Mark Perry > Quotes

“The church is a hospital, to be sure. But that hospital is a MASH unit, not a gated retirement center!”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Nature is the first and last revelation because it is the 'scripture' of the Eternal. The trace of His hand is found in every rippling field of grass or fluttering leaf or silent flower; to read them is to help recover our roots of immortality.”
― mark perry

“Church leadership has often used its positional authority to control believers who have expressed a desire for more individual freedom within the church. Because we haven’t known what to do with individuals who are strong in their expression and who have a high view of their individual authority in Christ, we have over-preached collective Christianity.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“One of the primary reasons the Western church has lost its surprise, spontaneity, and power is because of our propensity to measure everything. We count people, dollars, empty chairs, full chairs, small groups, parking spaces, minutes on the clock, graduates from our programs, and so on. In Luke 6:38, Jesus tells us that our measurements will come back to us, one way or another. The law of measurement is this: whatever measurement we use will be measured to us. This is both a promise and a warning.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“pastor” during the general’s final pain-racked days, even as Fred, Badeau, Twain, and Shrady consigned him to his proper place, at the back of the room, ministering to Julia.”
― Mark Perry, Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America

“The church is often compared to a football game: 65,000 people in desperate need of exercise, and 22 people in desperate need of rest! Spectator Christianity compartmentalizes our lives so church becomes a 2-hour slot rather than a lifestyle.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“God’s kingdom advances when we embrace each others’ uniqueness rather than try to copy it.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“In kingdom churches, it is not good enough if the pastor and staff get to fulfill their destiny while everyone else watches and applauds. It is time for every believer in every church in the West to reach their full potential and to fulfill their destiny in Christ.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Healthy people who do not have a need to control anyone make the best leaders.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“At the end of November, with the pain in his throat now causing him visible discomfort, Grant visited Alden Goldsmith, a wealthy horse breeder, at Goshen,”
― Mark Perry, Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America

“Wherever church government is mingled with ambition, we find leaders who value members primarily for how they contribute to the church’s vision.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“As churches and leaders in regions start to recognize our unique contributions, there will be less jealousy and competition. Instead, we will see more cooperation and recognition as we cheer each other on.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“The church is about life-giving relationships that come together in gatherings. When we gather, we don’t primarily assemble in the style of the synagogue: to learn, to receive, to evaluate, and to contemplate. Rather, we assemble in the style of the temple: to worship, to pray, to encounter God, and to bring our offering. We come as living stones, fitted together in the house of God as a collective dwelling place.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“As we seek to build kingdom churches, our priestly functions must be in proper order—the first commandment must take first place, and the second commandment must be second.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Never let your zeal for serving Him get ahead of your prayer for seeking Him.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“We have continually emphasized the dimensions of Christianity that have to do with family, togetherness, belonging, and membership. Please don’t misunderstand. These truths are vital, and I believe in their validity. But when they are presented out of balance, they can do great damage. And let’s face it: they have been presented out of balance.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Ministry Belongs To Every Believer. Because we are a kingdom of priests (Rev. 1:5), we have inherited a ministry straight from heaven (2 Cor. 5:18). We are all commissioned as ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20) and authorized by Jesus Himself to make disciples (Mt. 28:19), which includes the activities of baptism, teaching, and modeling the Christian life (Mt. 28:19- 20; 2 Tim. 2:2). We have each received a unique ministry destiny (Eph. 2:10) and unique gifts to administer God’s grace (1 Pet. 4:10).”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Within that single fifteen-month period—perhaps the most creative in American literary history—Grant would not only write his Personal Memoirs, Twain would reach the peak of his career with the publication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Those two books, perhaps the finest work of American nonfiction ever written and the greatest of all American novels, defined their legacy.”
― Mark Perry, Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America

