While doing my devotions this morning I came upon this thought-provoking Bonhoeffer quotation. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his Letters & Papers From Prison, pp. 382-383, shared a vision of the church, which he had hoped to put forth in another book. This vision, in my humble opinion, is still as fresh and pertinent for us today as it was back in the 1940s when Bonhoeffer spent his last days in prison prior to his martyrdom.
“The church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell people of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others. It must not under-estimate the importance of human example (which has its origins in the humanity of Jesus and is so important in Paul’s teaching); it is not abstract argument, but example, that gives its word emphasis and power.”
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