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Recently I read a book by one of my favorite pastors, Francis Chan, called "Letters To The Church". Francis Chan was a pastor of a mega church when he left it all behind to minister to the world in a way God called him to. Through reading this book I now have a different outlook on The Church and through this post I plan to share some of the key points from his book, I encourage everyone to read this book in its entirety!
The biggest takeaway from the book is that the church today is not what God describes as the church in the Bible, and as Chan says if you dont believe me read it for yourself. Many people pack into churches only to fulfill their 90 minute duty of being a Christian and then they go back home and live unaffected until the next sunday rolls around. "These people would come back week after week to hear from a Book that demands that they 'be doers of the word, and not hearers only' (James 1:22)". Many churches aren't pushing for or expecting change so sermons end up being empty words to large groups. "The early church didn't need the energetic music, great videos, attractive leaders, or elaborate lighting to be excited about being part of God's body. The pure gospel was enough to put them in a place of awe." Chan continues "Aren't you at least a little embarrassed that you have needed the extra stuff? It's not all your fault. For decades church leaders like myself have lost sight of the powerful mystery inherent in the Church and have instead run to other methods to keep people interested. In all honesty, we have trained you to become addicted to lesser things. We have cheapened something sacred, and we must repent."
The Bible states that everyone has a spiritual gift, everyone! We often go to church and don't use them, there are more people who silence their gift than make their gift known. We can use our gifts in church and outside of church; many think of being a Christian as just simply believing in God and becoming a member of a church but then after that they turn into sitting ducks! Why aren't more people living out their faith? Why aren't we ministering to the poor, to people we know are lost, why aren't we praying for others, why aren't we helping those in need, why aren't we having meaningful conversations? Yes its easier said than done but when was the last time you did any of this? I'm guilty myself.
The church is losing more and more people each day. "The Church has real issues, but Jesus still refers to the Church as His Body, His Bride! We must love His Bride, not gripe about her or leave her." It's ironic that some people leave the Church because some people want something more than what churches nowadays have to offer. "They love Jesus but have a hard time finding the connection between what they read in Scripture and what they experience in the Church." The Church is made up of the believers on this earth, but we tend to focus more on the building itself. Along with this "Many want to change the Church, but it is often motivated by personal preference rather than biblical conviction." When we make changes or have disputes on what a church should and shouldn't have we are often putting our wants first. The older generation likes a choir, the newer generation likes a band; the older generation wants to dress up, the newer generation wants to be casual; churches are expected to provide coffee, some have a starbucks on the inside; do you see how we are losing God's vision by adding unnecessary stuff!? Chan makes an example in his book about opening a healthy juice bar that doesn't make a lot of money. But one day when toppings like whip cream and candy pieces are added the drinks are being sold out, but at what point should Chan take "healthy" out of the title. When are we making church about us and not about God?
"We live in a human-centered world among people who see themselves as the highest authority. We are quick to say things like 'That isn't fair!' because we believe we deserve certain rights as humans. Yet we give little thought to the rights God deserves as God." We often to fail to hold awe and reverence for God and things that are sacred to God. For example when we treat prayer, worship, or His Holy Communion like an obligation we aren't giving respect to God and we are coming into His presence selfishly. God sent us the Holy Spirit so that we could have constant communication with Him and we can pray and worship Him to experience Him to truly truly feel and connect with Him not to just go with the motions to say we are a Christian.
God has a clear order for what He wants in the church and we "In the spirit of Cain, we bring an offering we think He should accept rather than what He actually asked for." If you were at a restaurant and ordered a sandwich but they gave you tacos regardless if they were good or not it was not what you ordered. Chan does this exercise with his church leaders where he asks them to write a list of what people expect from a "good church" and most people list things like "really good service, strong age specific ministries, a certain style/volume/length of singing,... conviences... such as coffee, childcare, etc." Then Chan has them list what the Bible commands the Church "love one another as I have loved you John 15:12, Visit orphans and widows in their affliction James 1:27, Make disciples of all nations Matt 28:19, Bear one anothers burdens Gal 6:2" Chan then asks his leaders if the church was missing one list which one would the members be more upset about, the answers are telling that we are losing the vision of God's Church. We are complaining about song choices, dress, absence of Sunday school while we are not sharing our faith in months and not taking the Lord's Supper seriously. We have succeeded in getting people in the Church doors by entertainment, but once we do that we have to keep on entertaining them just to keep them! We should focus on the quality of Christians we are putting out into the world and not the quantity. "Rather than producing powerful and fearless missonaries who go to the ends of the earth, we are left with thirtysomethings who live in their parents' basements and complain about not having a singles group. After all, how can a Christian possibly survive outside a singles' cage with weekly feedings?"
I believe in God being the one true God and the creator of the Universe, while many mock my beliefs God tells us that that is to be expected, but at the same time some of what we have turned to is laughable. Chan illustrates, think about Muslims they are very devoted to their religion, they are are willing to die, they pray multiple times a day, their food is sacred etc. now think if they were to have raffles at their gathering for ipads and have skating rinks built for their churches. Doesn't that sound ridiculous? From the outside that is how many non-believers view Christianity, like some do good clubs with games and music. When we make changes to the Church "we pursue what we want; then we make sure there are no biblical commands we are violating" instead of making sure that what is important to God is important in the Church. "Ignorance feels better than disobedience."
