"We have, in fact, reduced the gospel to a mere transaction involving the right beliefs rather than seeing in it the power to change the world." (p.243)
"... the very social revolution Jesus intended as his kingdom unfolded 'in earth as it is in heaven' ... is not to be a far-off and distant kingdom to be experienced only in the afterlife. Christ's vision was of a redeemed world order populated by redeemed people - now." (p.243)
"Many of us sit on the sidelines because we don't appreciate what we have to offer. Others know what they have to offer, but they don't know how. To speak to this, let me quote my pastor, Earl Palmer: 'God can't steer a parked car.'" (p.273)
"We, as Christians, can look at our broken world, shrug our shoulders, and say, 'That's just the way things are.' Or we can instead embrace a vision of what could be -- if we'd each pitch in. Isn't it better to light a candle than curse the darkness?" (p.275)
"The gospel that we have been given -- the whole gospel -- is God's vision for a new way of living. It inaugurates the reality of God dwelling within us, His followers, no longer in a temple in Jerusalem. And it calls for us to join Him in saving the world that He loves so much." (p.276)
"What gospel have you embraced: a revolutionary gospel that is truly good news for a broken world? or... a diminished gospel -- with a hole in it -- that's been reduced to a personal transaction with God, with little power to change anything outside your own heart?" (p.279)
The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
Quotes from Part 5: Repairing the Hole
