Poverty, Riches and Wealth by Kris Vallotton

A book to make you think with sections you might disagree with - but the golden thread that you are wealthy in proportion to your generosity, not according to your riches - is an excellent, Biblical principle

Poverty, Riches and Wealth: Moving from a Life of Lack Into True Kingdom Abundance
By Kris Vallotton
Chosen Books, a Division of Baker Publishing Group
ISBN: 978-0800799014
Reviewed by Terry Young

I found this book drew me in and turned me off in equal measure, so this review is as much for me to work out what I really think, as it is for you. I’m going to recommend it strongly and point with equal vigour to areas where you might want to watch out.

The bottom line? Read it, for the stories and its view of God’s generosity. Most of all, read it for its reminders – almost child-like reminders – that God is good, and you can enjoy his blessings. I’d encourage you to think carefully about how reliably Kris’ way of interpreting his experiences will work for you. The lack of systematic analysis is both the glory and a danger of this book.

Those sections that tell how Kris learned to run businesses, especially his discoveries about incentives, are a fun read if you know anything about business. And if you know anything about business, you will realise that he writes from a particular perspective – auto parts and service. There are good reasons, for instance, to be careful about monetary incentives and just pay people well. But in his sector, his approach and insights are worth reading.

As a result, this has a homespun feel to it – very grounded and full of handy rules of thumb. However, it is not something you would use to teach business principles. And yet, the biographical elements are precisely what I love about this book.

What applies to Kris’ theory of business, applies to his theology: he is sharing what he has learned from experience. So, for instance, I struggle when he says, ‘I have discovered a principle in the Kingdom that simply says, “If I can envision it, I can have it”’ (p. 40). The next sentence qualifies this, but there would be no need to qualify it if it hadn’t been written down in the first place. There is no simple principle in God’s economy about getting all you envision but there are principles around faith. I don’t buy the idea that wealth can mark out a particularly godly character, nor do I buy his picture of Jesus as a prosperous tradesman: you have to ignore too much Scripture to make either view stick. Which is why this book made me think.

Although Kris warns about the dangers of the prosperity gospel, a lot is presented in terms of a mainstream prosperity gospel, so it takes a while to work out exactly what is going on. The golden thread, for me, is that you are wealthy in proportion to your generosity, not according to your riches. This excellent principle stands scrutiny from every angle. Generosity as a response to a generous God, is great but I’m less convinced that there is a strong corollary, namely, that God rewards us in proportion to our generosity.

As I read scripture, the normal Christian life is one of growth through shortage and abundance. We can expect God to meet our needs, but there are principles of suffering that sit alongside the principles of glory that are not properly explored in this book. Think carefully as you read.

But let’s move on and enjoy the strengths of what Kris’ says and a playfulness that is absent from much Christian writing on money. There’s a fun set of stories around watches, in which he starts with a good watch and swaps up for a top end piece of jewellery. During his giving away and trading, he describes his dialogue with God, promising him something better each time.  In the end, he feels called to give the best watch to an impoverished pastor.  When he asks what the payback will be, he realises that there is no payback – it’s time to give it away.

In another story – although he doesn’t tell it this way – he and his wife accidentally wreck Christmas with so many presents that someone small got upset over a missing gift. The following Christmas they decide that everyone in their family should have the joy of giving and pay for presents for poor families nearby. Christmas afternoon is spent delivering presents and watching the joy – a really refreshing take.

He is right that feeling poor undermines our joyful heritage. It is amazing how quickly we can revert to defensive, even selfish behaviour, too. Reading this book when we were finally coming out of lockdown, it was a reminder to me of what I am called to. I went for over a year without invoices being paid, and yet God fulfilled his promises and were solvent as business picked up again.

Our constrained thinking can emerge even in little things. Not long after lockdown we had lunch to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. At the end, my wife popped around the corner to a fabric shop and I settled the bill, when the waitress explained that the desserts were on the house as a thank-you for coming back after lockdown. I learned tipping from my American grandmother, so when the bill came, I asked what the tap-and-go limit was, and asked her (the waitress, not my Grandmother in glory) to top it up to the limit with a tip.

Later, I saw that there already was a service charge on the bill. My first reaction was that I had messed up an opportunity to save money. Then I remembered Kris’ book and realised that I had every right to be generous and to enjoy the exercise.

When in doubt about authors, I often ask myself whether I would buy a used car from them. And in this case, the answer is easy. He knows his cars, and if one of those Corvettes he writes about were going, I’m sure it would be a blast. Thank you, Kris.
 

Terry Young is a missionary kid who read science and engineering. After a PhD in lasers, he worked in R&D before becoming a professor, when he taught project management, information systems and e-business, while leading research in healthcare.

He set up Datchet Consulting to have fun with both faith and work and worshipped at Baptist churches in Slough for 19 years before moving to the New Forest