Letters to the Church

by Francis Chan

Social media gives everyone a voice, so everyone chooses to raise theirs. Voices are plentiful; followers are not. Strong opinions are applauded; humility is not.

Typically when I speak at a conference, there is a countdown clock letting me know how much time I have remaining on the stage. Sometimes I pretend that the clock is a countdown of my life. I imagine that I’ll be standing face-to-face with God when that timer expires. This gives me courage to say everything I think He would want me to say.

Don’t try to solve the mystery; just stare at it.

Herein lies the danger of clamoring for attention: we don’t realize that true joy comes from the opposite.

Your existence didn’t begin at conception. You began in the mind of God before the foundation of this earth.

you and I are part of a brilliant plan that started before planet Earth and continues beyond it. This is why self-deprecation is as wicked as slandering God’s Church. We are belittling the creation of something God has planned and crafted.

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

there is something deep in you that would love to pray intensely with like-minded people, hoping to see a supernatural response.

Mike Breen said, “Most of us have become quite good at the church thing. And yet, disciples are the only thing that Jesus cares about, and it’s the only number that Jesus is counting. Not our attendance or budget or buildings.”4

We pat ourselves on the back when we can showcase some happy families with virgin children who don’t swear.

It is hard for the average person to reconcile why a group of people supposedly filled with God’s Spirit, able to speak with the Creator of the universe, would need gimmicks.

It is of far greater importance that we have better Christians than that we have more of them.”

The Church was supposed to be a breeding ground for pastors and elders. Every church should be equipping people and sending them out.

“In America, pastors think they have to become famous to have a big impact. In China, the most influential Christian leaders had to be the most hidden.”

Pastors who are not drawn to prayer should not be pastors.

We are to be parents, not babysitters.

The goal of a good pastor is to raise up good pastors.

Churches are filled with children who never grow up to become parents. And they’re not expected to.

training them to leave

I now want to know I can drop off any member of my church in a city and that person could grow in Jesus, make disciples, and start a church.

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?

Alan Hirsch said, “In so many churches the mission of the church has actually become the maintenance of the institution itself.”2

I think we would be surprised by how much more we would experience if we had less. Imagine if the Church purged until all that was left was a group of people with a Bible, a cup, and some bread.