Description
The Selfish Gospel is a debut book from Freddie Pimm, a junior doctor and Soul Survivor speaker. With a foreword by Mike Pilavachi (see below) and a robust challenge to the church, this is a book to engage and inspire a generation...
The gospel of Jesus – it’s the good news with the power to shape a nation. And yet, for many, the church seems to have lost its transformative edge.
But why?
Looking past the symptoms to the root cause, junior doctor Freddie Pimm suggests a diagnosis:we have made the Gospel selfish.
Thankfully, however, Jesus freely prescribes the treatment . . .
Easy to relate to and full of biblical truth, The Selfish Gospel reminds us of the gospel’s greatest paradox: in order to save our lives, we must first lose them.
Against the grain of our ‘it’s all about me’ society, this refreshing book explains how it is only when we let the gospel cost us and change us that we see the power of transformation: within ourselves, throughout the church and across our generation.
Mike Pilavachi's forward
I have known Freddie Pimm since he was a teenager. I have watched him face many of the discipleship issues he talks about in this book; first as a schoolboy, then in the years studying medicine at university and now as a young doctor. He is not a well-known Christian leader and has no formal theological training. So why should you read this book? Because it is both wise and authentic. And this is because Freddie himself is both wise and authentic. He has not written from a remote ivory tower. This is not theory; it is rooted in life.
The Selfish Gospel is a book that invites us to more. Freddie holds up a mirror to the 'me-centred' culture that has permeated the whole of society and challenges us to live sacrificially in pursuit of furthering God’s kingdom. Through his medical lens, Freddie studies the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of the church, leading us towards a gospel that offers freedom for us and transformation for the world around us.
This book is a timely reminder that we can't preach the gospel that Jesus died for us and that we can receive his forgiveness, and then end the good news there. That is a diluted gospel. It may seem more palatable if it requires no response, but it doesn't tell the full story or draw us into a life of discipleship and relationship with God. Following Jesus comes at a cost, but the riches we gain far outweigh anything we can give.
What stands out in this book is Freddie's passion for Jesus and the church. Freddie talks to us from a place of honesty about his own struggles in this journey as he's tried to work out what it means to follow Jesus. There's no finger-pointing, just a clear desire to see God's church be all that it can be. I have seen around the world that the places where the church thrives the most are where followers of Jesus step beyond the church walls and engage with their community. Churches that live most outwardly to usher in God's kingdom tend to be the places of the greatest growth and life.
Throughout The Selfish Gospel, Freddie steers clear of legalism or the idea that we can earn our salvation. He continually points us back to Jesus, reminding us that we don't earn God’s love, we embrace it and respond accordingly. As we let go of our selfish lives, we embrace a much richer gospel; we find a much truer picture of what it means to follow Jesus and to build his kingdom.
Freddie is a remarkable young man. I am proud to know him and am proud to commend both him and his honest, challenging and encouraging book to you.
Mike Pilavachi, co-founder and leader of Soul Survivor