Quotes about Community

The phrase "the body of Christ," expresses well what we are called to do: to represent in flesh what Christ is like, especially to those in need. The

what about grace? How rare to find a church competing to "out-grace" its rivals.

The church works best as a force of resistance, a counterbalance to the consuming power of the state.

It occurs to me, in fact, that laughter has much in common with prayer. In both acts, we stand on equal ground, freely acknowledging ourselves as fallen creatures. We take ourselves less seriously. We think of our creatureliness. Work divides and ranks; laughter and prayer unite. Finding God in Unexpected Places(245

We in the body of Christ are called to show love when God seems not to.

If God's kingdom had a "No Oddballs Allowed" sign posted, none of us could get in.

Unfortunately, most of my secular friends would agree with Bill Gates, who considers religion a waste of time: "There's a lot more I could be doing on Sunday morning," he told an interviewer. They view the church not as a change agent that can affect all of society but as a place where like-minded people go to feel better about themselves.

A church that lives by power dies by power.

It has taken me years to distill the Gospel out of the subculture in which I first encountered it. Sadly, many of my friends gave up on the effort, never getting to Jesus because the pettiness of the church blocked the way.

The message of this book has the power to reform the church, one relationship at a time.

According to Gallup polls, more Americans will pray this week than will exercise, drive a car, have sex, or go to work. Nine in ten of us pray regularly, and three out of four claim to pray every day. To

An institution cannot love; only people can love. As the proverb says, apart from love, giving becomes an insult.