I finished reading The Hole In Our Gospel some time ago. I was unsure of the best way to review this because there is much good and bad in the book. The author Richard Stearns heads the World Vision organization which I support with my money. I understand an appreciate his goal for this organization which he pushes with this book. The cause of helping the afflicted and poor is a noble cause, and I agree with the premise of the book that Christians should be doing a better job of this. My problem is that he declares that this is a forgotten part of the Gospel. That is where the book goes terribly wrong. The Gospel is given properly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. It is about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for our sins according to Scripture. The book pushes our works to the poor as part of the Gospel by using many verses taken out of context. Faith comes from the preaching of the Gospel and our works are not part of it. If the book would have kept from making the message the Gospel, it would have been a wonderful book. But with the adding to of the Gospel done, it unfortunately makes the book not recommendable.
