Living as Community…

Posted by Alan Knox on Oct 24, 2006 in books, community | 1 comment

Here are a few more quotes from Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Culture by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger. These quotes are from the chapter called “Living as Community”:

The most powerful demonstration of the reality of the gospel is a community embodying the way, the truth, and the life of Jesus. (p.89)

The church is primarily a people, not a place to meet. (p.90)

Church is a seven-day-a-week identification, not a once-a-week, ninety-minute respite from the real world. The church lives as a committed community in this world, which desperately needs redemption. (p.90)

Why is it that so many churches do not go deeper, allowing the kingdom to change church practices into more substantial forms of community? The simple reason is that it is easier to alter surface forms than it is to tear down church practices to make room for the kingdom. (p.94)

Emerging churches may not appear as legitimate forms of church to those who are not wrestling with ideas of church practice. (p.95)

A first-century Christian would have been puzzled by the question, “Where do you go to church?” for church was a network of people to which one belonged. It was not a once- or twice-a-week association but rather a community of continuous interaction that included a range of activities related to every aspect of life. (p.100)

Because they [one particular emerging church] have no regularly scheduled meetings, they meet more often than churches that are formally organized. (p.102)

I do not agree with everything that I read concerning the emerging church. Actually, there are very few books that I agree with completely. However, as I read, I am trying to identify the thoughts and phrases that cause me to think and cause me to go back to Scripture. Do these quotes cause you to think? Are they consistent with Scripture?