Words from Pastor Bob Roberts, Jr.
Read the first two chapters of Pastor Bob Roberts, Jr.'s new book Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World today. I received an advance copy of it free of charge at the Glocal Conference in Rome back in January, due to my being so blessed as to be a pastoral intern who gets free goodies like this, but it didn't come off my shelf 'til now (which I grant you kinda defeats the purpose of having an advance copy).
Anyway, it's out now and it's very good, so I thought I'd share a few quotes from the first chapters with you here. Away we go:
"When people say the name of your church and the church you attend or in which you serve, what do they think?" (p.24)
"Being centered on Christ isn't just part of our statement of faith, but a recognized practice of that fact to which the world and community of nonbelievers can attest." (p.25)
"Someone is 'called of God' not because of the way the person lives but because of the way the person speaks!... In the Western church, few are remarking about our current leadership style, 'If only I could know Jesus as he or she does.' Neither have I heard... the performers say like Paul, 'Imitate me.' We talk about the qualifications for ministry in terms of education, ordination, rules and regulations. However, isn't the main qualification for ministry the ability for a person to say, 'Imitate me'?" (p.26-27)
Do you realize Gandhi spent an average of two hours per day meditating on the Gospels? By his own admission, Jesus's teachings in the Sermon on the Mount became the basis for a large portion of everything he did... Something is tragically amiss when a man without Christ can change a nation and Christians who possess the Holy Spirit can't." (p.33)
If the church in a local community were gone, who besides its adherents would miss it?" (p. 36)
"The kingdom means that we are committed to being salt and light whether the people we serve all become Christians or not. Today's notion of 'us against them' Christianity would be foreign to the early church." (p.36)
"During my seminary days, planting a church actually meant you couldn't land a position with a 'real' church, so you had to go start one." (p.39)
If you are sufficiently enticed, go thumb through a copy at your local bookstore and maybe plop it down on the checkout counter.