I needed this reminder this morning. One of my favorite quotes from Eugene.
“The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities one of the sinners is called pastor and is given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God.”
-Eugene Peterson
Truckerfrank said...
1So simple a concept yet profound. How dare we complicate it! Thanks Bill and Eugene.
03/10/10 10:03 AM | Comment Link
Nathan said...
2Hey Man- love this quote. It really puts things in perspective and forces us to refrain from exalting ourselves as Christians.
03/10/10 11:54 AM | Comment Link
DougG said...
3JR, I remember a sermon at Woodmen where the guest pastor said, “All church’s fail, even this one will.” It would be an interesting look to find out why the Catholic church has survived (and the machinations it took to keep it going), what happened to all the churches in Europe that are now tourist attractions (think of the building campaigns it took), what happened to all the little splinter denominations that sprung up and failed over the history of the U.S.
DougG
PS 2Lt Tim Anderson got engaged the other day
03/11/10 4:59 PM | Comment Link