Letters to the Church

by Francis Chan

  Simple Gatherings. The early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). We want the same. We want believers excited to break bread and wonder at the mystery of His body. We want people thrilled to come before a holy God in prayer. So we work hard to keep from adding elements to our gatherings that could distract us from what we must be devoted to.

  Share Possessions. “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44–45). The early church was known for how they cared for one another. They focused on eternity and cared little about earthly possessions. We joyfully share our resources as we learn of needs locally and around the world (2 Cor. 8:1–15).

  Assume Missions. God wants to be worshipped by every nation and language (Rev. 7:9–10). There are still billions who have never heard the gospel.3 For this reason, we ask everyone to consider going to unreached people groups. Rather than assuming you are staying until you hear a word from God, it seems more biblical to assume you are going unless you believe God called you to stay.

  I don’t believe we have found the solution for the future church, only a solution. But the changes we’ve made have felt more like the New Testament Church than anything I’ve ever encountered in the States. Again, I’m not trying to push the model we’ve been running with, but I do think we’d all benefit from innovative thinking where we jump back to the essentials, forget about “what we’ve always done,” and ask what expressions of Church God wants to see in our setting.

  WHY GO SMALL?

  I believe God is leading a movement in this country toward simple, smaller gatherings, and I long to see this movement gain greater traction. I get so excited when I dream about the Church spreading in small, invigorating expressions that look and feel like the early church. My goal is to get you dreaming about this as well.

  Recently the president of a well-known missions agency was sharing his concerns about the current state of missions. His burden was that we have been sticking to our old methods even though the unreached world has changed. Why are we still training missionaries to build churches when most of the unreached live in countries where it is illegal to plant a church? He shared about the desperate need for Christians to have an impact on closed countries. The only way this can happen is if we expand our narrow church experience. Our parameters for church expression must revert back to what is biblical rather than sticking to what is normal at this cultural moment. If we continue to promote a model where people flood to a church building to congregate around a preacher, how do we expect to reach the billions of people who live where that model is illegal?

  If our missionaries have to reject everything we’ve ever taught them about Church in order to reach another country, are we confident what we’re doing here is best? Whether or not you believe smaller gatherings are the best method of church planting in the States, pretty much everyone agrees it’s the only way to plant churches in many countries. But how do we expect to successfully send people to plant churches if their only experience is the traditional model?

  A CASE FOR CHURCHBNB

  One leader I talked to used the Hyatt hotel chain as an illustration. In 2015 Hyatt had 97,000 employees.4 By contrast, Airbnb had 2,300.5 Yet Airbnb had far more rooms available than Hyatt! In fact, three years later they have more rooms available than the top five hotel chains combined!6 How did they do this? They put the hotel industry into the hands of the everyday person. Not everyone has the ability to raise tens of millions of dollars to buy land and build a luxury hotel. But anyone with a smartphone can now rent out a room in his or her house. They rapidly grew to four million listings without building a single facility!

  The Church needs to learn from this. When you’re caught in a long-standing model or structure, any alternative seems laughable. But history is full of models, companies, and inventions that became obsolete almost overnight because someone dreamed of a revolutionary new way to do something. The new thing always seems to be simpler and more efficient with fewer barriers to entry.

  So what would a revolution in church structure look like? What are the inefficiencies and unnecessary appendages we’re blind and numb to? What would happen if we put the Church back into the hands of the ordinary Christian? Could we see exponential growth at a fraction of the cost? Is Churchbnb possible?

  I believe it’s possible because it has been happening overseas for years, and it has been steadily increasing throughout the US. In San Francisco, we have been experimenting with churches led by Christians with full-time jobs. These are professionals in the workplace who pastor small churches out of their homes. These leaders can now transplant anywhere in the world without any need to raise support. They know how to work and pastor at the same time. They know how to work hard and well in the workplace while having a natural setting to build friendships with those who don’t know Jesus. This has possibilities in any city in America as well as any city on earth. Not only have we found Churchbnb to be possible, but it also provides a practical solution to many of the problems facing the traditional model of church.

  THE POTENTIAL TO GROW AND THE FREEDOM TO DECLINE

  Buildings can limit a church’s growth. If God wants to move powerfully and save thousands, they won’t fit. Buildings also limit a church’s ability to decline. If God wants to prune the church, we won’t be able to pay the bills. If our church model requires God to work within a narrow “sweet spot,” something’s wrong. I can’t tell you how much freedom I feel now that I’m ministering in a church with no salaries and no potential for any of us to be pastoring a large church. (We try to multiply our churches as soon as they hit twenty people.)

  I remember when Cornerstone moved from a two-hundred-seat sanctuary to a four-hundred-seat sanctuary. It was an exciting time. We could all fit comfortably in two services. That lasted for maybe a few months. Then came the third service, then the fourth, fifth, sixth, and satellite services. In less than a year, we were looking for more land or an expansion of our campus.

