"The Hole in Our Gospel" Book Review

Recently I finished reading a book that was highly recommended to me, called “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision. The big questions of the book are “What does God expect of us?” and “Is something missing from our understanding of the gospel?” Stearns believes that there is a gaping hole in our gospel; a hole that leaves the poor and suffering outside of the typical Christian’s life. He says that we have simplified the gospel so much, that we have left out critical portions relating to the poor and injustice. One quote from the book says, “In our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of ‘fire insurance’ that one can buy. Then, once the policy is in effect, the sinner can go back to whatever life he was living—of wealth and success, or of poverty and suffering.”

 

Stearns tells a story of a friend who conducted an experiment. He went through the entire Bible and cut out every passage and verse that dealt with the issues of poverty, wealth, justice, and oppression. By the time he was finished, the book was in tatters. His Bible was literally filled with holes. So whenever we as Americans ignore those issues, we are living out a gospel filled with holes.

 

Throughout the book, Stearns weaves in his own story of salvation and how he came to World Vision. He had been the CEO of Lenox when he was asked to become a part of WV. He was very resistant at first, and did not at ALL want to accept the position. Eventually He surrendered to God’s clear calling, and continued to be convicted about the way the American Church ignores the plight of millions who are suffering around the world today.

 

I really enjoyed reading his personal story, because in a way it felt similar to my own surrender to God’s calling to build an orphanage in Haiti. I fought it so long, but God has made it abundantly clear that this is what I’m called to do. In order for God to use me—and you—we have to be surrendered to His will for our lives.

 

The third section of the book, called “A Hole in the World” was really eye-opening to me. Stearns opens up the statistics of how many people die each day. Did you know that 26,500 children die of preventable causes every day? That would be equivalent to about 100 jetliners crashing, killing all the passengers in one day. The problem is, we read a statistic like that and barely pause. What if one of those children was dying on your doorstep? Wouldn’t you drop everything and rush them to an emergency room to see that their life was saved? How come we virtually ignore the thousands of children dying every day simply because they’re not on our doorstep?

 

Stearns then unpacks some of the issues plaguing our world today such as hunger, thirst, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, illiteracy, slavery, and war. One thing that struck me is the devastating cycles of poverty. People become sick due to poor water and hygiene practices. They are unable to work due to their illnesses. Obviously if they don’t work, they don’t have income. Because of that they can’t afford medication, which keeps them in that cycle.

 

The fourth part of the book is called “The Hole in the Church.” Here Stearns goes back to scripture and unpacks just a few of the many passages dealing with helping the poor as a reflection of our salvation in Christ. James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” And this verse is just one of many where we are commanded to look after those in distress!

 

We as Americans are far too obsessed with pursuing the American dream, and we turn a deaf ear to those who are crying out for help. Matthew 25:41-45 says, “Then He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”

 

The final part of the book talks about repairing this hole we have created in the gospel, a hole that was never intended to be there. We are commanded to use whatever time, talents, and treasures God has blessed us with for HIS glory by living out the ENTIRE gospel. There is a world out there that needs physical and spiritual help. What are you going to do about it?