Quotes About Churches

Martin Luther King Jr. really understood the role of the churches when he said, 'The church is not meant to be the master of the state.' We don't sort of take power and grab the levers of government and impose our agenda down people's throats.

Here's the thing about Texas - and the thing about the border. We all know undocumented immigrants. They sit in our churches, are friends with our children, and work all around us. They are just like us.

I do quite like sightseeing. I like churches, museums, galleries and all that stuff. I love the smell of a church in Italy or the smell of an old greasy spoon somewhere. I like markets and little funny shops in the backstreets of Florence.

I believe that for lots of churches and religious institutions, their main focus on the development of faith among parishioners needs to spread to the community.

The Constitution forbids states from banning all religion from public spaces and from making churches the ghettos of religion where all manifestations of faith are kept separate from public life. Religious people have an equal right to participate in the public square and to have their contributions to Oklahoma history and society recognized.

After all, no one is comfortable being told that he or she is a sinner. In our marketing-oriented churches, making people comfortable and happy can easily become the primary thing.

If churches are to be healthy, then pastors and teachers must be committed to discovering the meaning of Scripture and allowing that meaning to drive the agenda with their congregations.

the most chronic problem facing churches and Christians is the lack of consistent spiritual growth and progress in discipleship.

In dying churches the last expenditures to be reduced are those that keep the members most comfortable.

You have likely heard me describe the state of churches in North America. Nearly nine out of ten are either declining, or they are growing more slowly than the communities in which they are located. In simple terms, 90 percent of our churches are losing ground in their respective communities.

have seen too many so-called hopeless churches become turnaround churches.

Churches with high expectations not only reach the unchurched but retain them as well.

Some churches are not clear on a ministry process because they do not have one. Others have one, but it is too complex. It is too complicated, too long, or too confusing. The process is ineffective because it cannot be understood. Without understanding, commitment wanes. Understanding always precedes commitment.

La conclusion: la espiritualidad de comida rapida no es saludable. Es ma's, el enfoque al ministerio cada vez mas amplio y mas rapido mata nuestras iglesias. La respuesta adecuada: mantenerse enfocado en el proceso simple. Decir no a todo lo demas.

Therein lies the problem with most churches. Churches perceive they are a friendly church because the members are friendly to one another. But they don't think about walking in the shoes of first-time guests. They don't look at their facilities, their parking, their website, or their friendliness from a guest perspective.

If outside forces and culture were the reasons behind declining and non-influential churches, we would likely have no churches today. The greatest periods of growth, particularly the first-century growth, took place in adversarial cultures. We are not hindered by external forces; we are hindered by our own lack of commitment and selflessness.

Thriving churches have the Great Commission as the centerpiece of their vision, while dying churches have forgotten the clear command of Christ.

Members of the dying churches really didn't want growth unless that growth met their preferences and allowed them to remain comfortable.

Being a good steward of those material things that God has given our churches is good. Becoming obsessed with any one item to the neglect of His mission is idolatry.

So, unlike the heroes of Hebrews 11 who held onto nothing of this life, these dying churches held onto everything, at least everything that made them comfortable and happy. Such is the reason we speak of them in the past.

In the scattered settlements of this Diocese, schools and Churches are of necessity for many years few in number, and multitudes of both sexes are growing up in great ignorance.

We must be sure that when you have won victory, you will not have to tell your children that you fought in vain—that you were betrayed. We must be sure that in your homes there will not be want—that in your schools only the living truth will be taught—that in your churches there may be preached without fear a faith in which men may deeply believe.

Churches in the outside world, my brother told me, were just the local stores that sold people lies made up in the distant factories of giant religions.

Churches are full of sinners, not saints