Francis Chan - Letters to the Church

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LETTERS TO THE CHURCH

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

Integrity Music Limited, a Division of David C Cook

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2018942853

ISBN 978-0-8307-7658-0

eISBN 978-0-8307-7583-5

2018 Crazy Love Ministries

The Team: Wendi Lord, Amy Konyndyk, Nick Lee, Rachael Stevenson, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: Jim Elliston

First Edition 2018

There were many people who contributed to this book, who helped me wrestle through everything from theology to logic to grammar. It was definitely a group effort, like most things in my life now.

Thanks mostly to the elders of We Are Church, who prayed faithfully for me: Kevin Kim, Kevin Shedden, Justin Clark, Rob Zabala, Sean Brakey, and Pira Tritasavit. You have modeled intimacy with Christ, and that has helped me prioritize the most important thing in life.

Special thanks to the writing team: Mark Beuving, who helped me edit and formulate thoughts once again; Kevin, Karmia, and Jeanne for helping structure the book; Sean for taking the time to strengthen some of my thoughts; Liz for freeing up my life, even though you quit on me. Last but not least, thanks to Mercy Chan, who saved me at the end. Who would have thought that my weirdest child would end up being so helpful?

Thanks to all the pastors at We Are Church for faithfully shepherding and loving the people: Denys Maslov, Nate Connelly, Joe Pemberton, David Manison, Chaz Meyers, Paul Meyers, Brian Kusunoki, Aaron Robison, Peter Gordon, Marcus Hung, Jon Kurien, Angel Velarde, Marcus Bailey, David Schaeffer, Ryan Takasugi, Isaiah Pekary, Matt Shiraki, Al Cortes, Kevin Lin, Brandon Miller, Felipe Anguiano, and Kent McCormick.

Thanks to Jim Elliston, who had to design two different covers for me since I changed the title.

Thanks to the media and digital marketing volunteers, who gave up many hours to help with this project.

Thanks to David C Cook for being the most supportive publisher and partner one can dream of.

Thanks to Paul Chan for keeping everything running smoothly at the office so I could be freed up to write.

Thanks to my wonderful wife, Lisa, who never complained about my busyness over the past few months. And to Ellie, Zeke, Claire, and Silas for being great and patient kids while Dad was writing.

Imagine you find yourself stranded on a deserted island with nothing but a copy of the Bible. You have no experience with Christianity whatsoever, and all you know about the Church will come from your reading of the Bible. How would you imagine a church to function? Seriously. Close your eyes for two minutes and try to picture Church as you would know it.

Now think about your current church experience. Is it even close?

Can you live with that?

Eight years have passed since I left Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, yet people are still asking me the same question: Why?

Why did you leave a church that was doing great things? Why would you leave all those people you loved?

Why did you leave the country when you seemed to be gaining influence? Did your beliefs change? Do you still love the Church?

You built a megachurch, started a college, wrote bestselling books, had a huge podcast following, and then you suddenly walked away from it all and moved your family to Asia. It just doesnt make sense!

While I am anxious to share what God has been teaching me recently, its probably helpful to share about how God led me in the past. I want to clear up any confusion and give some insight on why I am writing this book.

First let me say that my years in Simi Valley were so good. I am literally smiling as I type this. I spent over sixteen years as pastor of Cornerstone, so my mind is filled with both hilarious and meaningful memories. So many faces come to mind, deep friendships, spiritual moments, and periods of awe over the things God was doing. I believe I will be spending eternity with many people who fell in love with Jesus during those years. Nothing can ever take that away.

In 1994, when I was twenty-six years old, I decided to plant a church. It wasnt something I planned on doing. After all, I had been married for less than a month. Lisa and I were having a rough time at our church. The elders and the lead pastor had been fighting, which eventually led to the pastors removal. The members were also fighting as they were divided on who was more wrong: the elders or the pastor. Everyone was discouraged by all the division. Sundays were far from uplifting, and I couldnt see how any of this could be pleasing to God. It was at that time I told my new bride I had a crazy idea: What if we started a church out of our house?

Even if there were only a dozen people in our living room, wouldnt it be better than what we had been experiencing? Lisa agreed, and so began Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley.

I was determined to create something different from what I had experienced before. This was my chance to build exactly the kind of church I wanted to be part of. I basically had three goals in mind. First, I wanted all of us to sing directly to God. And I mean really sing. Im not talking about going through the motions of singing out of routine or guilt. Have you ever been part of a group of people actually singing directly to God? Singing with reverence and emotion? Singing as though God is really listening to their voices? That is a powerful experience, and I wanted it to be central to our new church.

Second, I wanted all of us to really hear the Word of God. We werent going to be those people who gather together to listen to some self-help nonsense, nor were we going to ignore half the Bible. I wanted us to dig deeply into Scriptureeven the passages that contradicted our logic and desires. I wanted the presentation of Gods truth to be powerful, and I wanted us to take it seriously. So I began to preach week after week, verse by verse through the Bible. We all set out to truly hear everything the Word of God was saying to us.

And finally, I wanted all of us to live holy lives. I had seen too many Christians packed into too many churches who seemed to have no interest in actually doing what the Bible said. I couldnt get past the tragic irony of this. 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), but they never seemed to do anything. Not that I was perfect or expected anyone else to be, but I wanted our church to be a group of people who pushed one another toward action. It didnt make sense to teach the Scriptures without expecting change. So from the very beginning, we challenged one another to action.