Richard Stearns' - The Hole In Our Gospel - Chapter 1

I am reading The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns with my small group in church. The basic idea of the book is that many Christians, that find themselves in a comfortable place in life, are falling short of what God expects of them. They might be going to church, praying, reading their bibles and avoiding the big sins, but that's where they stop. From what I can gather so far, its a book about putting your faith into action and not just sitting complacently.

When I first looked at it, I thought to myself "Well, there's no hole in my gospel!". Of course I said this without even a smidgen of pride. (yeah right!) Well, I'm only on the first chapter and Richard Stearns has already poked my theory full of holes. Haha. No pun intended. I am hoping to blog through this book chapter by chapter as I read through it. This isn't intended to be a play by play of the book. Just my thoughts on it.

Introduction:

The part that sticks out in my mind the most in this section is where Stearns quotes Johnny Cash when he sung "You're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good." Wow. I have to ask myself as I seek to strengthen my relationship with God, am I any good to the people around me? Haha, if you look at the clutter around my house I'm going to have to go with no...

Chapter One:

I'm already smacking myself in the forehead as I read this. Remember when Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"??? I have to admit that went right over my head. Stearns clarifies " His was not intended to be a far-off and distant kingdom to be experienced only in the afterlife; no, Christ's proclamation of the "kingdom of heaven" was a call for a redeemed world order populated by redeemed people--now. In other words, the perfect kingdom of God that I just described was to begin on earth." Um geez. I haven't exactly done much towards that end. That's a tall order and here I am sitting on my bum. Something like that takes a lot of people working together to get it finished. If anyone is slacking off, then its just that much longer until it happens. I need to step up!

Stearns goes on to talk about about how we've somehow managed to turn evangelism into getting people to buy fire insurance for their homes while completely ignoring the fact that for many people, their "homes" are falling down around them. (this is my paraphrase, not a quote from the book.) We're trying to get them to pray the sinner's pray but not attending to their physical or emotional needs. They're starving or dying, but as long as they pray that prayer we say "Praise God" and move on to the next sinner in need of repentance.

That makes me think of a line in a Christafari song (Christafari is only my all time favorite band. They're a christian reggae band.) The song is called Preach the Gospel (Every Day Living). He sings "Preach the gospel use words when necessary." Google it if you want to see the complete lyrics. LOVE that song! But I think that might be what Stearns is trying to get at here. The one line that made the biggest impression on me in this section was this: "Christianity is a faith that was meant to spread---but not through coercion. God's love was intended to be demonstrated, not dictated. Our job is not to manipulate or induce others to agree with us or to leave their religion and embrace Christianity. Our charge is to both proclaim and embody the gospel so that others can see, hear, and feel God's love in tangible ways. When we are living out our faith with integrity and compassion in the world, God can use us to give others a glimpse of His love and character. It is God--not us--who works in the hearts of men and women to forgive and redeem. Coercion is not necessary or even particulary helpful. God is responsible for the harvest--but we must plant, water, and cultivate the seeds."

I forget this often. I remember witnessing to a classmate while we sat on the city bus, I guess about a year ago. It was a very intellectual conversation. I was trying to persuade him, without looking like I was trying, and I felt very desperately that I wanted him to see the truth right then and there! Even witnessing sometimes to my very best friend in the world, I get so desperate for her to just see and understand, that I wouldn't be surprised if my onslaught of words turned her off to the gospel completely. Well I know that she knows I love her, so I can only hope that in both of these cases, God can somehow use my over-zealousness for good. I want to think that my friend has seen my faith in action. But I can't think if my classmate ever did. Hm.

Stearns also talks about how we may never see the harvest we hope for. We don't know where along the line in someone's life we've come into. It may be anywhere from clearing the field to planting the seeds, to reaping the harvest. I need to remember that. I tend to get discouraged easily. I don't like to think that I'm not taking anyone to heaven with me. Yep, I've never been there to reap the harvest. I pray that God will bless me with that opportunity someday. Until then, I need to learn to be content with helping plant the seeds!

Stearns talks about Jesus' mission statement being from Isaiah 61 as quoted in Luke 4:14-21. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Stearns breaks this statement down into three parts: proclamation of the good news, a compassion for the sick and the sorrowful and commitment to justice. Jesus set the example for us. Remember that popular phrase a few years back "What Would Jesus Do?" Well, if he were here today, I wonder where on this earth he would be and what he would be doing. I imagine that's what I where I need to be...

