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    Letters to the Church: Study Guide
    Letters to the Church: Study Guide
    Letters to the Church: Study Guide
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    Letters to the Church: Study Guide

    By Francis Chan

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    What does God want for His Church? For your church?

    Building on each of the nine chapters of his latest book, Letters to the Church, Francis Chan urges Christ-followers to

    • ask honest questions about the structure and values of our churches;
    • study God’s commands for the body of Christ;
    • pray in expectation of the Spirit’s power; and
    • get excited about doing whatever it takes to be the Church God desires.

    Journey with those around you—in your community, your church, or your small group—and take intentional steps toward living out the biblical principles that fueled a world-changing movement. Don’t settle for just going to church. Be the Church. With the Letters to the Church Study Guide, be challenged and guided to passionately pursue Christ and His magnificent, beautiful vision for His Bride.

    Designed to be used with the Letters to the Church Video Series (available separately).

    This interactive study guide includes a free QR code and URL to access all nine videos, plus additional content for engaging study as a group or on your own. To aid you in your planning, following are the session titles and video run times:
     
    1          The Departure             9:48
    2          Sacred                         8:31
    3          The Order                    7:35
    4          The Gang                     6:49
    5          Servants                      8:09
    6          Good Shepherds         8:07
    7          Crucified                      6:18
    8          Unleashed                   6:43
    9          Church Again               4:10
     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid C Cook
    Release dateSep 1, 2018
    ISBN9780830776276
    Letters to the Church: Study Guide
    Author

    Francis Chan

    Francis Chan is the best-selling author of Crazy Love and the host of the BASIC.series. Francis is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California and the founder of Eternity Bible College. He also sits on the board of directors of Children’s Hunger Fund and World Impact. Francis now lives in Northern California with his wife, Lisa, and their four daughters and one son.

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    • 5/5
      Francis Chan is a writer and speaker at Christian conferences who recently left the church that he'd started and grown into a megachurch to move his family to Asia and start working with churches there. In his latest book (2018), he writes directly to the church, addressing issues he sees as ways in with the American churches have fallen away from the commands of God in the New Testament - treating the Church as the sacred Bride of Christ or having a servant attitude or how we treat children in our services. Each chapter is a "letter" addressing a different aspect, written with humility and the hope of self-examination in anyone who reads it.What if what we think of as "church" has it all wrong? What should church really look like, and what have we missed by adding all the trappings of tradition to our services? I have a lot to ponder and to address in my own life about my attitude towards my church and my fellow believers. Am I a person who complains about what's not right? Do I treat the Church as sacred, and my leaders with proper humility? I'm also a teacher - how do I approach what I do and say, and how am I training up people to be leaders as well? I don't have definite answers, but I appreciate the chance to reexamine some things in the church I've taken for granted and wonder what I need to change.

    Book preview

    Letters to the Church - Francis Chan

    At David C Cook, we equip the local church around the corner and around the globe to make disciples. Come see how we are working together—go to www.davidccook.com. Thank you!

    LETTERS TO THE CHURCH

    STUDY GUIDE

    LETTERS TO THE CHURCH STUDY GUIDE

    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 epigraphs are excerpted from Francis Chan, Letters to the Church (Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2018).

    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.

    ISBN 978-0-8307-7582-8

    eISBN 978-0-8307-7627-6

    © 2018 Crazy Love Ministries

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

    Cover Design: Jim Elliston

    Special thanks to Laura Derico and the Crazy Love Team.

    First Edition 2018

    CONTENTS

    Introduction: Getting Started

    1. The Departure

    2. Sacred

    3. The Order

    4. The Gang

    5. Servants

    6. Good Shepherds

    7. Crucified

    8. Unleashed

    9. Church Again

    One Another Verses in the New Testament

    About the Author

    Introduction

    GETTING STARTED

    God intends to change the world through the local church. The early church in the book of Acts was such a powerful force because the people were united in their pursuit of God’s mission for the Church. They structured things around what they understood to be God’s greatest desires for His Church. They were devoted to prayer, the apostles’ teachings, one another, and Communion.

    So many modern churches have strayed so far from this vision. This should break your heart. If we want to see revival in the Church, we are going to have to love her enough to press into these issues and not compromise when it gets hard. God wants to bring healing and renewal and a fresh outpouring of His Spirit on us. These are exciting times. God is moving, and there are a lot of people ready for reform.

    Take a minute to dream about this. What if in our lifetime we could see the Church of God more excited about prayer, studying the Word, fellowship, and Communion than they are about a really good worship band, a well-crafted sermon, or great programs? What if we could see a Church where the majority are using their gifts to build up others rather than sitting passively for years only consuming? What if the great majority of the Church were thinking about how to use their time, resources, and lives for the furthering of the gospel rather than the furthering of their name or temporary lives here? If you are not yet committed to this dream, hopefully by the end of this process you will be. What better goal is there to give your life to?

    This study is for electricians, nurses, teachers, kids, homeless people, cops, engineers, stay-at-home moms, church staff, tech people, and city workers. Being passionate about the Church has nothing to do with whether you work for a church. Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king (Neh. 1:11). He was more of a common worker, unlike Ezra, who was a scribe and priest (Ezra 7:11). Yet God burdened Nehemiah for the state of God’s people and Jerusalem so much that he went back to rebuild the walls and God used him mightily. On top of that, in the New Testament we are all called a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9). We are all workers in the church. God has called you to passionate, deep, full commitment to beautifying His body and Bride, regardless of age, gender, vocation, or anything else. Through this study you will be challenged to think and pray through what that would look like.

    HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS GUIDE

    In these sessions, we will be breaking down some of the material discussed in the book Letters to the Church. To get the most out of this study, read through the corresponding chapter as you go through each session. Your experience can also be enhanced by using the material provided in the Letters to the Church Video Series. Each of these resources can stand alone, but they will be most effective together. Most importantly, it is essential for everyone to be reading this with a Bible on hand. Ultimately, the purpose of this study and the book is to point us back to the Bible and cause us to fall in love with God’s original design for the Church.

    USING THE STUDY GUIDE ON YOUR OWN

    Whether you are doing this study with a group or as an

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