The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love Quotes

“When the boundary line between church and world gets blurred, God’s picture of the loving, forgiving, caring, holy, righteous community becomes less clear.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“You will only understand what or who the church is if you first understand who God is.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“I think it would be better to say that some churches have veered too far towards what they think is holiness, while other churches have veered too far to what they think is love. If a church has abandoned holiness, it has abandoned love, and if it has abandoned love, it has abandoned holiness. Holiness and love are mutually implicating and work in concert, not it opposition.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“What’s tragic is that Christians who come and go from churches are merely mimicking so many pastors. A man comes for several years, hears of another opportunity, leaves, and thinks nothing of it. His understanding of love is devoid of any sense of long-term obligation to a flock.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“It’s not difficult to see how this conception of romantic love, born out of an individual’s desire for expression and fulfillment, affects our conceptions of “love” in every sphere of life today. Whether the conversation turns to church services, friendships, or dating, I know that you love me when you let me “be myself” or “express myself” or “be the best person I can be.” I love you by allowing you to do the same. So Americans tend to describe churches as “loving” when those churches make us feel relaxed and comfortable, not judged. We can be ourselves there. Nonjudgmentalism is important in our friendships too: “I know she’s my friend, because she doesn’t judge me. I can be real with her.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“The argument of this book, quite simply, is that God calls the church to draw boundaries, boundaries which mark off these people from those people, boundaries which prevent some individuals from joining while excluding other individuals after they have joined. Not only that, God intends that the church use these boundary markers in order to help define for the world what exactly love is.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“On the evangelical right are careful thinkers who are absolutely scrupulous in other areas of doctrine but tend to flow with the pragmatic stream in how they lead and structure their churches.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“Insofar as the gospel presents the world with the most vivid picture of God’s love, and insofar as church membership and discipline are an implication of the gospel, local church membership and discipline in fact define God’s love for the world.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline

“Missing local church membership is like missing the fact that Christians are called to pursue good works, or love their neighbors, or care for the poor, or pray to God, or follow in the way of Christ.”
― Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline