Best Congregation Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 2

“Old churches must not simply stand as monuments to the past but as spiritual grandparents that have invested in the future by passing on their life to others and releasing their offspring to form new congregations. Church planting needs to be given priority by old-line denominations.”

Needs Past Spiritual Form Given Church Lines Priorities Passing Passings Grandparent Monument Offspring Congregation Denominations Passing On Old Churches

Author:Eddie Gibbs

“Henry Ward Beecher, so the story goes, was once asked by a young preacher how he could keep his congregation wide awake and attentive during his sermons. Beecher replied that he always had a man watch for sleepers, with instructions, as soon as he saw anyone start nodding or dozing, to hasten to the pulpit and wake up the preacher. Aren't you and I usually less sensible? Would we not be inclined to have the watcher wake up not ourselves but the fellows caught sleeping? In other words, aren't we disposed always to blame others?”

Men Stories Young Sleep Watches Saws Wake Up Fellows Blame Caught Wide Awake Sensible Instruction Preacher Sermons Congregation Pulpit Watchers Sleeping In Nodding Sleepers Wide Awake Dozing

Author:B. C. Forbes

“My heart went out, seeking the God of my people. In thousands of homes those white candles burned tonight. I joined an invisible congregation.”

People Heart Home Religion Women White My Heart Seeking Invisible Tonight Candle Burned Congregation

Author:Jessie Sampter

“Ay, rail at gaming - 'tis a rich topic, and affords noble declamation. Go, preach against it in the city - you'll find a congregation in every tavern.”

Cities Rich Noble Topics Rail Gamer Congregation Gaming Taverns Declamation

Author:George Edward Moore

“Money follows mission, not the reverse. This is a shorthand way of saying that the stronger the congregation's relational characteristics, the easier it is to raise money. The stronger the congregation's mission, visitation, groupings, leadership, and decision making, the stronger the giving.”

Way Giving Decision Easier Stronger Raises Missions Characteristics Decision Making Reverse Congregation Shorthand Visitation

Author:Kennon Callahan

“One thing I have learned in institutions is not to press hard on the fact that their inmates are, like the rest of mankind, sinners; for they, like many others, are liable to confuse the generic term "sinner" with the specific term "criminal." Most of us are so accustomed to admit that we have fallen short of grace and are "miserable offenders," in view of our possibilities and opportunities, that we do not resent being called "sinners"; but not so with our congregation.”

“I have no respect for the right-to-life position. But when you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. The Catholic Church may espouse its opinion on abortion to the members of its congregation. But they are in violation of separation of church and state when they try to proselytize their abortion politics on people who are not Catholics.”

“My dad was a non-denominational preacher, actually a Congregationalist which is really where all congregations come to congregate. That's why it's called a Congregationalist. Later on in life, he just became a non-denominational preacher, kind of a fire and brimstone type guy. That's how I grew up.”

Kind Guy Fire Grew Type Dad Grew Up My Dad Preacher Congregation

Author:Larry the Cable Guy

“This new large-scale spiritual awakening is occurring primarily not within the confines of the established religions, but outside of those structures. Some of it, however, is also happening within the existing churches and religious institutions wherever the members of those congregations do not identify with rigid and exclusive belief systems whose unconscious purpose is to foster a sense of separation on which the egoic mind structures depend for their survival.”

“The consequences of these institutions (The towns or districts, the congregations, the schools,and the militia.) have been, that the inhabitants, having acquired from their infancy the habit of discussing, of deliberating, and of judging of public affairs, it was in these assemblies of towns or districts that the sentiments of the people were formed in the first place, and their resolutions were taken from the beginning to the end of the disputes and the war with Great Britain.”

“I do not like the late resurrection of the Jesuits. . . . If ever any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth, and in hell, according to these historians, though, like Pascal, true Catholics, it is this company of Loyolas.”

Ifs Men Earth Company Hell Eternal Late Eternity Catholic Merit Historian Resurrection Congregation Pascal Jesuit Perdition

Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

“Men go crazy in congregation. They only get better one by one.”

