A review by mrshharrold
Letters to the Church by Francis Chan

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 - 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What do you think of when you think ‘church’?

Francis Chan explored church as the Bride of Christ, and that being the title, what are the implications for the leaders of the church, the everyday churchgoer, and the role of the Holy Spirit. In this book Chan shares a lot of his experiences talking with leaders of the worldwide church, but also reflecting on his own experience, as well as what the early church looked like. He encourages the reader to wrestle with modern church structure, the intentions behind what the church does, and whether it is even biblical in the first place. He gives a big focus to spiritual gifts and cares more about building up the faith and mission of the church than trying to make it look good, or please people.

Personal Reflection: I found this book challenging, though I am not a leader of a church it is still applicable in many ways. There are chapters that can feel like they were only written for leaders of churches, but as a whole any Christian could pick this up and read it. Chan spoke very clearly from God’s Word and shows true passion for Jesus Christ and His mission. His focus mainly is for those who read the book to keep their eyes fixed on Christ and the mission set before them. Church is not there for our selfish desires but rather for us to serve Christ, to encourage believers in faith, and to bring more believers into the Kingdom. At times it is hard to get out of our modern western world mindset of church, so there are times it hits hard what is said and shared, especially his experiences in Asia, talking with Christian’s going through persecution with such utter joy. Our world can seem so different from this, but maybe we just don’t have the same urgency to share the gospel, and live for and like Christ.