Back when I got more serious about my Christian faith, I happened upon Francis Chan and started listening to his sermons. I had at least 90 downloaded and I listened to all of them. I really enjoyed Chan’s passion for Jesus and his willingness to stick to Scripture and challenge the status quo. In Letters to the Church, he does the same.
Chan opens the book discussing why he left his “megachurch” several years ago and uses that as a baseline for most of his discussion. He speaks humbly, yet with conviction about issues that he has struggled with in modern day churches and Christians, especially in the West.
There were parts of the book where I felt that he thought that Christians on the Eastern side of the globe were perfect. Obviously, he doesn’t think that, but he does highly value that community. There is, of course, good reason too. If I could pick one thing that impacted me most, it would be the fear of suffering. Christians fear suffering in the US. We fear suffering through traffic on the way to small group. We fear suffering by missing football to go to church. We fear suffering by not singing the songs we want at church. Chan hammers this point home. Jesus told there would be suffering! We should not be seeking out suffering for its own sake; however, I think we need to strongly evaluate whether we are willing to sacrifice our witness as Christians in order to avoid suffering (see politics).
I give Letters to the Church another 4 out of 5. Chan is always a good person to help orient yourself. I advise you to get a copy and do that yourself!