LOS ANGELES (ASSIST News Service)— Churches across North America are being urged to “make poverty personal” and engage deeply in “The Hole in Our Gospel Six-Week Quest.”
This radical, eye-opening campaign challenges churches to involve their members in 42 days of action-oriented awareness and one soul-searching question on poverty and injustice from World Vision U.S. President Richard Stearns: “What does God expect of us?”
The campaign includes fast-paced and hard-hitting documentary DVD “shorts” and real-life pack-a-punch stories and insights on poverty and injustice. Probing and pondering the 2,000 verses in the Bible that address poverty and injustice, the daily action items include subjects like:
— Day 1: Ask “What Does God Expect of Me?”
— Day 16: Imagine Yourself as a Slave Trader
— Day 31: Try a Rice and Water Day
— Day 38: Wear the Same Clothes 2 Days in a Row
The campaign is based on Stearns’ book The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World.
As president of World Vision U.S., Stearns calls the Church to a new awareness about the nearly 3 billion people who live on less than $2 per day, often without access to clean water, food and medicine. But why, he asks, are Christians not mobilizing to serve the world’s poor and tackle the problems that fuel the cycle of poverty?
The “Six-Week Quest” campaign materials include a unique DVD learning tool with 12-minute documentary-style interviews with Stearns and others. A 72-page study guide focuses on six themes, including “Uncovering the Hole in the Church.”
The campaign’s full-color “Personal Action Journal” and companion Web site deliver poignant wake-up calls and zingers like, “We need only to read our church bulletin to see where our priorities have been placed.”
A new pricing paradigm for this small group curriculum makes this six-week experience affordable for any size church, group or individual.
To download a free preview of “The Hole in Our Gospel Six-Week Quest,” go to: TheGospelQuest.com.
