An Invitation to Listen

When you really think about it, we write scores of letters every single day, in a vast array of structures and forms.

From lengthy voice notes sent to friends while driving, to the quick text question to your spouse:

• • “What do I need to pick up at the store for dinner?”

to the agonized-over response to an unwelcome email from your boss at work:

• • “I’ve thought long and hard about how to respond to you…”

to the ubiquitous crying-face emoji or Homer Simpson hiding in the bushes meme, two things stand out:

1. 1. To be human is to communicate.
   2. Most of our communication takes the broad form and shape of a letter.

This begs the question, why this form and structure of communication?

While there are almost infinite responses to this query, perhaps the answer is quite simple:

Letters have a structure and shape that tells a narrative story that we desire to communicate to someone else.

Think of famous letters throughout history:

1. 1. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”¹Download a PDF, printable version of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” here to read with your community. ~CK as a prophetic and powerful example.
   2. It isn’t that wild of a stretch to think of the Declaration of Independence as a ‘breakup letter’ of sorts between the 13 US colonies and the British crown, although it’s form is of a founding declaration to self-govern as a new nation.
   3. Frida Kahlo’s illustrated letters are a well-known aspect of her brilliance in diverse artistic mediums.

Letters are central in entertainment and pop culture:

1. 1. The 18-page letter (“FRONT AND BACK!”) Rachel wrote Ross in Friends.
   2. Taylor Swift’s “Dear John” was one of her first breakout hits as she transitioned to making pop music.
   3. Dear Evan Hansen is an incredible Broadway musical based on a personal letter mistakenly falling into the wrong hands.

I could go on…

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A Collection of Letters to Churches

In the New Testament alone, 21 of the 27 of the books are written in the form of letters, penned mainly by the Apostle Paul in a common historical and literary genre known in the Ancient Near East as epistles.

If the vast majority of our New Testament is written in the form of a series of letters from a human author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to a faith community rooted in a specific social location in the Ancient Near East, addressing the cultural issues of their day, what could it look like to envision, organize, structure, and draft a letter to the Church today?

What needs to be said?

Spoken forth?

Exhorted?

Encouraged?

Instructed?

Critiqued in love?

Prophetically re-imagined?

Bravely told in truth?

What are the messages, the ‘news to be sent,’ that speak to your faith community–your local church–in this cultural moment? What are the struggles that need to be ironed out, the relational rifts that need to be healed, and the movement of the Holy Spirit that you see (or yearn for) within your midst? More universally, how does this message translate to a wider, cross-cultural audience–and to the global Church itself?

All of this leads us to the focus of Missio Alliance’s newest long-form series:

Letters to the Church

This long-form series employs the following reflective question, written in the form and spirit of a letter to the church:

What would you say to the Church if you could pause, reflect, and speak with courage?

You’d be surprised at who is listening, eager to read, dialogue, and share what you have to say.

~Chris Kamalski, Editorial Director

P.S. Apparently Chance the Rapper stumbled across this series prompt awhile back (I kid!), as he recently released a powerfully prophetic salvo to the American church, entitled, wait for it:“Letters.”

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*Editorial Note: The latest letter to our growing collection will go live each Friday throughout the rest of 2025. We invite you to prayerfully listen to the Spirit as you read, asking God what you might say to the Church in your own voice. ~CK

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what God is saying to the churches.” (Revelation 2:29)

What are the messages, the ‘news to be sent,’ that speak to your faith community–your local church–in this cultural moment? What is the movement of the Holy Spirit that you see (or yearn for) within your midst? Share on X