I love the analogies and ancedotes Chan uses in his book because it puts the situation of the Church into forms that we know what we would do in that moment. Chan used the example of the Church being like a birthday party with different things to offer. Say he threw a birthday party for his daughter where only cake was offered and her friends could sit around and talk and hang out with her, his daughter said probably only a few friends would show; on the other hand if Chan rented out the whole Dave and Busters for her with unlimited food and tokens she said the whole school would probably show up. When we offer only the Word of God less people may be attracted but their faith will be deeper and they can go out and spread the Word to others compared to a packed Church will shallow faiths who aren't spreading the Gospel. "Just as God said through Malachi, there will always be those who will worship Him wholeheartedly. He's not desperate. However, it is His desire for all His children to experience the fullness of Him through the Church, and He has given us His Word to show us how." Think about that again, God is not desperate! I don't think we realize this, yes we want to share the gospel with everyone but its more than just bringing a friend to church; its sharing the truth of the Word with them, living out faith as an example, holding others accountable in their faith, and it's about sending people out to make more disciples! Churches have become hungry like huge fishing nets and instead of making believers and sending them out we are collecting huge masses of fish, we are recruiting not sending people out! Along with this "We must stay aware of the billions who have never heard the gospel even once. We can't just focus on more creative ways to deliver the gospel to those who have already rejected it a dozen times."
As the world becomes more custom to sin we are likely to do the same. When we hear a friend or an acquaitance doing something that we know is not right, how often do we talk to them and hold them accountable rather than just laughing it off and looking the other way. Sin is so common in our world today that people are used to it and have become desensitized to the fact that we are disobeying God and putting a strain on our relationship with Him. Sin is what separates us from God!
Think about all of the Christians in the world, all of the churches in the world, and then think about what we are doing in America. It is so clearly different from what others are doing that its shocking! It is a huge blessing that people in America aren't being persecuted for their faith, but that isn't the only difference! Other countries pray to go to the most dangerous places to share their faith and they pray for suffering because that's what Jesus went through, and we like to be comfortable in our Church "homes" and we never venture out. In Churches we don't even teach all parts of the Bible! We teach what's easy to teach and what others want to hear, we don't teach the parts that seem scary or the parts that are controversal but those are the ones that people need to hear, people need to hear the whole truth! We shouldn't worry if our message will offend people because we should want what God wants. Instead of thinking how much will I hurt people with my faith think about how much you are hurting them if you don't share your faith. Hell is a lot of hurt, more than we could ever know. If we aren't teaching everything in the Bible we are lowering our expectations of Christians. In other countries children learn about God and are immersed in worship, teachings, prayer, just like an adult would be while in America we try to dumb it down a little. Our children can take more than we think! Puppet shows and crafts are fun, but we should want our children to really experience God, it doesn't have to be something for when they are older. And even when they are older how many churches put an emphasis on to not drink or smoke but then say nothing about bullying, gossiping, and not spreading the word or being examples to non-believers.
The following are some points Chan thinks we should see in Churches today.
"Devoted Worshippers. We want to be people who are committed to Worshipping God, people who can't get enough of Him, not people who worship only when it is convenient or when the right people are leading. It must be the Object of our worship that makes worshipping exciting to us.
Loving families. We want to be people who love one another deeply and show this by how we sacrifice for one another. Our goal is not merely get along but to love one another to the extent that Christ loved us and to be united to the extent that the Father is one with the Son
Equipped Disciple Makers. We want everyone trained up to make disciples. No one should come as a consumer, but we need everyone to come as a servant using his or her gifts to build up the body.
Spirit filled missionairies...
Suffering Sojourners. We want to be people who are eagerly waiting for the return of Christ. We are willing and want to suffer because we believe in heavenly rewards. Far from seeking comfort, we thrive on hardship, refusing to become citizens of this earth...
Daily Bible Readings. We want people to be obsessed with Jesus. We believe the most effective way of cultivating this is by spending time alone with God in the scriptures daily...
Meet in Homes. There are more than fifty 'one another' commands that call us to care for one another in a supernatural way. God wants meaningful interactions when we gather...
Elder Authority... God designed His Church to function under the leadership and humble, service oriented authority of elders (1 Peter 5:1-4)...
Everyone Discipled. It is the Church's responsibility to bring people to maturity (Eph. 4:11-16)... We expect every member to have a more mature believer shepherding him or her toward maturity and greater holiness.
Everyone Disciples. Jesus rose from the dead and then commanded His followers to make disciples (Matt. 28:16-20)...
Everyone Exercises Gifts... (1 Cor. 12:7)
Regular Multiplication of Churches. We must stay focused on reaching those who don't know Jesus (Acts 1:8)...
Share Possessions. 'And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need' (Acts 2:44-45). The early church was known for how they cared for one another. They focused on eternity and cared little about earthly possessions...
Assume Missions. God wants to be worshipped by every nation and language (Rev. 7:9-10). There are still billions who have never heard the gospel..."
The last take away I got from this book is Chan has decided to have what he calls "church bnb", this idea is having at home churches that are small but powerful. Everyone has a home, even if we tried there are not enough churches to fit the whole population of earth, but evcryone has a home. If we have worship, teaching, prayer, and fellowship at home with a group of people we can send those people to start a group at their home. Everyone knows at least one non-believer, many of us know a plethora! Some pastors tell their congregation that they can stay for five years but after that they must leave because there is nothing else they can learn from him. If you want a true relationship with God you aren't going to get there just by going in a church sitting down and listening to a preacher; you need to read His Word and talk to Him in prayer. By participating in Church bnb many may feel less anxious since they dont have to go to a church building, we also wouldn't be putting money toward waterbills and lighting and stage setup and everything else a church building consists of, but could put that money towards ministering to the poor, buying food for the homeless, acts of service to the widowed or the elderly, missions, etc.
Overall this book has opened my eyes to issues concerning the church, but we aren't to gripe at the church! Lets make change in a way that God wants and lets teach believers the truth in a way that honors our God.