Quotes about Church

Faith looks away from itself to Christ ... sola fide (by faith alone) and sola gratia (by grace alone) ... mean the same thing ... let the sound of sola fide-sola gratia ring in the life of the Church. Let it be a warning against the pride of the treacherous heart.

The church's ... certainty is bound to certain norms and ... a feeling of subjective certainty does not guarantee irrefutable certainty ... it is not the certainty, but the truth in the certainty that makes us free ... there is a way of understanding Holy Scripture that does not estrange us from the gospel.

Over and over the question addressed to Jesus arises in the history of the church: 'Lord, will those who are saved be few?' Jesus' answer seems so non-committal, so evasive: 'Strive to enter by the narrow door' (Luke 13:23f.). But this evasiveness is only apparent. This is the answer to this question. As long as we see only in a mirror, in riddles, many questions will remain unanswered, But this question has been answered, once for all time.

Organized Christianity that fails to make a disturbance is dead.

The church may not function as a fearful border guard, but rather as one who brings good tidings (Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7 ... For Christ died for us 'while we were yet sinners, while we were enemies' (Romans 5:8,10). All hardness, imprudence and rashness can only be signs that she has forgotten the gracious overstepping of the boundaries at her birth.

Christians who demonstrate compassion because they are passionately in love with God will thus speak prophetically to a selfish culture and, sometimes, a selfish church. Selfishness distorts true sacrifice, and sacrifice is at the heart of true care.

The church must not teach the submission of wives apart from the sacrificial love and servanthood required of husbands.

The house of the Lord doesn't filter out the flock" - Wanda Lovell

You can't use strong-arm tactics against the Church without strengthening it. It's always been that way. Under persecution a man looks at his faith to see if it's worth fighting for, and this is a scrutiny Christianity can always withstand. The real danger comes with an indirect attack, where a person is lured away from the Church before he has a chance to become strong.

The work of the church is not survival. She exists to fulfill the Great Commission. Her work is making disciples of all nations.

But bit by bit as I got to know Yugoslavia better, I became aware of the slow wearing-down process the government was exerting on Christians. The effort seemed to be centered on the children. Leave the old folks alone, but wean the young people away from the church.

Persecution is an enemy the Church has met and mastered many times. Indifference could prove to be a far more dangerous foe.