Blogger Review: The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

This review is a long time coming! I received this complimentary copy of The Hole in Our Gospel from Booksneeze a while before we left for YWAM last year. I never started it at that time and only since returning from Kona and South Africa this spring, did I start the book. I was a little overwhelmed by its size but it turned out to be a very interesting read, and very timely in my life.

The gist of the book is all about the full gospel of Jesus, focusing on serving and loving the poor of the earth. Richard Stearns is the president of World Vision U.S and takes the reader on an in depth look at what the Bible says about ministering to the poor and the topic of justice.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the way Richard began the book with his own personal testimony in the first few chapters. It was very easy to feel his passion for the poor through his writing and I found my heart drawn and reminded about my own experiences the months before when my husband and I were on the mission field on another continent. I really enjoyed the stories of his travels and the incredible people he has met along the way.

Though I enjoyed the book, was provoked and challenged, I still felt something was missing. The basis of our service coming from a place of a living, intimate relationship with Jesus seemed to be missing, as well as a perspective of the time in history that we are living in in regards to the return of Jesus. There were parts that seemed to be border line with a very strong focus on works and service, without the connection to the Man whom we love as the point of our actions. It had a real social justice feel that didn't always seem to point to the true Answer. Because I tend to be turned off from materials that have a strong social justice feel, I sure didn't like the quotes from Bono =) I would have liked to see more connection at a heart-level to Jesus being the true Answer to poverty and injustice and more focus on the power of prayer. Chapter 12 and 13 were fairly depressing as they described in details the challenges surrounding the poor. I was hoping that Richard would bring the readers some hope in the midst of all the grim reality of Part 3 and 4. He brought some positive perspective, even if it wasn't the turn around that I had hoped for. I enjoyed Part 5 the most and really appreciated the challenge to the reader about what are we going to do to live out the Gospel.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book and it was special for me to read it after returning from the mission field abroad. The extra special part was that one of the ministries we worked with in South Africa was mentioned over a number of pages, including a church that we visited and a pastor we met! That was the icing on the cake for me =) I would recommend this book as it is challenging and provoking about living out the whole Gospel.