Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership-either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or a local church.... Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ.
Dallas WillardSuppose our failures occur, not in spite of what we are doing, but precisely because of it.
Dallas WillardWe have to have the Vision. And we have to form the Intention. And we have to adopt the Means. Vision. Intention. Means. And if we do that, then it works! Every individual, every church, every organization... that's all we need to do.
Dallas WillardThe most important thing in your life is not what you do; it's who you become. That's what you will take into eternity.
Dallas WillardSo when Jesus directs us to pray, โThy kingdom come,โ he does not mean we should pray for it to come into existence. Rather, we pray for it to take over at all points in the personal, social, and political order where it is now excluded: โOn earth as it is in heaven.โ With this prayer we are invoking it, as in faith we are acting it, into the real world of our daily existence
Dallas Willard