Francis Chan Notes from FPU Ministry Forum

Here's my notes from a very engaging Francis Chan at yesterday's Fresno Pacific University Central Valley Ministry Forum.  He greatly challenged us to live by faith and eschew the comfort that is so naturally a part of our existence in the United States.

Session One

Living by Faith

Doesn't God want us to do things that require faith?

We need to be careful not to allow our reputation to get in the way of our honesty and passion for an ongoing relationship with Christ. 

Session Two

Preaching Boldly Admist Criticism

2 Timothy 4:1-8

We need to be thinking about what we need to be doing so we can say what Paul says here. 

It is about the mission before the marriage and before the family. If we keep the right focus those things come together. 

Are we more concerned about what people will think or what God will think when we speak on Sunday?

Think of Stepehns martyrdom

There are times when we can actually be too clever and cute and we end up backing off and being nice and not say EVERYTHING we need to say. 

God help us not to back off saying what we need to say and end up being a nice teacher and just teaching to itching ears. 

Let's not fool ourselves. Are we really surrendered to Gods will? Meaning are we really, wholly and totally committed to following the wind of His Spirit? Are we living life in a way that says we are tying to live life in a way that we arrive at death safely? 

Am I asking myself regularly whether God wants me where I am (in my workplace, church, house, etc)? Or am I assuming I know the trajectory of my life and am ignoring what it is the God wants?  Am I living in dependency on His Spirit?

We half a million kids in foster system in US and millions and millions of Christians. How does that compute?

What radical thing have I done with the family that says to them God is alive? Shouldn't that be an everyday thing?

Personal note: got a picture of the house filled with kids. Like Little Men. Wouldnt that give everyday life meaning? Wouldn't it create a community within the house?

Session Three

Our Responsibility to Equip the Church

Matthew 28:8-12

Remember this message is given after Jesus' death and resurrection

Discipleship in our churches has become platform oriented and is a major departure from Ephesians 4. We need to be expecting people to train and equip others. That starts with studying the word for themselves and learning how to share their faith with confidence. But we are raising people to be overly dependent on leadership. 

A parent's job is to teach their children how to live on their own. Not to create children to be super-dependent. We want them to be independently dependent on God. This is not the mindset in homes today and we tend to do the same thing in church. 

Do we see the people in our churches as disciples who can change their world?  Do we see them as adults who we have trained to the point where they don't need us to FEED them anymore?

One of the biggest problems in the church today is that people are so weird. They don't know how to have a conversation with an unbeliever.