Men Crazy Get Better Congregation

Book:Sting - Easy Piano Collection (Songbook)

Source: Sting - Easy Piano Collection (Songbook)

“I served as a missionary for my church. I served as a pastor in my congregation for about 10 years. I’ve sat across the table from people who were - were out of work and worked with them to try and find new work or to help them through tough times.”

People Trying Years Helping Church Tough Tables Sat Missionary Pastor Tough Times Congregation New Work

Author:Mitt Romney

“The Eucharist has been preempted and redefined in dualistic thinking that leaves the status quo of the world untouched, so congregations can take the meal without raising questions of violence; the outcome is a "colonized imagination" that is drained of dangerous hope.”

Thinking World Has Beens Imagination Violence Dangerous Outcomes Meals Status Quo Eucharist Congregation Drained

Author:Walter Brueggemann

“Modern church music is so constructed that the congregation cannot hear one distinct word.”

Church Modern Music Is Congregation Church Music

Author:Desiderius Erasmus

“The attention of the congregation is a major part of the attention that the pastor gives to his or her utterance. It's very exceptional. I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy a good sermon. People who are completely nonreligious know a good sermon when they hear one.”

People Knows Giving Past Enjoy Attention Majors Pastor Exceptional Sermons Congregation Utterance

Author:Marilynne Robinson

“It can be difficult to be an introvert in church, especially if you happen to be the pastor. Liking to be alone can be interpreted as a judgment on other people's company. Liking to be quiet can be construed as aloofness. There is so much emphasis on community in most congregations that anyone who does not participate risks being labeled a loner.”

People Ifs Doe Happens Past Difficult Community Church Company Risk Quiet Judgment Introvert Pastor Emphasis Loner Congregation Aloofness

Book:An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

Source: An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

“Worship isn't God's show. God is the audience. God's watching. The congregation, they are the actors in this drama. Worship is their show. And the minister is just reminding the people of their forgotten lines.”

People Shows Actors Lines Audience Drama Worship Forgotten Ministers Reminding Congregation

Author:Soren Kierkegaard

“Prayer less pulpits will produce prayer less and powerless congregations.”

Prayer Produce Powerless Congregation Pulpit

Author:Wesley L Duewel

“I want it so that every minister will be not a parrot, not an owl sitting upon a dead limb of the tree of knowledge and hooting the hoots that have been hooted for eighteen hundred years. But I want it so that each one can be an investigator, a thinker; and I want to make his congregation grand enough so that they will not only allow him to think, but will demand that he shall think, and give to them the honest truth of his thought.”

“His throne is the pulpit. He stands in Christ's stead. His message is the Word of God. Around him are immortal souls. The Savior, unseen, is beside him. The Holy Spirit broods over the congregation. Angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What associations and what vast responsibility!”

Source: Lectures on Preaching: Delivered to the Students of Yale College in 1879

“To me, there was an interesting movie to be made about two people who had been on that whirlwind romance and what happens after the fairy tale wedding. And this thought coincided or coalesced when I was at a wedding of a friend who got married to somebody that literally everybody in the congregation thought that you definitely should not get married to. This was the worst idea either of you have ever had.”

People Should Made Two Ideas Happens Romance Interesting Worst Married Tales Fairy Fairy Tale Congregation Whirlwind

Author:Dan Mazer

“To see with one's own eyes, to feel and judge without succumbing to the suggestive power of the fashion of the day, to be able to express what one has seen and felt in a snappy sentence or even in a cunningly wrought word - is that not glorious? Is it not a proper subject for congregation?”

Feels Eye Able Felt Subjects Fashion Judging Sentences Glorious Congregation Succumbing

Author:Albert Einstein

“[A novel by Henry James] is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently place, intensely there, is a dead kitten, an egg-shell, a bit of string.”

Light Bits Church Lines Novel Focused Eggs Strings Shells Lit Altars Kitten Congregation

Author:H. G. Wells

“I'm honestly not sure that I've ever tried to talk as a theologian about "homosexual acts," per se. My disagreement with the current teaching of the Roman Congregations is about what I consider to be their fundamentally flawed premise of the objectively disordered nature of the inclination.”