On a side note, I am writing this blog as I read the chapter, so I won't forget anything. Stearns just quoted Saint Francis of Assisi when he said "Preach the gospel always; when necessary use words." Haha, I guess that's where Christafari's Mark Mohr got it! My bad. Well, it still makes for a great song!

Stearns closes out the chapter with a story of how his friend Jim Wallis went through and cut every verse about poverty and justice out of the bible. It makes me cringe because that seems sooo sacrilegious! Apparently there were over 2000 verses that he cut out and the result was a bible that was falling apart. When Wallis would speak about the issue, he would hold up that bible and say "this is our American Bible; it is full of holes. Each one of us might as well take our Bibles, a pair of scissors, and begin cutting out all the scriptures we pay no attention to, all the biblical texts that we just ignore." That story hit me kind of hard. Because if I'm really a Bible believing Christian, then I shouldn't be picking and choosing what parts I want to follow.

Thanks for listening to me think. Let me know if I don't make any sense! :)

My ministries

So as a mom of two little girls my days mostly consist of keeping my 4 month old happy and keeping my 2 year old alive. There are a lot of play dates involved and a lot of walks to the park and when I get a chance and have any energy left over, a bit of housecleaning. I love being a mom and am pretty sure that is what I was born to do. However I have felt the pain of not being able to get out and show Christ's love to people in my community and in the world. My heart's desire is to be a missionary overseas, but God hasn't seen fit to enable me to do that just yet. Now, many people have told me that at this point in my life my children are ministry and that I don't need to worry about doing anything more. I know this is true, but I'm not content with that. I want my children to see me ministering to other people and I want to feel like I'm making some sort of difference with people outside of my own family in addition to it.

...as I was writing this, my 2 year old daughter Mwende came running over and knocked a tall glass of Crystal Lite all over my husband's laptop which I was using. If you wouldn't mind please pray that 1-my husband's computer is salvageable. 2-he continues to let me use it. and 3-I get my own laptop! I am now using our less than reliable and noticeably slow desktop computer. :p...

ANYWAY, yes my children are my ministry but I am not content to stop there. So I started looking for ministry opportunities that I can do with my kids since I am a Stay-At-Home Mom. Turns out that they don't take volunteers with kids in tow down at the pregnancy clinic and its the same story with every other ministry that I could find. In short I would need to find child care to do any sort of typical ministry. Then, in my Reach class at Calvary Church of Santa Ana, one of the elders introduced me to Global Media Outreach (http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/). They needed volunteers to become Online Missionaries. Reach the world for Christ from the comfort of your very own home! FINALLY here was something I could do without neglecting my children. It is very simple really. I answer emails from people who are seeking God. I signed up after my 2nd baby girl turned 1 month old and have been doing it (nearly) every day since. I get emails from 3 types of people. People who don't know Jesus but want more information about him. People who have gone to one of GMO's website (e.g. Jesus2020.com) and accepted Christ as their Lord & Savior as a result and people who have recommitted their lives to Christ. I answer their emails by giving them guidance in what step to take next in their journey, answering any questions they might have, encouraging them in whatever trials they find themselves in and then encouraging them to write back. Not many people write back, but I've found that I am able to be a tremendous encouragement to those that do. It makes me so happy that I am able to reach out and touch these people from all around the world as they seek God. I don't intend to stop this ministry ANY time soon!

The second ministry that I jumped on board with is called Safe Families (http://www.safe-families.org/). This ministry involves families in the church stepping in and opening up their homes to the children of parents who are in crisis and unable to care for their children for either or short or longer period of time. As soon as I heard of this ministry I wanted to be involved. I have a strong desire to be a "safe family" myself and open my home to children in need, but for certain reasons I am unable to at this time. But that hasn't stopped me from getting involved in other ways! I signed up to babysit, make meals and to be administrative support. Babysitting and making meals are obvious. As an administrator I call people who have signed up to find out exactly how they want to be involved and also input new volunteer information. Hopefully someday God will also see fit to bless me with the opportunity to welcome a child in need into my home!

So as you can see I have managed to find ministry opportunities that I can jump into without compromising my ministry to my children. I am hoping to start using this blog to report on how these ministries have blessed me.