Description
Book Review – Jim Wright
Christ-Centered Generosity – Global Perspectives on the Biblical Call to a Generous Life
Edited by R Scott Rodin
I must confess that my first thought on receiving this book for review was to question whether reading a book about generosity would stimulate people to be generous if they were not so already.
The Global Generosity Network (GGN) describes itself as “a joint initiative between the Lausanne Movement and the World Evangelical Alliance to encourage evangelical Christians to be better stewards of their resources, live more generously and give more of their income to Kingdom causes where it is most needed”. In his foreword, Ram Gidoomal describes how, in his work with GGN, he and others realised that there is a need for a good, easy-to-read book on biblical generosity that could be used by Christians around the world. They commissioned Dr Scott Rodin to edit a book with contributions from different continents which would include both reflections on biblical generosity from Christians from a variety of contexts and stories about the impact of generosity in a wide range of cultures.
The book is comprised of six parts or sections which include contributions from numerous authors from many different countries. Parts I to V follow a repeating pattern; an introduction from an author describing the norms and practices for giving and generosity in a specific cultural context (the Global Christian context, Western Europe, Africa, India and South America); three stories illustrating the impact of Christ-centered generosity in different countries; and a reflection from a writer on his or her cultural perspective on Christian giving, to illustrate how generosity is lived out in different vocations and cultural settings. Part VI, written by the heads of seven international ministries, provides an invitation to set aside one week for focus on the Christ-centered generous life. It includes daily…
