Congregation Quotes - Page 8

• The reason why congregations have been so dead is, because they had dead men preaching to them. O that the Lord may quicken and revive them! How can dead men beget living children?

  George Whitefield

  Children, Men, Reason Why

  "George Whitefields's Journals".

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• Henceforth it will be the task of this Sacred Congregation not only to examine carefully the books denounced to it, to prohibit them if necessary, and to grant permission for reading forbidden books, but also to supervise, ex officio, books that are being published, and to pass sentence on such as deserve to be prohibited.

  Pope Pius XII

  Book, Reading, Tasks

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• The Christian's life in all its aspects-intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness-is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all.

  J. I. Packer

  Christian, Intellectual, Spirit

  J. I. Packer (2005). “Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God”, p.15, Baker Books

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• A pastor who does not pray daily for his congregation is not a pastor.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Doe, Praying, Pastor

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• Whoever buys into the vision God has for the congregation develops an affinity for all that is going on.

  Phil Pringle

  Vision, Affinity

  Phil Pringle (2013). “You The Leader”, p.267, Faris Digital Solutions

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• In mid-career, I was at one and the same time the rabbi of a major congregation, writing books, and teaching at Columbia. I didn't spend enough time with my children. Now, when I get an all-important call, I sometimes say that I'm having lunch with my granddaughter. And I do not apologize

  Arthur Hertzberg

  Children, Book, Teaching

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• In social institutions, the whole is always less than the sum of its parts. There will never be a state as good as its people, or a church worthy of its congregation, or a university equal to its faculty and students.

  Edward Abbey

  People, Church, Students

  Edward Abbey (2015). “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, p.20, RosettaBooks

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• I would love to see churches start using their Web sites to present video profiles of people within their congregations so that the average person could get a sense of what the life of the church (not the organization, but the people - the true church) is really like.

  Frank Minis Johnson

  Average, Organization, People

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• The umpire had comical news. The congregation had been theoretically spotted from the air by a theoretical enemy. They were all theoretically dead now. The theoretical corpses laughed and ate a hearty noontime meal.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Air, Umpires, Enemy

  KURT VONNEGUT, JR (1969). “SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE”

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• An invitation to be a bridesmaid is an honor which cannot be declined without some very good reason. Our idea of one of the better reasons is the impending arrival of a little stranger. ... any lady in this interesting condition should have the grace to refuse. We know that symbols of fertility are appropriate to the marriage ceremony, but they needn't be quite so obviously borne in on the congregation.

  Alice-Leone Moats

  Should Have, Ideas, Interesting

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• The minister should preach as if he felt that although the congregation own the church, and have bought the pews, they have not bought him. His soul is worth no more than any other man's, but it is all he has, and he cannot be expected to sell it for a salary. The terms are by no means equal. If a parishioner does not like the preaching, he can go elsewhere and get another pew, but the preacher cannot get another soul.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Mean, Men, Soul

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• There was a time when ministers spoke forthrightly and named things. We don't name anything anymore. Finney had a sermon on How to Preach so as to Convert Nobody. He said 'Preach on sin but never mention any of the sins of your congregation - that will do it.'

  Vance Havner

  Names, Sin, Ministers

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• The spiritual differs from the religious in being able to endure isolation. The rank of a spiritual person is proportionate to his strength for enduring isolation, whereas we religious people are constantly in need of 'the others,' the herd. We religious folks die, or despair, if we are not reassured by being in the assembly, of the same opinion as the congregation, and so on. But the Christianity of the New Testament is precisely related to the isolation of the spiritual man.

  Soren Kierkegaard

  Spiritual, Religious, Men

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• 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.

  Barbara Brown Taylor

  Tired, Sunday, People

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• A good church is a Bible-centered church. Nothing is as important as this--not a large congregation, a witty pastor, or tangible experiences of the Holy Spirit.

  Alistair Begg

  Witty, Biblical, Important

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• A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

  Men, Order, People

  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Samuel Wells (2015). “Life Together”, p.17, SCM Press

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• I believe a visible church to be a congregation of those who make a credible profession of their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, joined by the bond of the covenant.

  Roger Sherman

  Believe, Church, Covenant

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• There are entire congregations who worship praise and praise worship but who have not yet learned to praise and worship God in Jesus Christ.

  Judson Cornwall

  Jesus, Worship, Christ

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• Congregations are lifeless because dead men preach to them.

  George Whitefield

  Men, Dead Man, Lifeless

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• What do you mean by praying that God will have mercy upon all men, and save them with an everlasting salvation, and then tell the congregation that God has done all He can to save them, and the matter rests with them, whether they will be saved or not?...if God has done all He can, why pray for Him do more? And if He has not done all He can, why tell the people He has?

  William Gadsby

  Mean, Men, People

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• Preachers are stewards whom the Lord has ‘set over his household servants to provide them with food at the proper time.’ After all the years the church has suffered under forceful preachers and winning orators, under compelling pulpiteers and clerical bigmouths with egos to match, how nice to hear that Jesus expects preachers in their congregations to be nothing more than faithful household cooks.

  Robert Farrar Capon

  Jesus, Nice, Winning

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• There is a difference between a well-instructed congregation and a well-nourished one.

  Sinclair B. Ferguson

  Differences, Wells

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• How on earth can religious people believe in so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash?....The acceptance of a creed, any creed, entitles the acceptor to membership in the sort of artificial extended family we call a congregation. It is a way to fight loneliness. Any time I see a person fleeing from reason and into religion, I think to myself, There goes a person who simply cannot stand being so goddamned lonely anymore.

  Kurt Vonnegut

  Lonely, Religious, Loneliness

  Kurt Vonnegut (1982). “Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage”, Dell Books

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• I give money for church organs in the hope the organ music will distract the congregation's attention from the rest of the service.

  Andrew Carnegie

  Atheist, Giving, Religion

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• To terrorize a man into believing in God is never the work of God, but the work of human expediency. If we want to convince a congregation of a certain thing, we may use terror to frighten them into it; but never say that is God's way, it is our way. To call that God's method is a travesty to the character of God.

  Oswald Chambers

  Believe, Character, Men

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