A local pastor friend of mine, Matt Mitchell, has written an excellent book on the sin of gossip called, Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue. (Yes, it is a sin. And no, you probably haven’t heard a sermon on it recently.) In a down-to-earth style, and a heart for those struggling, Mitchell has written a book that answers many of the questions that the reader is wondering: “What is gossip? How do I recognize when something is gossip? Yeah, but what about…?” He has carefully organized the material, so that the reader can discover what gossip is, how it’s seen in our lives, and how to fight it with truth. His definition of gossip: “bearing bad news behind someone’s back out of a bad heart” (pg. 15) is succinct and memorizable.
One of the most helpful aspects of Mitchell’s book was that he aids you in understanding why you gossip, so that you can attack the idols of your heart with gospel truth. We need to chop at the root, and not just pull at the symptoms.
Mitchell shows us the multi-faceted nature of gossip in that it can take different forms in our lives, and he doesn’t just show us that we need to resist gossip, but also, what we need to replace it with: loving words and listening ears.
Mitchell does an excellent job of answering objections, as each time I felt a question or objection being raised in my mind, he would always seem to answer it. Additionally, he provided teaching on how to respond when you hear gossip, what to do when you are gossiped about, and even how to handle the moments of regret after you gossip.
A bonus chapter is given at the end, which helps church leaders (and churches as a whole) think through how to cultivate a “gossip-resistant church”.
With a pastor’s heart and a counselor’s touch, Matt Mitchell provides us with a small book that can tackle the big problem of gossip.
I would recommend it to any individual or church, whether you struggle with gossip or not. You can check out this link here to find all that you need to get the book and also the accompanying group study.
Portraits of Grace 