Quotes about Church

self-confidence is the worst of teachers—but from the church's most famous writers.

The universal testimony of those who have suffered for the sake of Christ and His church is that they have experienced a deep fellowship, an intimate communion with Him in the midst of their sufferings.

But on the whole, we appear to be more concerned about the sins of society than we are the sins of the saints.

God has a plan for His Church upon earth. But alas! we too often make our plan, and we think that we know what ought to be done. We ask God first to bless our feeble efforts, instead of absolutely refusing to go unless God go before us.

As a leader it is your job to protect the missional integrity of the Jesus gathering to which you have been called. It is your responsibility to see to it that the church under your care continues as a gathering of people in process; a place where the curious,the unconvinced, the sceptical, the used-to-believe and the broken, as well as the committed, informed and sold-out come together around Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Tim Keller writes, "When the church as a whole is no longer seen as speaking to questions that transcend politics, and when it is no longer united by a common faith that transcends politics, then the world sees strong evidence that Nietzsche, Freud, and Marx were right, that religion is really just a cover for people wanting to get their way in the world."13

Jesus did not come to strike a balance between grace and truth. He brought the full measure of both... It's easy to create an all-truth church model. It may be even easier to create an all-grace model, but Jesus didn't leave either option on the table.

Our nation's challenges do not stem from the church's inability to convince unbelievers to behave like believers. Our challenges stem from the church's inability to inspire believers to behave like believers.

Preachers' kids who gravitate toward ministry are commodities. I hire all I can. We see church differently than everybody else.

The truth is that church by its nature is a very general concept and most people are not looking for a church; otherwise, churches would be full of visitors every week. What people are looking for is something that works for them as individuals. And that is something specific, not general.

If we all got kicked off the staff and the board, and an outside group (a group of leaders who were fearlessly committed to the mission of this church) took our place, what changes would they introduce?68 What's the first thing they would do? Who would they replace? What would they refuse to fund?

The minute you decide to get back in the business the church was commissioned for in the first place, you will pray for boldness.