The Church is the new creation, it is life and joy, it is the sacramental fellowship in which we share the ultimate purpose of God, made real for us now in our hearing the Word and sharing the Sacrament.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We are to introduce our people into the life of the Church, which is salvation, that they may grasp its meaning, its contents and purpose, to taste and see how good the Lord is.
I think we are all trying to figure out what it means to be the Church as opposed to just doing church.
Through the ages, God has used the church to keep alive and pass down the story of what Christ has done for us.
The Church is not self-made, it was created by God and is continuously formed by Him. This finds expression in the Sacraments, above all in that of Baptism: I enter into the Church not by a bureaucratic act, but with the help of this Sacrament.
A church of dialogue in the contemporary world... a church, taking on the mission of Jesus, which is in the world not to judge humanity, but to love it and to save it.
A church is an incubator, a nursery, a grade school. You start where people are and move them to where they need to be.
Growing up, I was blessed to be part of a great church. This is where I met many friends who have encouraged me in my life to live strong for Christ. My church is a place where I can develop friendships with others that will encourage me in my walk with Christ.
Whether a person is straight or gay, Republican, Democrat, good person, not a good person, they're all welcome, because to me, church is a place you're supposed to get healed and whole and loved.
As the Church is the aggregate of believers, there is an intimate analogy between the experience of the individual believer, and of the Church as a whole.
I think the Church is a conduit to God. The Church is not God. And I think that from the very beginning Jesus taught us that.