The church, if it is going to be the church God designed it to be, must become a space for the full story of God’s artistic grace — the story about where we were, where we are now, and where we will be someday. from A Fellowship of Differents: Showing the World God's...
The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an...
The good news is that there are no gatekeepers to Jesus. People try to be. Pastors, theologians, churches, and others police theology, enforce legalism, and criticize people's faith. But God loves everyone even when Christians don't.
Every church should be able to get a letter of recommendation from the poor in their community.
What matters is not the size of the church or the slickness of the programming. What matters is that those who come find a ministry and relationships worthy of spontaneous word-of-mouth recommendations. from Sticky Church
I tell our new members: You don’t join a preacher; you join the church. And you join the church for one reason—because you believe that God told you to plant your life there. If you join because of a style of preaching, that can change. If you join for the facilities...
The church is, above all, a place to receive grace: it brings forgiven people together with the aim of equipping us to dispense grace to others. from Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News?
In Christ’s incarnation all of humanity regains the dignity of bearing the image of God. Whoever from now on attacks the least of the people attacks Christ, who took on human form and who in himself has restored the image of God for all who bear a human countenance....
When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.
A church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a Word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, what kind of gospel is that? Preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed do not light up the world.