Teaching Currents Honestly Not Sure Homosexual Theologian Inclination Flawed Premises Disagreement Congregation

Author:James Alison

“A group is as healthy as its 'social contract' is clear; a congregation as faithful as its covenant is mutually understood; a pastor as effective as the pastor's and people's commitment to trust and integrity is honored, guarded, and fulfilled.”

People Past Social Clear Groups Integrity Healthy Understood Commitment Faithful Contracts Fulfilled Pastor Honored Covenant Guarded Congregation Social Contract

Author:David W Augsburger

“We look for evidence of the divine and we find it in nature, in art, in literature, in music in film, so, rather than fear the surrounding culture, and the surrounding cities which predictably results in a bunker mentality the emerging congregation embraces the culture and expects to find God in it" the emerging congregation embraces the culture recognizing that its not all pretty but it embraces the culture and even then expects to find god in it because there is nowhere god isn't. there are many places where the church isn't but I don't think that means there are places where god isn't.”

Thinking Looks Mean Art Film Culture Literature Church Results Cities Divine Evidence Embrace Mentality Recognizing Emerging Congregation Bunkers

Author:John Middendorf

“As I've taught our congregation, within the Christian faith the question of homosexuality is not a question of biblical authority, but biblical interpretation.”

Christian Taught Authority Interpretation Biblical Homosexuality Christian Faith Congregation

Author:Adam Hamilton

“We all get to choose where we set up the stage of our lives - before the Crowds, the Court, the Congregation, the Critics (inner or otherwise)-- or the Cross of Christ. All except One will assess your performance. Only One will accept you before your performance ... Only in Jesus is there 100% acceptance before even 1% performance.”

Jesus Christ Accepting Our Lives Stage Acceptance Crosses Performances Court Critics Crowds Congregation

Author:Ann Voskamp

“The boarded-up homes, the decaying storefronts, the aging church rolls, kids from unknown families who swaggered down the streets - loud congregations of teenage boys, teenage girls feeding potato chips to crying toddlers, the discarded wrappers tumbling down the block - all of it whispered painful truths.”

Source: Dreams From My Father

“In Freethinkers Hall, which before the Nazi resurgence was the national headquarters of the German Freethinkers League, the Berlin Protestant church authorities have opened a bureau for advice to the public in church matters. Its chief object is to win back former churchgoers and assist those who have not previously belonged to any religious congregation in obtaining church membership. The German Freethinkers League, which was swept away by the national revolution, was the largest of such organizations in Germany. It had about 500,000 members.”

“I coach church planters to look at the ethnic diversity of schools and neighborhoods they are near. This will be an indicator how ethnically diverse their congregation can become.”

Looks School Church Diversity Coaches Neighborhood Diverse Congregation Indicators Planters Ethnic Diversity

Author:Derwin L. Gray

“The church grew, and I gained a reputation for preaching, and people came, and it was a wonderful community. But we had a building that seated 82 people, and with a congregation then approaching 400 we were up to four services on Sunday, and everyone was tired.”

People Community Church Four Wonderful Building Grew Tired Reputation Sunday Preaching Congregation

Author:Barbara Brown Taylor

“I found myself in a maze where I'd taken the wrong turn. In my wish to do well for that congregation I wasn't doing particularly well for myself or my friends or my family, and I even found that the work for God was taking me away from God.”

Wells Turns Found Wish Taken My Friends My Family Congregation Mazes My Wish Wrong Turn

Author:Barbara Brown Taylor

“You probably can't get much closer to God than serving a congregation 24/7. At the same time, there's a different kind of closeness in this present life I have in which I have much more freedom to come and go and to engage some of the silence and stillness and solitude that I was missing before.”

Kind Different Silence Missing Solitude Serving Stillness Different Kinds Comes And Goes Closeness Congregation Present Life

Author:Barbara Brown Taylor

“So we didn't get the denominations and the separate congregations really till about into Civil War time. What's happened then, of course, is now that we've had well over 100 years of this history to establish separate cultures, different ways of worshipping, and different ways of understanding theology so that when people try to come together makes it very difficult. And then, of course, social networks, you know, how do we find a place to worship?”

“If we go into white congregations, non-whites will sometimes say it felt like worship never started. It was sort of dead and didn't feel that warmly received. But so - and there are different realities either way, and it makes it difficult for all groups to try and cross boundaries.”

