“What should I do?”

Long before the author posed the question for its readers, in the last pages of The Hole In Our Gospel, I had already written it in the margins. Another question that surfaced for me throughout my read of this book was: “what is a proper balance between evangelism and social action?”

Richard Stearns, President of World Vision U.S. and author of this book, presents the argument that before the message of Christ can be presented to suffering people groups you must first meet their immediate needs, whether that is clean water or medicines for HIV, in so doing we then demonstrate Christ love to them.

I was challenged by this book; however, I was concerned that some people who read its pages could move to the extreme of taking care of persons physical needs without ever making a point to share the message of Christ. The message of Christ is the ultimate goal.

There does need to be a balance in missions work between meeting the immediate needs of those we are trying to minister to and presenting the gospel message. The Hole in Our Gospel is a great way to be reminded of that need and also be reminded of just how blessed we are in this country and a response to our blessing should be to share with those less fortunate.

Take the time to get a copy of this book and be challenged as I was and will continue to be.

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