Thursday, August 2, 2007

what is the church?

I was led to pull Robert Lewis' The Church of Irresistible Influence off my shelf and thumb through the pages again. Highlighted on page 41 are these words:

"I believe a fitting description for the church would be this: a community of people who stand firm in the truth over time against the raging currents of opposition and who present living proof of a loving God to a watching world."

The church is a community, not just a congregation. The church is bounded by truth, not a tradition. The church weathers the currents of culture, but doesn't escape culture. The church is living proof of God, not just the verbal proclamation of God. No wonder the church was designed to have irresistible influence!

4 comments:

Kimberly said...

AWESOME! when my father passed away in 2006 - my son and i experienced our "church" first hand and they influenced not only us, but my mother as well. they reached out and took us all in and just loved us. i was so thankful and humbled to see what "church" REALLY looks and feels like.

Anonymous said...

This is a very serious blog and I really enjoyed it, but I do have another subject to discuss and not sure where to put it. So here goes: YOU GUYS PLAY SETTLERS OF CATAN? Oh next time we are in Dallas it is so on. Tooleys vs Daniels. I dont envy you my friend. A whoopin is always hard to bear. :)

The Porter Family said...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the truths you have discovered. It takes much courage to open a journal-of-sorts to others. Thank you for your vulnerability.

David Daniels said...

Tooley, that's trash talk and YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! The Porters (comment below yours) nintroduced us to the game and I feel quite confident in my brick and timber abilities to take you ALL on! Call ahead so we can get kleenex!