“The hope that every believer could walk with and serve God on equal footing with every other believer and have no mediator but Christ didn’t originate with our generation. Even Martin Luther, great reformationist that he was, didn’t invent this reality, though it was part of his historic posting and protest of 95 theses nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“A kingdom church is a society of individuals who are expressing their Christianity through their lifestyles. This means that it is theoretically possible to be an amazing church without a single ‘program’ or ministry. Of course, that sounds very counterintuitive. After all, most churches are scrambling to have the best youth/singles/children’s ministries in town. But it is possible. As God’s people continue to be validated as priests and as ‘kingdomizers’ in whatever sphere of influence they find themselves, then the ministry of the church will return to the hands of the people. Again, this isn’t anarchy. This is empowerment, ownership, and responsibility.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Too many Western believers still unconsciously view the church like a cruise ship, with a large, well-trained staff looking after every need. The church was never intended to be a cruise ship! It was always meant to be more like a fishing boat, with everyone working, everyone helping to catch and clean fish, and everyone enjoying the satisfaction of knowing that they gave their all. In such a crew, there is loyalty and friendship centered around a common mission.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“The Invitational Church In the invitational church, the focus is on growth. The goal of the church is to reach out and gather people into the church. Therefore, the church is designed as a consumer-oriented place that takes special care to make sure the red carpet is rolled out for visitors and guests. A highly trained staff puts forth great effort to ensure the very best experience for everyone who comes to the church, with special attention paid to visitors. Invitational churches are often successful at growth because this is a large part of their goal and focus. There are many wonderful aspects of the invitational church. I believe God sovereignly birthed the church growth and seeker movements to help the institutional church get beyond itself and start caring about the millions of people trying to find God who were unable to fit into the institutional church. I deeply appreciate and value invitational churches, because they have come up with a way to re-create a modern day “Court Of The Gentiles” aspect of the temple, a place where God-seekers can come and find God. They have unselfishly set aside their desire for church to be about themselves, and they have designed church services for lost people and seekers. What a refreshing change when invitational churches hit the scene! They have really harvested many people for Jesus and helped thousands of churches become outward-focused. This is a good thing! The difficulty with the invitational church is that the individual is essentially irrelevant. What I mean is, when most people walk into an invitational church, it really doesn’t matter whether or not they show up. Why is this true? Because the invitational church has, by default, set the bar very low to make sure that whosoever will may come. However, the inadvertent message is that the individual is not really needed. Little is asked or required of people, and it is very clear that if they aren’t part of the overall goal to facilitate growth, their gifts may not be needed. To prove the point: where do many of the people who have left institutional churches go? They often sit in the back of invitational churches where they can go unnoticed and where they can have very little asked of them. The invitational church is a great place to recover from the institutional church. Some go on and become involved in meaningful ways. But often over time, two negative things happen to believers who have been in invitational churches. One, they become sedentary, consumer-oriented Christians. Those who joined the institutional church and who wanted to make a difference have all but lost their initial fire. Often they no longer burn with zeal for God and His purposes. Instead, they unwittingly adopt the culture of the invitational church into their Christianity, and they, too, lower the bar to the point where, for all intents and purposes, they are now just showing up at a weekend service. Or two, they begin to feel the need for a more personal, relational church, and they move on to something more personal and meaningful to them.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Humility is much more profound than honesty about our problems or looking at the ground when we speak. It’s about dependency and childlike trust, and it doesn’t contain a whiff of self-righteousness or defensiveness.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“The church is meant to lead the world in hearing God’s voice and shaping culture.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Everyone pays a price for unity. Everyone has to die to at least some aspect of their dreams and plans for true unity to take place. But wherever unity truly happens, it releases incredible multiplying power.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“To be part of the company who help bring about a kingdom church revolution, our hearts must not only align with the priorities in God’s heart; we must become those who build what God is building.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“When the King and His kingdom are the focus, the church happens. When the church is the focus, the King and His kingdom get relegated to second place. Jesus’ admonition to seek first the kingdom is central to what it means to build kingdom churches.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“When the King and His kingdom are the focus, the church happens. When the church is the focus, the King and His kingdom get relegated to second place.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“The strong winds of change are blowing, and it is nothing less than a kingdom revolution authored by God that is changing the way we perceive and ‘do’ church.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation

“Do you sense a depression in the body of Christ in America, as if something is badly wrong? We’re losing influence within our culture as the anti-Christian sentiment grows, yet you’d never know it in most churches—the smoke, lights, loud music and preaching rolls on as if all is well…Too often people come to the church, are deeply disappointed and as a result are turned off from the gospel. The church promises solutions but only offers lip service. We’ve become excellent at giving people a show on Sunday but lousy at showing them how to actually live…I recently spoke with two businessmen friends about why it’s hard to find a good church. Both are successful financially and are passionate believers. On the surface, they’re what every pastor needs. Yet after being active in a local church, they both became disillusioned with what they saw and how they were treated. As they recounted stories of how pastors felt threatened by their powerful personalities and positions, I felt sorry for my friends (for never experiencing the community they sought) and for the insecure leaders they served. Countless other mature Christians have been so wounded by leadership that they stay home on Sunday and “go to church” by watching Charles Stanley or Jack Hayford. They get a good message, some good music and an opportunity to “tithe” to that ministry. Sometimes this is a transitional period. Too often it’s not. But this isn’t Christian community. Aren’t we supposed to assemble with other believers? Aren’t we supposed to bring a hymn or a Scripture or a prophetic word when we meet? In larger churches this need is met in small groups or in various ministries of the church. There are many examples of healthy churches where this happens. But too often it isn’t…Until this happens, people—like my businessmen friends—will feel as if they’re drifting. They’ll never really find their place in the body of Christ. And sooner or later, they will ‘vote with their feet’ by going somewhere else—or worse still, nowhere.”
― Mark Perry, Kingdom Churches: New Strategies For A Revival Generation