Quotes about Transformation

We first must plant the gospel in the hearts and lives of people and then see what form of ecclesia emerges from the transformed community. If we begin with the premise that we are starting a "church," it will often come loaded with intuitional and cultural assumptions. Churches should grow out of the mission, not the other way around.

is true. We change not by mustering up willpower but by changing the way we think, which will also involve changing our actions and our social environment. We change indirectly. We do what we can.

Christ in me" means Christ bearing me along from within, Christ the motive power that carries me on, Christ giving my whole life a wonderful poise and lift, and turning every burden into wings... not as something you have to bear but as something by which you are borne.

The spiritual disciplines are wisdom, not righteousness. But they are wise practices that train and transform our hearts.

Separated Peter from the vile and suicidal Judas was that he, Peter, had lived long enough to find his offense transformed—through no merit of his own—by the loving acceptance of Jesus. The humiliated Peter was, in the same moment, the forgiven Peter.

Salvation is not the stopping point; it is the starting point.

The relevance of the church is not found in its capitulation to culture but in its transformation of culture.

The acceptance of the gift of freedom transforms our perception of our social and political existence.

The reason God responds to persistence is because prayer is changing the one who prays. As we pray, God is making us spiritually fit to receive what He is already willing to do. Prayer changes us into the people who can participate in the greater work of God without being spoiled by it through pride or becoming discouraged by the increased weight of greater fruitfulness.

Small groups are the place to push past Bible knowledge and on to life application so that we can see people's lives transform more and more into the image of Christ.

You don't get to a better place with God until you recognize that where you are is not as good.

God's love is not a pampering love. God's love is a perfecting love. God does not get up every day trying to figure how He can plant a bigger smile on your face. God is in the process of growing us and changing us. His love is a transforming love.