Ifs Way Feels Trying Different Sometimes Reality Felt Difficult White Groups Worship Crosses Boundaries Congregation Different Realities

Author:Michael Emerson

“It's one of the things we find in these congregations is that they are much more likely to be sort of up-beat worship styles, more likely that people in these congregations say "Amen," maybe get up and dance some, tend to be a little bit more lively than a typical white service would be, but not as lively as a typical black service would be.”

People Littles Would Be Bits Black White Style Worship Little Bit Beats Get Up Typical Lively Amen Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

“Once in a while you get people that maybe because of economic reasons, or have a social network, they get attracted. But it's a very tiny percent so that when we look at, you know, who are pastors and who are the head clergy of these congregations, they're overwhelmingly white, just a few African Americans, and those folks are usually called to what were formerly white congregations, or they started interracial church from the get-go.”

People Knows Looks Reason Social Church White Economic Percent Folks Tiny African American Pastor Social Network Congregation Clergy

Author:Michael Emerson

“They could never go back to being a uniracial congregation again. It brings excitement. It brings life. It allows them to be able to know people they would never know, to meet people that are outside the congregation they would have never connected with, you know, through the networks that they developed in the congregation.”

People Knows Able Connected Excitement Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

“I certainly think so, and I argue so, and I give talks on that. Are there risks by putting people together? Absolutely. Is there value in the black church? Absolutely. Is there value in having immigrant churches? Absolutely. But if we don't have congregations gathering with people of different races, what we're doing is we are redefining racial division, a racial inequality.”

People Ifs Thinking Giving Different Together Values Black Church Race Risk Arguing Inequality Immigrants Division Gathering Congregation Different Races Redefining Black Church

Author:Michael Emerson

“One of the things we find when we talk to people that attend these congregations, they all have social cost to it. People want to know why they're doing that. Sometimes they're questions about selling out on their race or "Are we not good enough that you have to go to this kind of congregation and not ours?" So there are costs to it, and I think they're a little bit higher in the South because of its history.”

People Thinking Knows Want Kind Littles Sometimes Enough Social Bits Race Higher Cost Little Bit South Selling Good Enough Not Good Enough Congregation Selling Out

Author:Michael Emerson

“So you find a lot of these sixth Americans congregate in these interracial congregations. They hang out together at work, at school, wherever.”

School Together Hanging Out Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

“That's a big fear, right, and when I talk with black pastors, the same thing: If we try to have this move towards interracial congregations, whites will just dominate then. There are so many more of them, and they're used to being in the position of power. So they'll just take over, and we'll lose the one thing we do have.”

Ifs Trying Bigs Moving Used Black Loses One Thing Position Pastor Congregation Position Of Power

Author:Michael Emerson

“There's a lot of terminology, like "washes whiter than snow," and these things which when they're said in a uniracial congregation, they just go fine. But when they're said in a mixed congregation, some people will get offended and wonder, "Why are you saying that? What are you saying?"”

People Said Wonder Fine Snow Offended Congregation Terminology

Author:Michael Emerson

“We're going to see more, and we are seeing more, and I'll tell you exactly why. Not because white and black are more likely to get together. Only a third of the seven percent of congregations that are interracial are black and white.”

Together Black White Seeing Percent Thirds Seven Why Not Black And White Get Together Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

“I think it's easier, I really do, because of not having that similar history, so that's why I think two-thirds of these mixed congregations are either white with Asian and Hispanic, or black with Asian and Hispanic.”

Thinking Two Black White Easier Thirds Asian Congregation Hispanic

Author:Michael Emerson

“What happens is sometimes these congregations will still have the white style of worship, even though they're mixed, because folks are willing to give up whatever they may have come with. So it's still quite a stretch for African Americans, yeah.”

Giving May Stills Sometimes Happens White Style Willing Giving Up Worship Yeah Folks African American Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

“Absolutely, although every congregation will say, you know, every worship leader will say it's vital. It's very important, but again these are, you know, these are different cultural styles.”

Knows Important Different Leader Style Worship Congregation

Author:Michael Emerson

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Congregation Quotes