dollar bill is not that big of deal. It's value is still in tact. A fake dollar bill is a big deal; it has no value.
I realize that I'm picking at seemingly small things, but I believe in calling a spade a spade. If a purported gospel is not lining up with Scriptural revelation, it is no gospel at all; let us be blunt about protecting the integrity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
In the end, I really enjoyed the book (even when I was convicted by it) and would recommend it to any Christian, without reservation.
~sdg
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