The Word of God tells us that Christ’s church is glorious… [But] today the glory of the church is thickly veiled. It is no exaggeration to assert that in the main it presents a picture of advanced decadence and extreme feebleness… Let it be said emphatically, the church is where the truth is. Sound doctrine always has been, is today, and ever will be the foremost mark of the true church. But who dares to assert that there is today in the churches a rising tide of interest in doctrine? By and large people do not go to church to learn about God from His infallible Word, but to be tranquilized. And that the glory of God is both the beginning and the end of common worship does not seem to occur to them.
— R.B. Kuiper (1886–1966), Theologe
Topics: Church & Congregation, The Bible & the Word of God
Occasions: For Reflection
R.B. Kuiper
Rienk Bouke Kuiper (1886–1966) war ein niederländisch-US-amerikanischer reformierter Pastor und Theologieprofessor, der unter anderem am Westminster Theological Seminary sowie am Calvin Theological Seminary wirkte. Er stand für einen konservativen, bekenntnistreuen Calvinismus und betonte die Vereinbarkeit von reformierter Erwählungslehre mit engagierter Evangelisation. Heutigen Bibellesern vermitteln seine Schriften ein Verständnis für textzentrierte Schriftauslegung und eine klassische reformierte Ekklesiologie.
The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.
Tim Keller
The Church is not a cultural club, but the family of Jesus.
Pope Francis
The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
John Charles Ryle
In essential unity; in nonessentials liberty; in all this charity.
Rupertus Meldenius
Henry Ward Beecher
Philip Yancey
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
In a congregation, every person must be able to be as their heart truly is.
Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf