He prioritizes prayer in a way seldom seen in the modern West. According to Chan, prayer measures the heart’s attitude toward dependence upon God, as well as the spiritual vibrancy of a church. It’s difficult to read Chan’s book without also being stirred to pray more. In a microwave era, marked by the rapid consumption of information, Chan’s book helpfully calls us to linger over Scripture at a slow-cooker pace.

Despite an increasingly fast-paced culture, the Lord’s people still cannot afford to scurry over the eternal words of our God. Chan does not trust US audiences to examine biblical citations on their own time rather, he asks them to practice meditating on Scripture passages as they read through his book. Sometimes, he awkwardly encourages his readers to reread a passage they’ve just read, pointing out our common tendency to hastily skim through Scripture other times, he invites us to have “an amazing time of fellowship with Jesus” as we interact with the Scriptures he lists. He deliberately packs his book full of Scripture, insisting that his readers slowly examine the words of the Bible as they consider the state of the modern church. However, I would suggest that Chan’s book also tends to idealize the early and persecuted church in ways that doesn’t consistently highlight the persevering grace of God at work among ordinary strugglers. As an inspiring call to action, Letters to the Church emphasizes vital gospel imperatives such as Scripture meditation, prayer, and redemptive suffering that encourage Christian maturity. Over the nine letters that compose the book, Chan draws on hard-earned lessons, challenging the church in the United States to return to what he believes God intended it to be. It’s time for that to change.” Having walked away from a popular megachurch ministry and speaking platform in the States, Chan details his unlikely journey overseas to rediscover the authentic joy, expectation, and simplicity of the Christian faith. We have trained people sitting in the pews to become addicted to lesser things. “We know what we’re experiencing is radically different from the Church in Scripture. “We’ve strayed so far from what God calls Church,” he laments. In his latest release, Letters to the Church, Francis Chan offers an impassioned plea for the church in America to rediscover the biblical priorities of the early church.

The book of james by francis chan