True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In
by James Choung
List Price:
Our Price: $9.09
You Save: $5.91 (39%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.78 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: James ChoungEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-25
ISBN: 0830836098
Number of pages: 233
Publisher: IVP Books
Book Reviews of True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In
Book Review: A Gospel big enough for Jesus!
Summary: 5 Stars
Working in college ministry, I have felt the difficulty in telling the true Gospel (God's story, and not a watered down, me-centered one) and also in contextualizing it in a way that increasingly skeptical students can connect to. I loved True Story for what is at the heart of the book: an excellent Gospel diagram to help us share our faith Biblically. For more than 2 years, my students and I have been using this diagram with skeptics, seekers, and Christians. Here are a few reasons why Choung's diagram is excellent, and True Story is a great read for anyone:
It starts where they start.
Fewer and fewer people these days begin with a concrete idea of God or truth. But most have a deep sense that all is not right in the world. Choung's diagram begins with our discontentment. Because it begins with the world as we experience it, it is easy to bring up naturally in a variety of contexts. I've been able to share it while discussing the AIDS crisis in Africa, watching the evening news, and even after a student simply had a hard week of school. Choung's diagram shows that indeed things are not what God designed them to be, and connects the large-scale problems in the world and our lives to the sin problem in each of us.
It involves whole-life transformation.
Choung's diagram invites personal change through redemption in Christ, but also makes clear that "getting saved" is the beginning of a life of grateful participation in God's mission. Too often in our desire to protect sola fide, sola gratia, we shortchange our message. Our Gospel explanations leave out Paul's words in Eph. 2:10 (that we are saved by grace alone in order to overflow in good works) and Jesus' in Matt. 5:14-16 (that our good works will lead others to glorify God). The result is Christians whose lives look nothing like Christ's. Of course works are not salvific, but the Bible makes clear that they are to be a part of the life of a believer! As my students and I have used the diagram, we've found it useful not just with unbelievers but Christians, too. Many lifelong Christians recognize that they are living in "Circle 3" (forgiven, but not actively joining God's mission), and are encouraged to live out their faith. And unbelievers recognize that if this is God's message for the world, it truly is Good News.
It's larger than me!
Choung repeatedly focuses on three levels of restoration that Christ's atonement brings: personal, interpersonal, and systemic. Other Gospel diagrams I've used begin and end with the personal--Jesus can forgive and heal me, period. True Story points out that Christ's work certainly begins with my own issues, but that he is also concerned with right relationships between people and with restoring His creation (Eph. 2, Col. 1:20). Thus it leads us to racial reconciliation, environmental stewardship, and other Biblical mandates.
The Gospel will not be palatable to everyone (I Cor. 1:23). But at times in the past, I've had the feeling that seekers I shared with were rejecting not so much Christ as the weak, limited explanation of him that I gave. No diagram or single book holds the fullness of God's plan, as Choung himself points out many times. But True Story is a helpful and needed correction to our individualistic, fire-insurance approach to sharing God's Story. And despite containing all this good stuff, its fable-format makes it a very easy and enjoyable read. Read it, and ask God to help you make sure the Gospel you share is as big as the Kingdom!
Summary of True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In
"Christianity seems like just another screwed-up religion!" Anna said. "Seriously, what has Christianity done for us?or for the world, for that matter? They're just a bunch of hypocrites, that's what I think! Are they good for anything?" "I don't know, Anna," Caleb said. "I just don't know." Caleb has been a Christian for a long time. But he realizes that he can't bring himself to share his faith with anyone because it doesn't sound like good news anymore. Christianity's truth claims come across as hollow, arrogant and intolerant. Christians have a bad track record of hating and condemning those they disagree with. Worst of all, it feels like Christianity is just about "saving souls," giving people an escape ticket to heaven while the world falls apart. Is it only about Jesus forgiving our sins? There must be more to it than that... In this engaging narrative, James Choung weaves the tale of a search for a Christianity worth believing in. Disillusioned believer Caleb and hostile skeptic Anna wrestle with the plausibility of the Christian story in a world of pain and suffering. They ask each other tough questions about what Jesus really came to do and what Christianity is supposed to be about. Along the way, they discover that real Christianity is far bigger than anything they ever heard about in church. And the conversion that comes is not one that either of them expects. Join Caleb and Anna on their spiritual journeys as they probe Christianity from inside and out. Get past the old clichés and simplistic formulas. And discover a new way of understanding and presenting the Christian faith that really matters in a broken world.Evangelism Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Evangelism Books
Anyone for Alpha: Evangelism in a Post-Christian Eraby Stephan Hunt
Darton Longman & Todd Ltd; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.00
Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform (Chicago History of American Religion)by William G. McLoughlin
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1980-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.52
Price in other shops:
Evangelical vs. Liberalby James K. Wellman Jr.
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-04-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.99
Price in other shops:
The Scofieldï¿1/ 2 Study Bible III, HCSB: Holman Christian Standard BibleOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-03-09; Bonded Leather; Book
Best price: $24.49
Price in other shops:
The Old Scofieldï¿1/ 2 Study Bible, KJV, Classic EditionOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-01-12; Bonded Leather; Book
Best price: $21.56
Price in other shops:
A History of Christian Missions (Hist of the Church)by Stephen Neill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1987-01-06; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Not Long Ago M&lBenson Music Group (Choral); Published: 1911-12; Unbound; Book
Evangelization-A Retreat:Saint Joseph Communications; Published: 1994-10; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
Case for Christ, Theby Lee Strobel
Zondervan; Published: 2002-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $4.80
Price in other shops:
Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Backby Frank Schaeffer
Da Capo Press; Published: 2008-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.65
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
With Unveiled Faces: Experience Intimacy with God Through Spiritual Disciplinesby Keith Drury
Wesleyan Publishing House; Published: 2005-05-01; Perfect Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformationby Ruth Haley Barton
IVP Books; Published: 2006-02-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
The Sacrament of Evangelismby Jerry Root, Stan Guthrie
Moody Publishers; Published: 2011-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.27
Price in other shops:
Intentional Diversityby Jim Lo
Wesleyan Publishing House; Published: 2002-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The Moody Handbook of Theologyby Paul P. Enns
Moody Publishers; Published: 2008-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.95
Price in other shops:
Becoming a Contagious Christianby Bill Hybels, Mark Mittelberg
Zondervan; Published: 1996-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Changeby Brian G. Hedges
Shepherd Press; Published: 2010-11-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.70
Price in other shops:
Disciple-Making Church, The: Leading a Body of Believers on the Journey of Faithby Bill Hull
Baker Books; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.09
Price in other shops:
Younger Evangelicals, The: Facing the Challenges of the New Worldby Robert E. Webber
Baker Books; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops:
Cultivating a Life for God: Multiplying Disciples Through Life Transformation Groupsby Neil Cole
Church Smart Resources; Published: 1999-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops: