Greg

“Do you want to be safe, or do you really want to change the world? The conflict is that we want to be brave, we want to take risks . . .but we also want to be safe. The problem is, we can't have it both ways.

We want the American dream: to graduate from high school, go college, get a degree, and then what? Find the love of your life and get married. Then what? Get a job. Then what? Buy a car, buy a house, buy life insurance. Then what? Grow old and retire. Then what? ls that it? ls that all there is?

In fact, couldn't we just sum up the entire American dream in the single word "safety"? That's what it's all about. No matter what you want out of life, you can achieve it in America in comfort, style, and in the end, safety. But there is a problem. We cannot be safe and take risks at the same time.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, 'You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do' and 'Do something every day that scares you.'

This can get messy. It gets uncomfortable. It means touching people who are dying of diseases. It means going to the filthy slums, the garbage dumps, the places we would never normally go . . . just to reach that one hurting person.

So we must answer the question: Do we want to stay safe, or do we want to change the world? We can't have it both ways.”
― Noel Brewer Yeatts, Awake: Doing A World Of Good One Person At A Time

“We are people of worship and work in service to God and to each other. It’s that simple. It’s that hard. While many run from Islam, or from poverty, immigration, AIDS, third-world debt relief, the church runs toward them all. It is a dangerous mission. But it is the mission to which God has called us. In our baptism, he calls us to a life of search and rescue. Each time we gather, we do so with the full knowledge that we are being sent. Sent to usher in the shalom of God, to bring shalom to every person, space, and place. The first step in not killing your Muslim neighbor is to join a church that reads the gospels (particularly Luke 10) and puts those words into action. We’re moving beyond stereotypes. The future depends upon it. Beyond fear. Beyond anger. Beyond rage. Beyond caricatures. So be bold. And do not be afraid.”
― Joshua Graves, How Not to Kill a Muslim: A Manifesto of Hope for Christianity and Islam in North America

“Evangelicals in America have a choice, and it’s a big one. Are we going to continue to pursue the growth of the church above all else, or are we going to pursue the holistic stewardship of life, the land, the people, the animals, the environment, and the world in which we are situated? Our culture is changing rapidly, and we are not going to survive if we do not live for the life of the world, because the culture will reject us and our message out of hand. Are we going to continue to pursue and perpetuate church models, church growth, conversions, and the survival of Christian culture no matter what? Or are we going to live like Jesus lived? Are we going to embrace the cruciform life of discipleship? Are we going to continue to preach a soterian gospel meant to provide us with more “conversions”? Or are we going to lay down our lives for the sake of the world? If we do, we might find the courage and strength to begin to dive headlong into a better understanding of what the church is and what it is for.”
― Tim Suttle, Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture

“Some might argue that the current generation seems uninterested in Christianity because they want to avoid issues like sin and repentance, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think people are hungry for Jesus, but they are starting to realize they have been fed a cheap American version, and they are rightly rejecting this counterfeit. Their rejection should be seen not as a rejection of Jesus, but a rejection of obscured versions of him.”
― Benjamin L. Corey, Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus