Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit
Author: Francis Chan
Published September 1, 2009
Paperback, 167 pages
David C Cook
Listened: 4hr 9min
Synopsis
This is an unfortunately brief but deep look at the Holy Spirit and the Western Church’s common travesty of forgetting Him. At the point of publishing this book, Francis Chan was leading a church in Simi Valley, CA, and felt that the church (not just his congregation) had forgotten what Jesus said in John 16:7. “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” So that the Holy Spirit could come! Chan challenges the self-help, self-dependent Church as we know it and attributes our lack of revolutionary church success to this self-reliance and to the lack of surrender to the Holy Spirit. It is an impactful read!
Strengths
I love how Francis Chan addresses the overall lack of belief that professing Christians have when it comes to the Holy Spirit. You either have the group that is fearful of the Spirit so He is excluded from worship/life/spiritual walk altogether or you have a group that is obsessed with only Him. Both imbalances leave the Church lacking. Francis Chan challenges the Western Church particularly with its self-help, self-empowering, metric-loving self and radially entrusts amazing revolutionary church work to the Holy Spirit as we see Him moving around the globe, throughout History, and in the Scriptures.
Weaknesses
This book could have been longer! Lol
In all seriousness, he speaks openly about the church he was leading at the time in California, and I believe this was resulted in some hurt. I don’t know that he hadn’t already have purposeful conversations of this type with the people of his congregation but he uses that body of believers quite often as an example and I know that it was hurtful. Rightfully so? I cannot know, but I did feel he was very pointed in some opinions and he refers to this own church a decent amount.
Final Thoughts
I plan to return to this book and review the main thoughts as well as look at my own faith with soberness and spend time studying the Holy Spirit in the Word. There is a study guide to go along with this book, and this will be something I revisit alone or as a group study.
Want to read it yourself? Find this book on Amazon:
Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit
Read more: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit– A Review
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