Quotes about Community

Public theology is first and foremost a reaction against the tendency to privatize the faith, restricting it to the question of an individual's salvation. As we shall see in later chapters, the church is not a collection of saved individuals but the culmination of the plan of salvation: to create a people of God.

The church is biblical, therefore, when it seeks to embody the words in the power of the Spirit and so become a living commentary. The church is thus not only the "people of the book" but also "the (lived) interpretation of the book.

The distinct experiential end in question in the church, communion with God and others, neither justifies nor fits many marketing means. The increase of the kingdom of God owes more to the work of the Spirit than to Madison Avenue.

On the Day of Atonement, the Levites performed the central sacrificial rites of the believing community, stewarding annual ceremonies that in graphic detail pictured the evil nature of sin and the bloody nature of divinely provided atonement for sin. The Day of Atonement was a visceral affair, filled with blood and fire and death and, at the pulsing core of it all, the realized hope of forgiveness through repentance. The people could be pure.

I've often found myself in circumstances that were too big for me. But I've never faced anything in life that was too big for my family.

Remember, God made us different because we needed suitable helpers. The more we understand and appreciate how we are different, the better we can draw on and receive the help that we need from one another.

Somebody once said, "Show me a man's friends and I will tell you about that man's character." We should love everybody and never neglect the poor or needy, but the people whom we allow to influence us really determine our future.

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted" (Galatians 6:1).

God's idea of a partnership places enormous responsibility on his image bearers and also means he wants us to participate in what he is doing here on earth and intends for us to do so, not as isolated individuals, but together.

Ruth's story helped me see that neither I nor any of God's daughters belong on the sidelines, while our brothers build his kingdom without us. He means for us to work alongside our brothers, and he is doing great things through his daughters, even though we, like Ruth and Naomi, may never live to see the full significance of our contributions.

Believers--male and female--form a body. Not just any body, but the body of Christ.

Their combined efforts mean kingdom work is multiplied. Far from being shamed in the city gates, her husband is regarded with greater esteem because he has such a wife. And he is first to sing her praises.