Gaining By Losing

Simply OK

There is a seemingly innate desire built into born-again believers to want to see their churches healthy, vibrant, and faithful to the Gospel. And, if we are truly all of those things, then we will subsequently become a Great Commission honoring church as well. A church that doesn’t have a Pastor committed to teaching, preaching, and living the Gospel is a dead church, because, for the most part, a spiritually dead Pastor (which should be an oxymoron but isn’t) begets dead Christians which equals a dead church. However, having a Pastor who eats, breathes, and lives the Gospel leads to a healthy church that is desirous to share the Good News with the world. Therefore, it is only natural to come to the conclusion that a healthy Pastor plus a healthy church equals a “going” people. Pastor and Author J.D. Greear, in his book, Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send, is definitely one of those healthy Pastors who is pastoring a healthy church. His church, The Summit Church in Raleigh NC, has practically lived out everything that J.D. discusses in this book. J.D., and his elders, have done a fantastic job of keeping the Gospel the main thing for years, and his congregation therefore has a passion to “go and make disciples of all nations”. How can we, if we are not already doing it, be a “going” church (both locally and globally)?

Pros:
• I loved the fact that Greear’s back caused me to do a lot of introspection. Am I really honoring the Great Commission both personally and corporately? Or, have I gotten so me-focused, that I have lost my love to passionately share the Gospel with the world by personally helping to plant churches, sending missionaries, etc.?
• I was reminded of just how powerful the Spirit of God is when He transforms lives through the proclamation of the Gospel. In Chapter One, Greear is passionate in his reminder to readers that, “Even Jesus’ preaching and miracles, by themselves, were not sufficient to produce enduring disciples.” (p. 36). Our dependence should not be in our own power to draw crowds, eloquent preaching, or money, but it should be fully placed in the Spirit of God to radically transform the lives of wicked men and bring them from darkness to light. The moment we get caught up in trying to live out the Great Commission in our own power is the moment we are setting ourselves up for failure.
• The need to be patient and disciplined as it pertains to the transformation and subsequent spiritual growth experienced by those we have preached the Gospel too: “We need, like Jesus, the discipline to devote our energy into those things that will have the greatest, long-term impact on the world, even if it means having to wait years—maybe a lifetime—to experience return on our investment.” (p. 36)

Cons:
• In my opinion, there were some very vague hermeneutics employed to prove a point that Greear wanted to make, but the text itself, in its proper context, did not warrant such a usage. For instance, at the very beginning of the book, Greear uses John 12:24 to support the fact that churches are given “spiritual seeds” (p. 16) and, “How many of the seeds God has blessed you with are you planting into kingdom fields—fields that have great potential but yet may contribute little to the ‘bottom line’ of your congregation”. (p. 16) Now, the historical interpretation of this text is very Christ-centered, and is focused on Jesus’ death and the fruit that death will subsequently bring, and has nothing to do with the “spiritual seeds” that churches possess. I understand what Greear was trying to get at, but this text in John 12 has nothing to do with a churches “spiritual seed”.
• As has been noted by other reviewers, this book felt like a really big guilt trip into doing church the way that Summit does it, or risk not being blessed by God. If you want to be a growing and going church, then do exactly what The Summit does and God will bless you. I got the same sort of feeling when I read David Platt’s book, Radical, and I was one of the very few people I know who was overly critical of that book and the way that Platt proof-texted and guilted people into adopting his method of doing church.

All-in-all, Gaining by Losing, is not a horrible book, but Greear has written much better books in the past. It is not one that I think I will find myself going back to in order to consult it for being a Great Commission church, but I don’t think I wasted my time by reading it.

I received this book for free from Zondervan through Cross Focused Reviews for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”