Tuesday, January 12, 2010

What Matters Most?

"[The problem for evangelicals] is that we place doctrinal purity over unity, or we place relational unity over sound doctrine. The reality is that Jesus wants us to be equally committed to both- the peace and purity of the church. When this is not the case, our disunity is a major hinderance to our evangelism and witness to the world. We fail at the final apologetic, our love for one another. If we can agree on the essential matters, the unity of the gospel, then we have a shot at rebuilding the trust and moving forward.

And

"When we become humble in our beliefs, we are willing to see that our own denominations or traditions do not have a corner on all truth, and we become more open to dialogue with other traditions. We might find that we are sometimes wrong and the different perspective will correct our error. But even where we are right, the dialogue can improve, sharpen and enliven our perspective and give nuance to our understandings."

- Jim Belcher in "Deep Church"

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