The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Quotes from Part 5: Repairing the Hole

"We have, in fact, reduced the gospel to a mere transaction involving the right beliefs rather than seeing in it the power to change the world." (p.243)

"... the very social revolution Jesus intended as his kingdom unfolded 'in earth as it is in heaven' ... is not to be a far-off and distant kingdom to be experienced only in the afterlife. Christ's vision was of a redeemed world order populated by redeemed people - now." (p.243)

"Many of us sit on the sidelines because we don't appreciate what we have to offer. Others know what they have to offer, but they don't know how. To speak to this, let me quote my pastor, Earl Palmer: 'God can't steer a parked car.'" (p.273)

"We, as Christians, can look at our broken world, shrug our shoulders, and say, 'That's just the way things are.' Or we can instead embrace a vision of what could be -- if we'd each pitch in. Isn't it better to light a candle than curse the darkness?" (p.275)

"The gospel that we have been given -- the whole gospel -- is God's vision for a new way of living. It inaugurates the reality of God dwelling within us, His followers, no longer in a temple in Jerusalem. And it calls for us to join Him in saving the world that He loves so much." (p.276)

"What gospel have you embraced: a revolutionary gospel that is truly good news for a broken world? or... a diminished gospel -- with a hole in it -- that's been reduced to a personal transaction with God, with little power to change anything outside your own heart?" (p.279)

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Quotes from Part 4: A Hole in the Church

"... we must never see poverty or justice as 'issues' that need solutions; rather we must see the human beings at the heart of those issues as people who need and deserve our love and respect."(p.163)

"... the Church in America must confront the uncomfortable challenge of being endowed with an abundance of blessings in an extremely poor world." (p.172)

"If church leaders do not have an outward vision to become salt and light in our world, to promote social and spiritual transformation, pursue justice, and proclaim the whole gospel, then the Church will fail to realize its potential as an agent of change. It will become inwardly focused on meeting the needs of its members, to the exclusion of its nonmembers. It will be a spiritual cocoon, where Christians can retreat from a hostile world, rather than a 'transformation station' whose primary objective is to change the world." (p.179)

"... not all parts of the American Dream are consistent with Christian values.... Can we rightfully delight in our own personal happiness and material comfort when we know that they are out of reach for billions of people in our world?" (p.204)

"If your income is $25,000 per year, you are wealthier than approximately 90 percent of the world's population! ...Our difficulty is that we see our American lifestyles as normative, when in fact they are grossly distorted compared to the rest of the world. We don't believe we are wealthy, so we don't see it as our responsibility to help the poor. We are deceived."(p.215-216)

"When historians look back in one hundred years, what will they write about this nations of 340,000 churches? ...Will schoolchildren read in disgust about a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics?" (p.238-239)

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Quotes from Part 3: A Hole in the World

"Frankly, giving things to the poor does much more to make the giver feel good than it does to fundamentally address and improve the condition of those in need." (p.126)

"The world can and does produce enough food to feed all of its 6.7 billion inhabitants. The problem is that the food and the capacity to produce it are unequally distributed." (p.135)

What I'm Reading... The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Quotes from Part 2: The Hole Gets Deeper

For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you siad I was getting what I deserved. (RESV - Richard E. Stearns Version [Matt 25]) (p.59)

The spread of the 'kingdom of God' was to be carried out on earth by His Church, men and women commanded by Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and dedicated heart and soul to the task. Jesus' followers were not to sit idly and await His return; they were to strike out boldly as the advance guards in a revolution that will only be completed upon His return, when all things will be restored and His kingdom made complete. The same is true today. We are not to give up on the world, nor retreat from it - just the opposite. We are to reclaim and redeem the world for Christ's kingdom. (p.68)

Christ is an all-or-nothing proposition, and one way or another, every one of us has already made a choice about Him. We have either committed our lives to Him wholeheartedly, or we have not. (p.83)

It's not what you believe that counts; it's what you believe enough to do. (p.87)