Letters to the Church

by Francis Chan

The early church didn’t need the energetic music, great videos, attractive leaders, or elaborate lighting to be excited about being a part of God’s body. The pure gospel was enough to put them in a place of awe.

Honoring traditions made the Pharisees feel like they were obeying God when they actually weren’t.

As long as I have been alive, church attendance has been in decline (compared with overall population growth).1 So it’s not surprising to see well-intentioned pastors trying to make the Church more popular. But this is actually an old game that has never worked out well.

Alan Hirsch explained his experience with building a megachurch in Australia: “If you have to use marketing and the lures of entertainment to attract people, then you will have to keep them there on the [same] principle because that is what people buy in to.… Win them with entertainment, and you have to keep them there by entertaining them. For a whole lot of reasons, this commitment seems to get harder year after year. We end up creating a whip for our own backs.”3

We’re not doing people any favors by pretending they are the center of the universe. Either people will be awed by the sacred or they will not. If the sacred is not enough, then it is clear that the Spirit has not done a work in their lives. If the sheep don’t hear His voice, let them walk away. Don’t call out with your own voice.

If prayer isn’t vital for your church, then your church isn’t vital.

It’s no secret that most people who attend church services come as consumers rather than servants.

While many pastors boast of how many children sit under their care, doesn’t it make more sense to boast of how many have graduated from their care?