Giving frees us from the tyranny of money. But we do not just give money; we give the things money has purchased. In Acts the early Christian community gave houses and land to provide funds for those in need (Acts 4:32-37). Have you ever considered selling a car or a...
There can be no Christian theology which is not identified unreservedly with those who are humiliated and abused. In fact, theology ceases to be a theology of the gospel when it fails to arise out of the community of the oppressed.
To make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That's what I think a meaningful life is. One lives not just for oneself but for one's community.
Before doubt, I thought that faith was a matter of correct beliefs. My religious teachers taught me so: that if I didn’t hold the right beliefs, or at least say that I held them, I would be excommunicated from my community, and perhaps, after death, from God’s...
In a mission-driven community, harmony emerges when diverse people synchronize voice, vision, and energy around a common goal. Trivial differences diminish and the common mission replaces personal agenda.
We have completely distorted what church is, by conflating it with Westernized consumerism and capitalism. It’s our fault that our churches don’t grow spiritually and make major impact in our communities. No one else’s.
The communal life envisioned in the vine metaphor raises a strong challenge to contemporary Western models of individual autonomy and privatism. At the heart of the Johannine model is social interrelationship and corporate accountability. The vine and branches...
It is a big risk to love deeply, yet not to love is not to live.We need to love not just for the good stuff, but simply love for no good reason! So: Live freely. Sing your heart out. Cry until all your tears are spent. Laugh till you can't even catch your breath....
It is this ideal of kingship that is manifested most perfectly in the life and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. ...The ideal of kingship furnished the content for the messianic tradition, the tradition which was fulfilled in the life of Christ and which is the challenge...
The proof of the resurrection is not in rational argument but in the community of the resurrected people. The church is called to be a sign, a witness to the Easter message that Christ has overcome the powers of evil (Eph 3:10). from Ancient-Future Time