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Expectation Gap by Steve Cuss

order your copy today

order your copy today

Learn how to quiet your inner critic, confronting chronic anxiety, and relax into God’s presence.

Expectation Gap Book
Christians experience significant gaps between what we believe about God and what we encounter from God. We believe God loves us, but we struggle to experience it. We believe God is with us, but we struggle to see it. We thought we’d be further along in our faith by now. Often our best efforts keep us stuck in those gaps.
In The Expectation Gap, pastor and systems theorist Steve Cuss shows us how to engage God at a deeper and more fulfilling level. We will always have to mind the gaps, but we can learn to notice the recurring, predict­able patterns that keep us stuck and spinning. Cuss offers tangible tools to untangle our deepest beliefs about ourselves from our most precious beliefs about God, engaging him in a deeper and more visceral way.

order your copy today

order your copy today

GET MORE WHEN YOU PRE-ORDER!

Expectation Gap Pre-Order

Purchase the book, ebook, or audiobook and then submit your order via the button below to get access to bonus content taking you even deeper in your journey of participating in and leading a healthy church:
  • Digital download of introduction, and chapter 1 to begin reading immediately
  • Access to 2 sessions of the Expectation Gap Video Study
  • The downloadable self-assessment
  • Access to an exclusive webinar on how to get the most out of reading in community
To Claim the Bonus Content:
  1. Order The Expectation Gap from your preferred online retailer or local bookstore. Save your receipt!
  2. Submit your email address and order receipt number in the form below.

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VIDEO SERIES

 In The Expectation Gap Video Study, pastor and systems theorist Steve Cuss shows us how to notice stuck patterns that keep us trapped and how we can break free to engage God at a deeper and more fulfilling level.

Expectation Gap Pre-Order

Sessions and video run times:
  1. Gaps and Traps (15:22)
  2. Our False Reality (32:04)
  3. Relaxing into God's Presence (22:26)
  4. Gap 1: God's Particular Love (34:39)
  5. Containing the Inner Critic (16:49)
  6. Gap 2: God's Visceral Presence (37:08)
  7. Addressing Chronic Anxiety (17:06)
  8. Gap 3: My Spiritual Progress (32:56)
  9. Replacing Unhealthy Assumptions (22:58)
  10. Home and Shalom (31:24)

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PRAISE FOR EXPECTATION GAP

"This is the most helpful book I’ve read in my thirty-five years of ministry when it comes to recognizing, naming, and bridging the gap between what we believe about God and what we experience from God. Steve has given us practical tools to identify deeply held patterns, beliefs, and habits that hold us back from truly encountering God, inspiring us to do the work so we can experience the fullness of love, joy, and peace that is ours in Christ."

CHRISTINE CAINE

Founder of A21 and Propel Women

"If you’ve ever felt like there’s more to explore in your relationship with God, you’re probably correct. In these pages, Steve Cuss, a trusted guide for many leaders, reveals the missing pieces you’ve been searching for."

CAREY NIEUWHOF

Bestselling author of At Your Best, podcaster, and founder of the Art of Leadership Academy

"Steve Cuss’s new book is a welcome addition to the literature that applies systems theory to everyday life and growth. I found myself laughing and being pierced with truth—all at the same time as I read this fresh, practical, and playful book. If you seek to understand these important concepts while using the tools Steve offers, I have no doubt you will experience growth, transformation, and a new freedom you may have never thought possible."

RUTH HALEY BARTON

Author of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership and founder of Transforming Center

"Steve Cuss has a remarkable ability to meet us right where we’re stuck and point the way to freedom. The Expectation Gap will be immensely helpful for anyone longing to experience God more fully and seeking to become aware of major obstacles along the path."

CHUCK DEGROAT

Author of When Narcissism Comes to Church, and professor of pastoral care at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan

"Steve Cuss is a reliable guide and a trustworthy friend who has helped me navigate the relational dynamics of life and leadership. By means of astute diagnostics and precise tools, Cuss helps us name and close the gaps in our experience of God. The result is a beautiful journey to the heart’s true home—the presence of a loving God."

GLENN PACKIAM

Lead pastor, Rockharbor Church, and author of The Resilient Pastor and The Intentional Year

"Through his candid sharing of personal struggles and the breakthroughs that transformed his pastoral ministry, Steve offers not just empathy but practical tools to bridge the gap between our intellectual beliefs and our heart’s experience. As a fellow traveler on this journey, I believe The Expectation Gap will be a beacon of hope for many, illuminating a path to experiencing the peace, freedom, and love promised in Christ."

TARA BETH LEACH

Pastor and author of Emboldened

"Steve is speaking to a fundamental challenge that most Christians face but are rarely honest about—the distance between what we profess to be true about God and our actual experience of those truths. With his trademark, straight-to-the point clarity, he illuminates hidden dynamics that stunt our personal growth, which is why we regularly tell our friends, family, and peers, 'If you aren’t reading Steve Cuss, you should be.'"

IKE AND SHARON MILLER

PhDs, authors and pastors of Bright City Church in Durham, North Carolina

"Too often our daily experience doesn’t live up to the miraculous, life- changing, world-shaking faith we see in Scripture, and so we feel far from God. Steve Cuss reveals how our experience of God can be derailed by our own baggage, narratives, and expectations and offers honest, practical tools to imagine the possibility that God has gone nowhere. Thank you, Steve, for helping us get out of our own way . . . and God’s."

MANDY SMITH

Pastor and author of The Vulnerable Pastor

Meet the Author

Steve Cuss
STEVE CUSS is a pastor, former chaplain, the podcast host of Being Human, part of the Christianity Today podcast network, and author of Managing Leadership Anxiety. His organization, Capable Life helps people lower reactivity in the workplace and homeplace. Steve, his wife, Lisa, and two sons and a daughter live in Erie, Colorado.
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