Some quotes from a new book by Terry Virgo I have been reading lately.
On leadership
Its part of the leadership gift that communicates confidence and expectation of success.
On the church
‘We will never stop researching the wonders of the universe. The angels will never stop researching the church’
‘In a day when people want to give up on church, or simply ignore it, I want to exalt the church because it is exalted in Scripture. It is the bride of Christ: a reflection of the glory and the beauty of the love within the Trinity’
On prayer ‘When we start by worshipping and being thrilled with God it becomes natural to ask God to be true to his character and power and take action in this world’
On selfishness (quoting Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
‘Most of our troubles arise chiefly from the fact that we persistently start wit ourselves…sin puts man himself in the centre’
On pastors and teachers‘the pastor loves people and the teacher loves books’
On church governement Having quoted Alec Motyer ‘we have a remarkably full summary of the constitution of the New Testament Church: the body of believers, the local church officers, the over-arching apostolic work or Paul, and the occasional ministry of a person like Timothy coming into the local situation from the outside’ he then quotes GK Chesterton ‘The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried’ and then states ‘Maybe this is true also of the biblical pattern of church life so simply described here by Alec Motyer but so manisfestly ignored by most exxlesiastical systems in our day’
On evangelism
‘Some people argue very strongly that in our evangelismwe must proclaim a very pure presentation of the gospel to the unsaved, implying that only a very thorough and detailed proclamation of the gospel, including a painstaking inclusion of every aspect of its truth will produce authentic converts. I beg to differ. I am amazed how people are genuinely saved by exposure to the merest fragment of gospel content….what makes a healthy convert I submit to you is being added to a healthy, vibrant church where people are fully aquainted with apostolic christianity and are living it out corporately. The newborn baby begins to pick up the family’s style and values. Healthy churches will tend to produce healthy converts.’
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