At a glance: this is a 9-week study and discussion guide for Forgotten God by Francis Chan, with 64 questions organized by reading assignment. Week 1 is free to read, with no card required.
Francis Chan's Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (2009) begins with a disarmingly honest question: if the Holy Spirit were completely removed from your church, would anyone notice? Chan argues that most Western Christianity has domesticated, ignored, or quietly sidelined the third person of the Trinity — and that this neglect is not a minor omission but a catastrophic loss. The book is a passionate, pastoral call to recover a living, dangerous, transforming relationship with the Spirit of God — not as a theological concept, but as a personal, powerful divine presence who was promised to believers and who makes the Christian life actually possible.
This study guide is designed for use in small groups or individual study over eight weeks. Each week, read the assigned chapter before your meeting or study time, then work through the discussion questions — ideally journaling your personal responses before sharing with your group. The questions move from comprehension (what did Chan actually say?) to personal application (where does this show up in my life?) to theological reflection (how does this connect to the gospel and the bigger story of Scripture?). Each week closes with a prayer drawn directly from the chapter's themes. Whether you are new to thinking about the Holy Spirit or have wrestled with these questions for years, the goal is the same: not just to understand the Spirit better, but to surrender to Him more fully.
By the end of this guide, you should expect to have confronted some uncomfortable gaps between the church described in the New Testament and your current experience; to have wrestled honestly with fear, skepticism, or overemphasis that may have distorted your view of the Spirit; and to have taken at least a few concrete steps toward a life genuinely led, empowered, and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Chan's hope — and ours in creating this guide — is not that you finish the book with better doctrine, but that you finish with a hungrier, more surrendered heart.