Quotes about Churches

Paul developed something we can appropriately call his 'theology', a radical mutation in the core beliefs of his Jewish world, because only so could he sustain what we can appropriately call the 'worldview' which he held himself and which he longed for his churches to hold as well.

Paul's powerful, spirit-driven proclamation of Jesus as "son of God" can hardly be called "preaching," if by "preaching" we mean the sort of thing that goes on in churches week by week in our world. This was a public announcement, like a medieval herald or town crier walking through the streets with a bell, calling people to attention and declaring that a new king had been placed on the throne.

The Christian churches in general have always been subject to the temptation to use the Bible to annotate the story we want to tell for ourselves, rather than allow the Bible to tell its own story and invite us to join in.

Conservative churches have spoken of miracles, in the sense of a god normally outside suddenly reaching in, doing something dramatic, and then going away again.

The consequences of an ungrateful spirit are not as readily seen as, say, those of a contagious disease. But they are no less deadly. Western civilization has fallen prey to an epidemic of ingratitude. Like a poisonous vapor, this subtle sin is polluting our lives, our homes, our churches, and our culture.

In many churches, the message of justification- how to get right with God- is preached over and over again. But much less is said about sanctification- how to live after you're converted.

South Korea now has five of the world's ten biggest churches.

Our churches are being destroyed by gossip. What is it about us that wants to hear all the garbage?

Lethargy is evident in churches when the people have no sense of ownership.

One in five American children are living in poverty, and yet, according to the Barna Research Group, 'half of all adults did nothing at all in the past year to help a poor person' and 'few churches have a serious ministry to the poor.' With such crying needs and such self-absorption among God's people, surely things have never been worse.

And he traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.