  After years of working with the city and raising funds to build a thousand-seat sanctuary, we moved in. It was an exciting time. We could all fit comfortably in two services. That lasted for a few months. Then came the third, fourth, fifth …

  Sound familiar?

  Each time I went through this, I thought to myself, There’s no way Jesus would do it this way! Would He really halt Kingdom growth until He found more land, appeased the city officials, raised money, and built a bigger place? It never made sense to me, but I couldn’t think of any other options at the time.

  We eventually decided to buy a giant plot of land and worked on plans for the three-thousand-seat meeting area. Then another problem arose in my mind. What if we spend a fortune on the huge sanctuary and thousands of people don’t show up? How would we pay the bills? Would I feel pressured to keep the sanctuary filled in order to keep the budget afloat? Then my ego gets involved. I hate empty seats. Would this cause me to avoid controversial topics and become more political? Paul told Timothy, “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Tim. 4:3). What would I do if people began to be turned off by sound doctrine? We would have wasted millions of dollars to build a sanctuary that never filled up. We’d get behind on the payments without enough satisfied givers, and we’d lose it all!

  The alternative is worse—I could preach more politically to keep the masses coming. Not to be dramatic, but I would honestly rather die. I have seriously prayed for God to take me off this earth before He allowed me to dishonor His name, and that would include teaching aimed to please the crowds rather than God Himself.

  This was hard enough in Simi Valley; now take into consideration the big cities in our nation. Have you ever tried to purchase a large building in a big city
? Price out a building that would seat a thousand people in New York City. Even if you could raise the money, the population of New York is 8,537,673.7 What’s your plan for the other 8,536,673? Let’s say the Lord wanted to save 10 percent of the city. Even if you had the billions of dollars to spend, is there room to build enough sanctuaries? Of course not!

  Meanwhile, everyone has a home. If it’s possible for a church to fit in a home, then we have an infinite number of potential churches no matter where we go. Going small is our best shot at getting big.

  If we don’t consider the possibility of multiplying smaller churches, we have given up on the big cities. We have to at least try. Our current plan shows that we don’t expect God to reach more than 1 percent of the population of the large cities. We must be open to new ways of doing things. Or we can just keep highlighting a couple of “large churches” on the covers of our Christian magazines and pretend we are making a dent.

  We all know our world is changing. If we built our current church models on a society that has now changed significantly, why do we assume we must simply keep doing what we’ve always done? Blindly insisting on our current models might not be that different from trying to maintain a Blockbuster video store in the age of Netflix. I’m obviously not arguing that we change the gospel or water down the truth. I’m simply asking us to reconsider the vehicle we use to deliver it. I’m not even trying to argue that we “keep up with the times.” I’m actually calling all of us to go back to Scripture and recover what we’ve lost. If we find ourselves lost on a detour, why not go back to the right path?

  $$$$$$$$$$

  One of the greatest advantages of this method is that it requires no budget. It can be completely free. As the churches take offerings, 100 percent of the money can go to the poor and to missions.

  From surveys I have studied, it costs on average approximately $1,000 per person annually to attend a church in America.8 That is, if you divide a church’s annual budget (say $100,000) by the number of members (say 100), it comes to $1,000 per person. Depending on location, that number goes up or down. I recently tried to help a church where it cost closer to $3,000 per person to attend. Do the math for my family of nine!

  I recognize that I grew up poor, so I have a habit of always trying to find the least expensive way of doing things. I know I can go to extremes, but even a less frugal person must have a hard time reconciling one hundred million Chinese being the Church for free while our American system costs $1,000 a head.

  This is not solely about waste; it’s also about sustainability. With each economic downturn, churches shut their doors, never to reopen. With one change to the US tax code, many churches would instantly fold. It doesn’t seem wise to champion only one structure of church that requires a strong economy or specific tax incentives. If a widespread loss of wealth could eliminate our current church expressions overnight, what does that say about our model?

  Let’s not forget that as you read this, there are heart-breaking things happening throughout our world. Families are desperately seeking clean water for survival, people are starving, kids are enslaved and being raped. These are tragedies the Church can significantly reduce if we were willing to worship more simply. The financial consideration is a major one. The goal is not saving money just to save money but to literally save lives.

  NOWHERE TO HIDE

  Another major advantage to the smaller gathering style is that it encourages people who would get lost in the background of a bigger church to come to the forefront. When people see there are no professionals, they are more likely to step up and use the gifts they have. It promotes greater levels of investment and contribution from those present if there isn’t a church staff paid to do it for them.

  Also, in a gathering of thousands of people, it would be impossible for that congregation to know one another intimately and overwhelming to try. The smaller setting naturally lends itself to greater intimacy. It also makes it possible for everyone to be discipled and for members to hold one another accountable, pray for one another by name, and live like family during the week.

