Quotes about Engagement

So a working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world.

Left to their own devices, most organizations tend toward a sort of sociological conservatism that will increasingly forgo engagement with their context in favor of preserving what they see as their repository of inherited ideas. In other words, they turn away from missional engagement and toward an increasingly traditionalist, sentimental interpretation of reality. Instead of looking forward to a possible future of which they are called to be a part, they look back to an idealized past.

A missional church is a church that must live the dialectic. It must stay in the journey.

The Christian life is participation in the encounter of Christ with the world.

The church is church only when it is there for others.

Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbour or not. We must get into action and obey — we must behave like a neighbour to him.

If we want to participate in this Advent and Christmas event, we cannot simply sit there like spectators in a theater and enjoy all the friendly pictures. Rather, we must join in the action that is taking place and be drawn into this reversal of all things ourselves. Here we too must act on the stage, for here the spectator is always a person acting in the drama. We cannot remove ourselves from the action.

Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.

The life of a republic lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its citizens.

Follow-up is personal. It must be done by someONE; not by someTHING. For it to be effective we must set the pace. We can't permanently sell something we don't make time to get into our lives.

The world is filled with interesting things to do. Don't lead a dull life in such a thrilling world.

Be truly present in the moment that you are in and don't let life slip by unnoticed.