Quotes from Frank Viola

Winston Churchill wisely said, "First we shape our buildings. Thereafter, they shape us." Exegete the architecture of a typical church building and you'll quickly discover that it effectively teaches the church to be passive.

Someone once said that you don't hold a grudge. It holds you. Holding a grudge is self-inflicted pain. Consequently, bitterness doesn't imprison those who hurt you. It imprisons you.

In the minds of the early Christians, the people—not the architecture—constituted a sacred space.

God's idea of ministry training is a broken vessel. His idea of spiritual preparation is suffering, which includes rejection.

To put a finer point on it, the church building is based on the benighted idea that worship is removed from everyday life.

Jesus desires friends, not servants. He desires love, not servitude. In the cold temple of Jerusalem, God was merely served. But in the warmth of the Bethany home, He was befriended and cherished.

In short, extensive Bible knowledge, a high-powered intellect, and razor-sharp reasoning skills do not automatically produce spiritual men and women who know Jesus Christ profoundly and who can impart a life-giving revelation of Him to others.

When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.'8 Although surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, the early Christians were the only religious people on earth who did not erect sacred buildings for their worship.19 The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides.20

The pulpit elevates the clergy to a position of prominence. True to its meaning, it puts the preacher at center "stage"—separating and placing him high above God's people.

From the human perspective, the purpose of the church meeting is mutual edification. But from God's perspective, the purpose of the gathering is to express His glorious Son and make Him visible. (The church is the body, and Christ is the Head. The purpose of one's body is to express the life that's within it.)

Every year that we grow in the Lord, Jesus Christ looms larger and greater in our eyes.

People are more important to Him than human traditions.