  What would be a headache to attempt in the traditional model is natural in this kind of environment.

  IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE?

  From the very beginning, the Church has always needed pruning. We’ve always needed reformers and reformations to speak with the voice of the prophet, to call us back to what we were meant to be. Church history is full of reformations of all sizes that have pulled God’s people closer to God’s intention for His Church.

  After Christianity became the official state religion of Rome in the wake of Constantine (c. AD 300), the Church became a place of privilege and prestige. People would buy their way into church leadership because this was the way to gain power in society. So God raised up a group of monks who exposed the Church’s wickedness and greed by pursuing God simply and passionately.

  When the Catholic Church went so far astray in the sixteenth century that forgiveness of sins was supposedly being sold by the church and human effort was deemed necessary to salvation, God raised up Martin Luther, who himself stood in a long line of reformers like John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, to call God’s people back to a true understanding of grace. When this Reformation became too institutionalized, God raised up Anabaptists to bring reformation to a Church that had already been reformed. There are so many reform movements throughout history: the Celtics, the Moravians, the Azusa Street Revival, the Jesus People. Virtually every denomination we have today began as some sort of reform movement meant to pull the Church closer to God’s intention.

  There’s a part of me that fears becoming overly dramatic, comparing ourselves to the Moravians or Reformers. But they were just people! Why not us? I believe this generation can kill the consumer mind-set in the Church and replace it with a servant attitude that thrives on suffering for His name. There is no reason we can’t join with those who have gone before us and be the ones who restore the missional focus of the Church. What else would you rather do with your days?

  It should not feel out of the ordinary, harsh, or inappropriate to call the Church to change. Nor should we imagine that our unique expression of Church is the only one God sanctions. Instead, we should be constantly seeking renewal, being ready at any moment to discard the elements of Church that lead us away from God’s heart rather than toward it.

  Maybe you should do Churchbnb. Maybe you shouldn’t. I can’t answer that for you. My hope is simply to convince you that there are compelling ways of living as the Church that look nothing like our traditional models. My goal is to get you dreaming, to keep you from settling, to affirm that nagging sense you can’t shake that God wants something more for His Church than what you’re experiencing.

  As we have been stepping out in faith in San Francisco, we have seen encouraging signs of growth. People rarely talk about a great “sermon” but often discuss what they’ve discovered in their Bible readings. Fellowship over the Word has become normal. People regularly take hours and even days to be alone in the presence of Christ. They enjoy Him. Prayer gatherings go longer than planned, and rarely are people anxious to leave. Families are opening up their homes to others. They give away cars, possessions, and money out of love. It is perfectly normal for accomplished professionals to be best friends with ex-cons. Homeless addicts have become faithful pastors. When we gather, many come with prayer requests for people they’ve shared the gospel with that week. We recently emptied out all our church bank accounts (we actually took a picture of them all being at $0) to fund the kids’ ministry in Africa—over $300,000 was given by people who don’t have much! People are sacrificing better living conditions to move closer to the projects. Some are being slandered and betrayed yet rejoicing through it. We have around forty pastors now who work full-time jobs. They are missionaries at work and they shepherd and disciple in their free time. We have plenty of problems, but there is plenty of life.

  We seem to be seeing more and more of what pleases God most.
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br />   This takes me back to where I started this book. I have never been more in love with Jesus or the Church than I am right now. And the intimacy I’ve been experiencing with God has been directly tied to my connection with the Church. We still have so far to go, but I can honestly say my experience with the Church no longer looks drastically different from what I read about in Scripture. God does not intend for that to be the exception; it’s simply what the Church was meant to be.

  I have traveled and seen God’s Church multiply and thrive in ways I only dreamed were possible. Now I’m starting to experience it myself. But I never would have experienced this if I had given in to the powerful inertia that pulled me to fall in line with everyone else’s expectations.

  ARE YOU SURE THIS WILL WORK?

  When I talk to people about this, they always ask, “Will it work?” I don’t even know what that question means. Do they mean, “Will people show up?” Or “Will they like it?” Or more practically, “Will your church grow?”

  These are actually the wrong questions to ask. Jesus never used these things as metrics of success.

  Paul actually told Timothy that teaching sound doctrine will not “work”; in fact, it will drive people away (2 Tim. 4:1–5). Yet he was commanded to preach truth because it is what God wants!

  Remember, it’s not about what I would like, what others would like, or what “works.” Church is for Him.

  Having said that, I think we would be surprised. We may find that people are actually attracted to a group devoted to the presence of God. After all, it was enough to attract over a hundred million people to the underground church in China. It could be that God is waiting for a group of people to strip away all they think will work and devote themselves to what He commanded.