Letters to the Church by Francis Chan
Week 2: Chapter 1 — "Sacred"
Read Chapter 1 of Letters to the Church. Primary passages: Ephesians 5:25–27; 1 Corinthians 3:16–17; 1 Peter 2:9–10.
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Chan's first letter is a call to recover a sense of the sacred — to feel again the weight and wonder of being the Church of the living God. Let these questions help you examine whether that sense of awe has gone quiet in your own heart.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Chan opens by asserting that the Church is sacred — set apart, holy, precious to God in a way that nothing else on earth is. How does this land on you? Does the word "sacred" feel like a natural description of your church experience, or does it feel like a stretch?
2.He draws on Ephesians 5 and the image of the Church as Christ's Bride to argue that we cannot treat the Church casually without dishonoring Christ Himself. How does the Bride metaphor change the way you think about church attendance, church commitment, or church criticism?
3.Chan challenges the tendency to church-hop or to treat church like a vendor relationship — going where our preferences are best served. What does he argue is at the root of this tendency, and do you think his diagnosis is fair?
a.Have you ever left a church primarily for preference-based reasons? Looking back, how do you evaluate that decision?
b.What would it look like to choose a church the way you choose a family rather than the way you choose a restaurant?
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