Missions Resources - Bibliography
True Story
Authors: James Choung
ISBN: 978-0830836093
Publisher: IVP Books
Number of pages: 231
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary:
“He felt like an actor in a bad B-movie who still faithfully delivered his lines.”
Welcome to the mind of Caleb, a Christian student at the University of Washington who is no longer convinced of the gospel he shares. In his book True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In, Author James Choung uses fictional character Caleb’s struggles with scripture to present a revised approach to the gospel message.
Caleb’s questioning mind leads him to Shalandra Jones – a professor who understands his failing interest in faith, and offers her mentorship. Over a one-year period, Choung’s book leaps back and forth in time between Caleb’s question-answer sessions with the professor, to his later religion discussions with non-believer and classmate Anna.
In short, two- to three-page chapters with single-word titles, Choung packages an evangelism technique into a novel that many college students will be able to relate to. Choung’s technique involves a series of four circles and stick figures to represent the salvation story in a simplistic fashion. Each circle is titled according to the history of mankind: designed for good, damaged by evil, restored for better and sent together to heal.
Choung’s four circles offer something which other witnessing tracks and drawings do not. Rather than fall into the evangelism rhythm of "sin, cross and salvation," Choung reveals the novelties of Christ’s message that often remain overlooked; through Professor Jones, he presents heaven and the kingdom of God as present and active, rather than future and waiting, and the invitation to Christianity with an immediate call to mission rather than a promise for peace or joy.
The book asks and answers clear questions, like “What is the gospel that Jesus taught?” “Why is it good news?” and “How does he want us to respond?”
In a closing section titled “Behind the Scenes,” Choung gives his own recap of the underlying message in his book: “The story’s over,” he writes, “but the Big Story is still waiting to be shared.”
Though dressed in story-telling form, True Story should not be picked up for a page-turning read, as it is structured like an evangelism class lecture (with questions and lengthy, theory-filled answers) and presented in a protagonist’s simple thought struggle. When approached as an outlet for evangelistic tools, True Story proves effective.
With references to Monty Python scenes and U2 songs, Choung’s book is geared most toward the college student, yet still serves as an open invitation to all, to not only question our faith, but to “embrace a seemingly new truth” until trust in Christ overrules all knowledge.
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